Arlo's Birthday!

Part 34

Remi couldn't have heard correctly. This was Volcan, not some Aunt Valerie. 

Volcan was a serial killer who had killed her brother. Arlo could defiantly be an ass at times, but he wasn't a killer. 

Aunt Valerie. Arlo had talked about her before. She was a high ranking official in the authorities. And... she was Volcan.

Well fuck, Remi thought. If she wasn't being dense... Volcan really was Aunt Valerie. Arlo stared at her, his mouth still slightly open at the shock. Volcan was staring right back. She seemed to be analyzing them two, however, instead of gaping. 

Volcan: Arlo. What are you doing here?

Arlo stuttered. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to act at this moment. 

The person he had been taught to be like when he grew up was Aunt Valerie. The person who had bought him presents countless times had been Aunt Valerie. The person who had trained his ability had been Aunt Valerie. Aunt Valerie was a nice person.

But Volcan wasn't a nice person. Volcan was EMBER and had killed countless superheroes. Such as Rei. 

Arlo quickly overcame his shock and glared right at Volcan.

Arlo: We're here to avenge Rei. Volcan.

Volcan merely smirked. 

Volcan: Do you really think you would be able to attack me? Arlo... I know you're strong. But part of you believes I'm still your dear auntie. Would you really attack me?

Arlo's eyes flickered with something for a moment. But he didn't say or show any more signs of emotion. He just stood, with his right foot in front of him, ready to dash straight at her. Remi followed suit.

Arlo: On three?

Remi: Why wait?

**************

John groaned as he finally struck the last guy down. 

These guys just seem to come up from everywhere.

He gave a masked man one last punch. His arms were sore everywhere. But he was mostly in a good state. He had fought countless people in his lifetime.  He would recover. And this time, he had a reason to recover. John would be able to go back to Seraphina and have a happy life at Wellston.

Ignoring the piles of bodies around him, he stepped on some people to go the direction he presumed Arlo and Remi went. Those guys have better not be dead. Otherwise, he'd have to do all the work. 

A chill went up to his spine when he heard the familiar clash of people fighting each other. He cursed when he heard Remi cry out, presumably in pain. If they were strong enough to hurt Remi, this was going to be the real deal. Those guys a second ago? Mere warmup.

He found a hole in the ground(why was there a hole?) and saw flashing lights. He jumped in without hesitation and found Remi and Arlo fighting a lady. So... was this lady EMBER? 

He realized that none of them had cared about John at the moment. So he quickly assessed Volcan's abilities. Some fire claw ability... some defense ability... some clairvoyance ability... how did she have so many? Lucky for John, he could copy all of the abilitie- 

Pain throbbed behind John's eyes, making him fall to the ground. He couldn't copy the clairvoyance ability! He looked up and tried again to copy the defense ability. But once again, a searing pain stopped him. He grit his teeth and tried to copy the fire ability. He could feel the new ability run through his veins. Success. But why couldn't he get the other abilities?

It didn't matter. He copied Arlo's ability to have a nice defense and lashed out at EMBER. She jumped back in shock, but as her gaze flickered to each of them, she realized she was a little outmatched. Arlo and the other girl alone had driven her to the corner. And this new guy... he had the same ability as her? Whatever. 

She knew they were here for one thing, and that was the red-haired boy. 

Such loyal friends. Of course, that'll be the reason of their death. 

She smirked. Then dropped a smoke bomb on the ground. The trio coughed a bit before they furiously waved at it to make it go away. Gritting his teeth, Arlo dashed towards the direction he heard Volcan go. After running a little bit, the smoke cleared, and he could see a door at the far end. He pulled at the door, only to find that it was locked. 

He roared and hit the doorknob so hard it flew off and pinned itself to the ceiling. He kicked the door open to find Volcan standing over Blyke, ready to slash his head off. But she hissed as she merely hit a light yellow barrier and turned to bare her teeth at Arlo.

Volcan: Arlo. You leave me no choice... but to kill you!

She lunged unexpectedly. Arlo wasn't sure if he should take his barrier over Blyke down and put it over him, or to keep it over Blyke. He made his decision too late, seeing that she slashed his chest. Arlo huffed. The pain wasn't a familiar feeling, but he'd get over it. 

He got the barrier over Volcan, who hit her shoulder on it. She yelled in pain but kept slashing at the barrier. Arlo dashed over and freed Blyke. There was another green-haired girl who seemed half unconscious. Arlo looked at Blyke for confirmation that she was a friend, and when he received a nod, he untied her ropes too.

Arlo coughed, blood escaping his lips. Well fuck. Volcan was slashing through his defenses already. Blyke picked up Claire and dashed towards the door with Arlo. Volcan screeched one last time and fully broke Arlo's barrier. She punched Arlo in the stomach, making him fall back and hit a rack filled with boxes. 

Wait. They weren't just boxes. They were filled with heavy, black spheres. Volcan looked in horror as a droplet of Arlo's blood landed on a bomb. Weren't the bombs set off by blood...? And Arlo was in close relation with her. 

The bomb beeped once, then twice, then faster and faster, counting down. By now, Arlo had realized what the bomb was and threw it at Volcan. She dodged it, and luckily it being a smaller bomb, blew up without doing much harm. But it had successively set off another box of bombs, which set off the other box, and the next. The entire room was filled with these dumb boxes of bombs. A huge mistake on Volcan's part. 

Volcan attempted to run outside, but John kicked her back inside. Arlo breathed heavily. The beeping was becoming far too fast. And the dumbass John had deactivated his ability. His barrier...

At his state at the moment, he wouldn't be able to make such a large barrier without any cracks in it. And he had to keep Volcan inside the room so that she... who killed Rei... would die at her own weapons. Arlo kicked John outside the door, who looked at him with confusion and rage. He still didn't active his ability, leaving Arlo no choice. Arlo made a smaller barrier, just covering Remi, John, Blyke, and Claire. He also grabbed Volcan and dragged her back, further inside the room. 

Beep... beep... beep-

He slammed the door shut-

Beep. beep. beep.-

He looked through the small glass window in the door-

Beep beep beep-

He stared at the horrified faces of his classmates-

BEEP BEEP BEEP-

And smiled.

***************

I'll get to see Rei again.