Provoking Alternate Time Lines (W|W cast version)

In the future 2

The group found themselves in what seemed to be a forest beside a lake. The yellow sky contained a sun whose shade of blue was much darker than the one that they had been under about ten minutes ago and the hard and dry black soil beneath their feet contained a few long cracks. Around them, tree-like structures of dull grey metal covered a third of the region and varied between three and six meters in height. None of their dozens of branches contained any leaves nor fruits. A red light appeared over the closest tree to the group and quickly flashed three times. The seven of them simply stood there. The man with the collar was surprised that the others had followed him and Alex, Gwen, Liz, Peter, Rose and Sam had no idea what to do since they were already where they were supposed to prevent the man from being. Suddenly, a small object flew past Alex's head and hit the metal trunk beside her. It looked like a dart being ten centimeters long and thick except at its thin two-centimeter long needle tip. It was followed by a black and grey boomerang flying beside the group. Its sharp edge didn't come close to hitting any of them but as the object returned, it sprang towards Rose. Rose tried to blast it but nothing came out of her hand. She avoided the object by dropping to her knees and tucking her head to her chest before it could strike her neck.
"My powers don't work!" exclaimed Rose loudly from the drop's pain.
Gwen added, "Mine either. I can't hear anyone around us."
Another dart flew at them from the distance and grazed Liz' arm.
"Run!" shouted Sam. She didn't try to use her own abilities worried about creating an explosion that would harm them rather than help them.
Sam led them away from where their attackers seemed to be. Out of fear, the man from the past followed them.

They ran through the flat surface free of leaves, roots and even animal habitats. Every twelve seconds, a red light flashed above one of the trees that the group passed. Peter, who was in the back, saw the lights and pointed them out to the others. Liz suggested that it might be a signal to those around them to locate them. The group couldn't do anything other than keep moving with Sam in the lead. Sam didn't intentionally put herself in that position; she was simply the fastest runner. She didn't know where to go. She felt that they were surrounded on land so she kept the water's edge near. She wondered how they could escape their attackers if a signal was sent out every time the group was seemingly safe. The seven of them moved as fast as they could trying to escape their attackers and the red lights. They didn't know what else to do. They couldn't count on their abilities to help them. They also didn't know how many people were after them. They had assumed more than one during the attack and since then, spotted four human-like shapes moving on land behind them.

The seven of them kept running, the lights kept blinking and the shapes in the distance kept following them. All seven wanted their abilities to work and to put an end to their fear. Rose tried to blast something that she saw in the distance. Liz tried to bring down a lightning bolt and shoot sparks from her hand. Sam tried to start a fire in the distance. Nothing worked.

A good twenty minutes later, when a couple of minutes passed since the last flashing red light, Sam stopped and the others copied her. They were near a metamorphic rock hill with a cave at its bottom and the body of water was still close.
Sam announced, "We might be safe. For now."
Rose half-collapsed on the ground out of exhaustion and coughed a few times. While the group caught their breath, Rose said to Alex between coughs, "How are you... in better shape than me?"
Alex replied already breathing at almost her usual rate, "I'm awesome like that. Why are you coughing like that? Are you having an asthma attack?"
Rose answered before coughing again, "I'm fine."
"Should we all do deep breaths with you like in the movies?" asked Peter.
Gwen approached Rose and put her hand on her which didn't help Rose take control of her breathing.
Before Gwen could speak, Rose said, "I'm fine. Just let me cough." She was relieved and disappointed when Gwen took her hand back.
Believing that Rose was all right, Sam said, "Let's figure out what's going on with our abilities. I'll try to set something on fire now that I can focus better." She wasn't worried about attracting the attention of their attackers. If her fire ability worked one way or another, then they would be able to defend themselves.
"What if you make it explode again?" asked Peter.
"I'll aim way over there."
Unfortunately for them, nothing happened to the soil in the distance. Not even a small flicker of light appeared in the area where Sam aimed nor around her slightly swollen hand. Liz extended her arm in a vacant direction not sure whether to expect sparks or a lightning bolt. Neither happened.
Liz was worried. "Nothing for me too." However she wasn't surprised despite hoping that she had failed earlier due to her state of distress. "Why wouldn't our abilities work? It shouldn't matter when we are."
Peter looked at Liz and saw the scratch on her right arm. Forgetting that he most likely wasn't an exception to what affected the others, he said, "Let me fix that."
The five of them watched Peter try to heal Liz. They hoped that his ability would have some effect but thirty seconds later, Liz' scratch remained unchanged.
Peter declared, "I guess I'm out too. At least I didn't put you to sleep."
Alex replied, "I'll try something."
While Alex focused on small rocks nearby, the man with braided hair seemed to attempt something himself. He was in a squatting position and appeared to be struggling. He mumbled something under his breath with a look of disappointment.
Alex commented, "This is worse than in the past. Nothing at all is happening."
Noticing the man with the collar's reaction, Gwen replied, "Looks like we're all out."
Sam said, "Something must have happened. Does anyone remember anything that could have taken our abilities?"
Alex responded, "It started when we left the future. The first time in the future, we were fine."
Peter added, "I could heal, Gwen and Rose could make a portal. Our powers became odd after the portal to the past."
Gwen suggested, "Maybe we made the portal wrong. It was our first one. Ours messed with our abilities and his took them away."
Liz disagreed. "Our abilities are a part of us. They can't be taken. There must be something we can do to get them working again."
"Like what?" asked Peter feeling bad that he couldn't heal her.
"Don't we have a bigger problem?" responded Rose. "We still need to make sure that he doesn't do what he came here to do."
Sam answered, "That's true. And we can't kill him."
Peter asked anxiously, "What if that's what the sight-seers wanted us to do?"
Alex replied, "I'm not doing it."
Liz said, "I don't want to either. He's not even attacking us. Plus, if he did, I'm not sure how we'd do it without our abilities."
Gwen stated, "We need to do something with him."
Alex replied, "What if we stop him from contacting anyone in this time? It might be enough."
"So we just follow him around until we die?" replied Rose.
Sam responded, "Alex's idea won't last but it's a start. Maybe we should get out of the open first."
Liz replied, "The cave over there should cover us from attackers. Let's see if he follows us."
Liz approached the hill. The others followed her including the man from the past. He assumed that the others were worried about their attackers returning and he didn't want to face them alone.