Orion and the Ghost's Fury | Teen Ink

Orion and the Ghost's Fury

May 17, 2023
By AidanNazario, Tampa, Florida
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AidanNazario, Tampa, Florida
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Isaac Icarus paces his room. Right now, he’s been warned to leave the building he’s in. The Exorcists were coming for him. They knew he was in Florida, and it was only a matter of time before they found him. If he could just finish his creation, he could permanently defeat the Exorcists. He just needed to get these last screws in, and... DONE! He had finally finished what he had worked on for years. The first person he called was his boss, Evan Hongmin. “Hello?... Evan! Are you there?... Perfect! He’s done! After all these years he’s finished!... What am I going to call him?... I was thinking Magnus.... Can he turn into lava? I don’t think so.... Alright, I’ll do something different. How about Orion? Good?... Good!” At that moment, someone knocked on his door. Is it that cop again? He thought. Isaac’s creation was perfect. It was the first robot that could change from organic matter and back to nuts and bolts. Right now, he was in robot form, so he had time to figure out the uniform. When he looked through the peephole, he saw a teenager with a black hoodie and a white wolf mask. He gasped quietly. What’s he doing here?! He frantically grabbed his face. I thought he was in New York! It was too late for him now. If he was there, then he couldn’t escape. But if he couldn’t, maybe Orion could. He lowered Orion into the basement. He threw himself at the killer and managed to somehow outrun him until he got to New York. That was when Orion opened his eyes. 

The first thing I remember is waking up in a basement in Florida. I know it’s weird since Florida is at sea level so, it was nearly impossible to set up a basement. When I woke up, I found my blueprints and learned of my powers. Changing from human and robot with no effort. Turning into a robot with a titanium shell was immensely helpful when dealing with violent hobos in Chicago. I had to turn into robot form at night so my human form could rest. Nobody seems to be bothered by a man no one recognizes wandering the streets. Whatever, I’m not complaining. I remember looking through the journal of my creator and he was making me for an organization called M.O.T.H. dedicated to bringing the Scarlet King to Earth which will enslave all of humanity. Sounds pretty stupid if you ask me. One day, I was doing my daily routine when I heard someone say, “After this, Isabella Hurtado will be done for!” 
I stopped walking. I turned to the person who said that. He was a fat man with a stubble and a mustache. Overall, not a good look. “Can you repeat that name?” I asked. 
“Why do you want to know? Is she your geeeIrlfriend?” 
I don’t have time for this. I thought. But then again, why did that name sound so familiar? I needed answers. I held him by his neck and lifted him off the ground. The guy he was talking to was already running away. “Are you going to be difficult or are you going to answer my question?” 
“What are you?!” He struggled. 
“You’re worst nightmare.” I threw him to the ground. 
“All right Mr. Grip of steel. Now it’s your turn for a beatdown.” 
This’ll be amusing. I thought. He tried to punch me in the gut but all he got was a fistful of metal. When I punched him, it was the same thing except my fists were metal. After I thought he had taken enough punishment I asked my question again, “who is Isabella Hurtado?” 
The person I was beating up was now whimpering in fear. “She’s a murderer in Great Britian. She’s nicknamed The Ripper’s Sister. Why do you want to know?”  
“I’ll be the one asking questions.” I helped him back up, but he got shot in the head.  
I looked towards the alley where the shot came from. “Come on out. I won’t report you to the police. They aren’t too fond of me anyway.” 
“Doubtful.” A woman's voice said. She came out of the alley. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a denim jacket. She grabbed her gun and pointed it at me. 
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but those things have a tough time killing me.” 
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not trying to kill you, and this will most definitely work Adrian.” She shot me and I felt electricity surge through my body, and I was out like a lightbulb before I knew it.

I woke up in the most comfortable bed ever. The scary thing was, I was in PJ’s that I don’t remember putting on. I got up and found my regular clothes smelling genuinely nice. Whoever kidnapped me must’ve been the nicest kidnapper I’ve ever met. Then again, I’ve never been kidnapped up until now. I looked around the bedroom and found that there was a glass chandelier, and this person must really like purple, because it was everywhere. I also found that this person's name was Lola Dugan. How did I know? It’s the name on the side of the bed so I assumed that was who my captor was. I walked out into a hallway that was designed in the same way as the bedroom. I wanted to know who this person was, but I was more concerned with looking for a way out than looking for the person who kidnapped me. Unfortunately, I found my kidnapper in the kitchen first. “Morning sleeping beauty.” She was chopping vegetables by the kitchen counter.  
“Expecting someone?” I asked. 
“He’s already here.” She didn’t look up from the counter. 
“I have no interest in meeting your boyfriend.” 
“Is that what our relationship has evolved into?” She smiled at me. The weird thing is it was as familiar as that name I heard earlier. 
“I don’t believe we’ve met Lola.” I prayed that was her name. It would make the situation more awkward than it already was.  
“Yet you seem to remember my name.” 
“It was on the bed you put me in.” 
“Oh. I see.” Lola looked back down at the cutting board and continued chopping vegetables. “I insist you stay for dinner.” 
“It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”  
“No, not really. When this house was first built, even I had a challenging time finding the exits.” 
“Uh huh.” Nevertheless, I tried figuring out how I would get out of here. I guess raw exploration would do the trick. Or I could open a map through my computer. But when I tried, I couldn’t get a connection.  
Lola seemed to enjoy my struggle. “Trying to access your newfound powers Adrian?” 
“I’ve always had these powers.” I said. 
“You don’t remember anything do you?” 
“What is there to remember. I’ve always been like this.” 
Lola threw her hands up. “All that hard work for nothing.” 
“What are you talking about?” 
“Bella might be able to jog your memory.” 
“Bella? As in Isabella Hurtado? That crook the crook was talking about?” 
“She’s not a crook! When she escaped from M.O.T.H. after they kidnapped her, they couldn’t hunt her down efficiently since Aaron had done a good job at decimating their British faction, so they put out a warrant for her arrest.” 
M.O.T.H? I thought. I’ve heard that before in Isaac’s journal! He talked about The Exorcists in there. Could Lola be a part of them? 
“What are The Exorcists?” 
“I thought you said you didn’t remember anything.” 
“I don’t. The name just sounds familiar.” 
“The Exorcists are the only people who can stop M.O.T.H. from destroying the world by summoning the Scarlet King.” 
I’ve heard that name before too! “What about the Scarlet King.” 
Lola finally looked up from the cutting board and rolled her eyes. “You’re really sounding like an amnesiac Adrian.” 
I don’t have time for this. I thought. I need to figure out how to get out of here. Luckily, her phone rang, ending the conversation. “Don’t go anywhere. It’s not like you can anyway.” Of course, I had to eavesdrop on the phone call. I hid behind the door. “No, he claims not to remember anything.... How am I supposed to know?!... I don’t know.... No.... Yes.... What!?... NO!... I’m just saying, he sounds like he has memory loss but at the same time, he’s asking me questions about stuff he would never stop talking about before he went missing.... Where did I find him?... Wandering the streets of Chicago. I have no idea what’s going on, but don’t worry, it took me a few hours to find the exit of this house when I first bought it. He doesn’t have access to a map since I severed the internet earlier. It’ll take him days to figure out where the exit is.... How will I get him out?... I can just knock him out with a taser.... Ooh. That.... Listen, it wasn’t my cleanest work but, whatever, it got the job done.... Oh, don’t worry about the hobo. He’s in the hospital. I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’ll get back to work on Adrian and you can start tracking Ewan. Bye.” 
I went back to trying to figure out how to get out Lola’s house. Then a path lit up on the floor. I followed it and it led to a table with what looked like beef stew. I tried a bite of my stew and it tasted weird. I spit it out, and Lola said, “Funny. You used to love my cooking.” 
“Pretty sure I might’ve been gagging in the bathroom instead of that.” I started feeling drowsy. Oh great. I thought. She poisoned me. How predictable. Then everything went black. 
  
I woke up on a plane. “If this is heaven,” I said. “I’m not impressed.” 
Lola was next to me with a newspaper from last week. “It’s not heaven. It’s something called a plane.” 
“How did you get me here anyway?” 
“I just told them you were drunk. Read up.” She gave me the newspaper. It was about that Isabella girl.  
“Why do I need to be reading this.” 
“Because you're helping our friend get out of prison. You can access your powers here, so now you have unlimited knowledge on that specific topic.” 
I was already planning to sabotage the plane so I could get rid of her. I could just sit back and relax while the plane starts going down faster than the Beatles career. “In case you're thinking of sabotaging the plane,” Lola continued. “I suggest you take a look around.”  
I did and saw that we were on American Airlines. Great. Just great. I thought. Sure, I might save myself, but these regular innocents would die. Maybe it was the human part of me talking, but I agree with it. Maybe this proves that I might’ve been something before this. “Well while that takes care of that, how will you make sure that I don’t just fake read and escape as soon as we land?” 
“First of all, you’re familiar with the name Issabella Hurtado, and The Exorcists, and you also put everyone else before yourself. Now maybe you might’ve been programmed to save lives because that’s what M.O.T.H. thinks they’re doing but putting other people before yourself is arguably human. You already have a human side to you, so that’s more proof that you aren’t just nuts and bolts. I know what you were before this. And I think you do too. And aren’t you at the least curious to know what Bella has to say?” 
She was right. I was curious. But that didn’t mean that I wanted to go through with this. While Lola was right about putting others before yourself is a human thing, another thing is that she doesn’t have anything to stop me from running away later. I then noticed that taser that she used to kidnap me in her pocket. She was probably going to use that if I got any ideas. She was also typing something on her laptop. I needed to see what she was typing. All I saw when my algorithm swept it was this:  
To Kayla Dyches, 
5 have A5dan 6n the *3ane and we’re 6n 64r way t0 R6ya3’s Harb6r. He’s th5n25ng 6f a *3an t6 get Be33a 64t 6f there wh53e a van 5s trans*6rt5ng her. 5 2n6w he’s def5n5te3y 36625ng 6ver th5s text s5nce h5s newf64nd *6wers have enab3ed h50 t6 hac2 c604ter syste0s b4t 5’ve made s4re that h5s a3g6r5th0 5s the sa0e as 0.6.T.H.’s s6 he w6n’t be ab3e t6 crac2 th5s c6de w5th h5s 6wn a3g6rth0 a36ne. He st533 5ns5sts 6n n6t re0e0ber5ng anyth5ng, s6 5f he crac2s th5s c6de, he’33 be 14st 1 ste* 6f the way t6 re0e0ber5ng everth5ng he 05ght’ve seen when he was ta2en by 0.6.T.H. and 1 ste* fr60 re0e0ber5ng the *3an he was g65ng t6 share w5th 4s bef6re he was abd4cted. 5f he’s *r6ven br62en bey6nd re*a5r, 5 myse3f w533 ta2e f433 *4n5she0ent.  
Of course it was coded. It’ll be a waste of time figuring out the key. I’m better off applying myself to figuring out how we’ll break her friend out of prison. 
 
“Remember the plan?” I asked Lola when we were in the van. 
“Of course.” She answered. “Since these suits have individual radio signals, we can communicate without anyone eavesdropping. I must admit, we make a good team even if you don’t remember me at all.” 
“Don’t get used to it. If I find out this whole thing is a ruse, not only will you be dead, but every other Exorcist out there.” 
“Noted.” 
In case you’re wondering how we got here; we knocked out some guards and snuck into their suits (that thankfully masked our faces and voices) and got into the van that was transporting Bella. We were nearing the prison, so we needed to act fast. “Do you have your mask?” I asked Lola. 
“Yup.” She answered. 
“Then release the baby.” 
Lola took the canister I gave her, opened a window that connected to the back of the van and dropped it back there. Lola told me Bella was immune to toxins so this wouldn’t affect her. We listened to the screams and curses of the guards as the cyanide set in.  
“What the f*ck?” A female voice said.  
“Yup. Bella’s back there.” Lola chuckled. 
Our van was in the middle of a line of armored trucks, so if we made a turn the ones behind us would follow us. I took off my mask because there was no need for it anymore anyway. I changed into robot form. You haven’t seen me do it so I figure I should describe it. My visor is red and black. My head is bald with titanium and my body is made of titanium and for some reason, blue steel.  
“Ok.” I could tell Lola was trying to take it all in. “That’s actually pretty cool.” 
“Get used to it.” My voice sounded like the robot from Lost In Space. 
“Can you say, ‘Danger Will Robinson? PLEASE!  Please do it, I’m begging you.” 
“You’re lucky I haven’t decided to kill you yet. You’re not in the decision to make demands.” 
“Hey, what’s going on up there?” Bella said from the back. 
“Ah, so you can hear us. Don’t worry about a thing. There’s a maintenance hole coming up around the next corner. You’re going to jump through there if you want to escape.” 
“How will I know when it’s there?” 
“A bomb on the underside of the van I snuck there will open it and cut through the steel when we’re within 100 ft off it. You’ll have a small window. The car will not stop once me and Lola jump through so we’re hoping you’ll be able to follow us. We’ll sneak you through the airport and take you back to America. Any questions?” 
“Don’t worry, I’m good at working through small windows. I think I’ll be fine.” 
“Good.” 
I used my scope to burn a hole through the floor and the maintenance hole popped up a few minutes later and I jumped through. They followed me and I thought it was interesting how much trust they put in me. When they came through, I got a good look at Bella. She had short brown hair, blue eyes, and a prison uniform. Lola handed her a change of clothes that she got into when me and Lola looked away. “Who’s nut-and-bolts here?” She pointed at me when she was finished. 
“I’m Orion but your blonde friend hear insists on calling me Adrian.” 
“Is that really him?” She asked Lola. 
“Yeah Bella. Just put that chip in him, and he’ll remember everything. Don’t you have somewhere where she can plug something in?” 
I opened a hatch on my arm. Bella gave me the chip and I it in the slot and started seeing images of what Lola claimed to be my life. Everything seemed familiar to me. Like I already lived through it all. Images of bullies, images of fights. I realized that Lola was telling me the truth. And that jogged my memory of what I wanted to tell her. I changed to human form so she would be more comfortable with my appearance when I told her. “Lola.” I said slowly. “What I wanted to tell you before I was taken last wasn’t a plan of any sort. I wanted to tell you I love you.” 
Bella exclaimed, “FINALLY!” 
“So, judging for Bella’s exclamation, it sounds like you’ve known for a while.” I said. 
“Oh my God, you don’t know how long!” Bella said. “Her idea of a plan was to force you to confess by making you throw a mission.” 
“Your plans were never good ones Lola compared to mine.” 
“Are you kidding?” Lola said. “Who else would’ve thought of the plan that got Bella out of prison just now?” 
“I don’t know but it was cool as it was effective.” 
A police officer with a gun broke up the reunion. He had tried to shoot me in the back of the head but had failed miserably. “I’ve been waiting to have some fun.” I quickly overtook the police officer. Quicker than I’ve ever taken anyone down. “It’s so great to have powers like you and Bella. Bella with invisibility, and you with telekinesis, now I’m the better third.” 
“Don’t count yourself so lucky,” Lola said. “I got a taser.” 
“Fair enough.” I said. 
“Sorry to break up the reunion, but we’ve got company.” Bella said. She pointed to the squad of police officers charging at us. 
“Lola, remind me again if you can fly.” I asked. 
“I can but Bella can’t!” Lola answered. 
“You might want to give her a lift then.” 
“Why?” 
“Because I have a hunch, the floodwaters are about to rise from that direction.” I pointed towards the officers. “So, I suggest we start going in the opposite direction.” 
Lola picked up Bella and started flying. I immediately passed them. “You might want to pick up the pace. The cops and water are right behind you.”  
She started going faster and so did I and we thankfully got out. I can’t say the same for the police. “Now to get back to America!” Bella shouted. 
“Not so fast.” I said. “I got a newsfeed saying that airports are closed until you’re found. We won’t be able to fly over the ocean, so we’ll have to leave the country by other means.” 

“So, Bella, how did you smuggle that chip in?” 
“One of the guards you and Lola killed had it on him.” She answered. 
“Alright.” Then I remembered something. “Oh sh*t.” 
“What is it?”  
“I just remembered; I’m made of M.O.T.H. tech.” 
“So?” 
“I can send out a distress signal that that will draw M.O.T.H agents here!” 
“Mind explaining how that will help us?” Bella asked. 
“Well, we have an advantage.” I did the peace out sign and disappeared. 
“Aah! I see what’s happening here.” Lola said, “you want me and Bella to act as bait while the invisible man picks them all off.” 
“Now you’re getting it!” I said. 
“Whatever. I still don’t understand how that helps.” Bella said. 
I sighed. “Since there are few M.O.T.H. facilities in Britian, they have to travel by plane so, we’ll steal the plane.” 
“Oh, I get it now.”  
 
When the M.O.T.H. jet came, they saw Bella and Lola as planned. The plane landed and out came 2 agents, and these weren’t the ones who liked to f*ck around. They brought the big guns. 2 women walked out. One had orange hair, blue eyes, and a white, orange, and black uniform. The other had black hair, red eyes, and a blue, black, and yellow uniform. “Well, well, well.” The one with orange hair one said. “I knew it was a fake call. Didn’t I tell you Helen?” 
“You did Angela!” Helen said. 
“Oh great! These two! Somebody shoot me!” Bella said. 
“Gladly!” Helen said. “I hope you like my new toy!” She took out a black trident. I snuck over to them and knocked Angela to the ground.  
“Nice try!” Helen hit me before her sister even hit the ground. Unfortunately for her, she got a broken hand in return. 
“Titanium tends to that when hit too hard.” I said. “Not my fault.” 
“Well, well, well. It looks like it’s getting dark.”  
“So?” 
She started laughing uncontrollably. “You won’t like this at all!” 
“Oh... F*ck. This isn’t good.” 
“Why?” 
“Oh Adrian!” That was a voice that I knew all too well. “Guess who’s back, you little bastard!” 
“NO!” I screamed. “I got rid of you!” 
Tamara laughed. This thing had been haunting me my entire life. Trying to kill me. I had no idea what to do. Then I saw the eyes. The glowing red eyes. It started laughing. Helen looked at it with gratefulness. But the eyes started moving toward her. “No! No! You’re here to kill them! Not me! Get away Tamara!” She shined her light on her, revealing a black figure missing the lower half of its body.  
“I’m here to kill.” Tamara said. “The only specific target I have is Adrian. But that shouldn’t stop me from having fun, right?” I watched in horror as Tamara used long claws to stab into Helen. It was a brutal mess. The worst part was that Tamara enjoyed every moment. “Aaaaaah.” Tamara sighed. “It’s so satisfying killing wouldn’t you say?” 
“I haven’t lost my sanity yet, so I’m going to say no.” I realized too late that now I had Tamara’s undivided attention. 
She turned towards me and lunged with her claws outstretched as she started cackling. Of course, I was terrified. I wasn’t scared of the dark. I wasn’t scared of thugs. I wasn’t scared of M.O.T.H. I was scared of a poor excuse for a ghost. I managed to dodge her, but she immediately turned around and dug her claws into my chest. She made sure that the process was slow. But Bella and Lola were triggered and rushed to defend me. They got her off and Tamara started attacking them. I took a gun from the bloody mess that used to be Helen and started shooting at Tamara. She wasn’t fazed but then I remembered how Helen tried to shine a light at her. It didn’t really save her, but I did notice that Tamara moved slower than normal. I turned to robot form and turned the brightness on my visor to 100%. Tamara screamed in agony. Without turning away, I jumped into the plane Helen and Angela got here on. It wasn’t until we were in the air did I look away from her. Then I saw her looming over the unconscious body of Angela. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was going to do.

When I agreed to kill Orion, Churnabog never told me I was going back in time AND getting a sick makeover. I didn’t figure out Churnabog’s name until Adrian was in middle school. That was around 4 years of working with him. It was fun haunting Orion’s past. I have to admit, I lost track of him just once. M.O.T.H. didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on. While they said that I had to kill Adrian while he was still young, I’m proud of myself for ignoring them and as much as they’d hate to admit it, their glad too. My (purposely) failed mission turned into one of their greatest successes. Even if he went rouge and now it’s my job to kill him again. I remember asking what M.O.T.H. stood for, and I got an answer like: 
Masters 
Of 
The 
Hearth 
The Hearth is where Churnabog is from supposedly and he’s currently possessing M.O.T.H.’s leader David. I always call him Dave because he hates it and I like it when people suffer. Meanwhile, I constantly make fun of Churnabog’s name, making it sound like he’s always throwing up. While the employees are happy that I’m lightening up the mood, Dave and Churnabog aren’t. The funny thing is that I don’t give a f*ck. I hate following orders. That’s more of a Kalieah thing. While it was great and all that she was trying to help me by sending me to an asylum, I never appreciated it. Also, another weird thing is that Dave seems bent on calling Churnabog, “The Freak.” Churnabog probably doesn’t like it because Dave hasn’t slept in years and that kind of thing took a toll on his sanity. Anyway, once I got back to the base, they weren’t happy that I killed Helen and Angela. I knew I was in for a talk when Dave looked very disgusted. “Mind telling me why you killed 2 of my best agents?” 
“Because it was fun, and I was in a bad mood. Is that a good enough answer, Dave?” 
“No.” 
“Come on, you knew it was a bad idea sending me out on the field. Maybe you should break my bond with Kalieah now to prevent more deaths.” 
Dave snapped his fingers and a portal appeared. “How about instead, I send you right back where I found you. Huddling in the corner of a floating rock.” 
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Fine. I won’t kill anyone on our side, you bastard. Good enough for you?” 
Dave stood up and stood uncomfortably close to me. “What’s good enough for me, is Orion killing all his friends. But I need him back here alive.” 
“But how will I do that?” 
He smiled. “Get as creative as you want.” 

I was just chillaxing on the flight back to the US. No creepy twins. No Tamara. And most relaxing of all; I could finally sleep. It’s been so long since I actually slept, that I forgot what it felt like. Of course, Lola had to interrupt my nap. “So do you mind telling me what’s the whole deal with the robot thing?” 
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. 
“Like, what happens to your body when you turn into a robot?” 
“Well, micro bots cover my organs so I can keep them when I transform. When the micro bots reach my brain, they’re able to change my chemical properties. But I can still function like a human because I keep all my organs. When I change into a human, everything turns back to normal. The micro bots retreat, and I look like a human, sound like a human, feel like a human, and act like a human.” 
“Alright. Makes sense.” 
“Why do you want to know?” 
Lola winked. “Reasons.” 
I should’ve expected a response like that. I then heard an alarm go off. “What the hell is going on?” I asked Bella. I knew I shouldn’t have let her fly the plane. I mean look at me, I’m a literal computer!  
“It’s BINGO!” She said. BINGO is a dog virus that is “alive.” I say it like that because unlike other viruses that allow a human to control a piece of technology they’re not supposed to have access to, BINGO does something like that, except he doesn’t usually give a human control. 
“Hello my dear friends!” BINGO appeared on the dashboard as a golden retriever dog with a golden collar. “Ewan sent yours truly to leave you a message.” His fur and skin melted away as he said, “This is your last chance to surrenderer, or else I’ll make sure your deaths are as slow and painful as possible.” He turned back to normal as he continued, “Except you Bella, your BINGO would never hurt you unless Ewan would so desire!” 
I could tell Bella was blushing and it was disgusting. She didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was dating someone who wanted to kill us all. “Now my dear friends, you have 5 seconds until this plane crashes right in the middle of Maine. So, say it with me; B-I-N-G-Oh you’re so dead.” He came off the dashboard and we were rapidly losing altitude. “Lola, grab Bella! Now!” I shouted. 
“One problem.” She pointed to the empty pilot seat. There was a note with BINGO’s idea of the Mona Lisa (His face instead of the woman’s) on it. It read, B-I-N-G-Oh fine I’ll give you a clue! B-I-N-G-Oh Your little friend is at the power plant you are now crashing into. 
“I’m really starting to hate BINGO!” I shouted. 
“Oh, so now you are?” 
Lola and I crashed through the window as we watched the plane crash into a power plant. Makes sense since BINGO doesn’t usually lie. We walked into the power plant and found the power plant had already been evacuated. BINGO never liked unexpected casualties. Lola and I had to find Bella, so we explored. We eventually found a place that still had power. Of course, Bella was there, tied up on the ceiling and unconscious. “Well, well, well, what have we here!” A voice said. I knew that voice anywhere. I needed to figure out where he was fast. I saw him bolt into the room coming through a wall. He had brown eyes, brown hair, and an idiotic smile on his face. “Look what the dog virus dragged in!” 
“Oh brother! Let’s make this quick Ewan.” I rolled my eyes. 
Ewan started laughing. He disappeared, knocked out Lola, then reappeared. Lightning appeared around him. “That’s Speed Demon to you! I’m good at doing things speed related!” 
“Then how about you shut up as fast as you run!” I replied. I ripped a block of concrete from the floor at him and got in the legs. 
He got up slowly. “Just cuz you have new powers; doesn’t mean you’ll beat me! Don’t worry, M.O.T.H. told me to bring you alive, so you won’t get hurt too bad.” 
I hated how cocky this guy was. He was like The Flash but much more annoying. But like The Flash, he had weaknesses. I remember skimming his file a couple years ago and it said that he can’t run forever. He had to go into an involuntary shut down mode if he ran too much. If I can keep him running, I can catch him in shut down mode, and figure out how to get Bella out of here. Maybe he has smelling salts, so that might help with getting Bella and Lola up. “I have a question for you Ewan!” 
“And that is...” He motioned for me to keep going. 
I changed into robot form. “How do you like your ribs,” and attempted to shoot him. He easily dodged it, and everything was going according to plan. Until he pulled out a uno reverse card on me. I heard BINGO laughing and a bunch of pop-ups of his face came up on my visor. “What the-?”  
“B-I-N-G-Oh my dear God! Hello, your computer has virus! Did you really think Ewan would come unprepared?” 
“You’ve been hacked Orion.” Ewan said. “Only a matter of time before you shut down.” 
“You’re not the only one with new tricks Ewan.” Since it was BINGO’s first time in my system, he didn’t have enough time to completely hack me. I managed to change back into a regular human without issues. 
“Now that was a bad idea. You might have delayed BINGO’s takeover, but that isn’t going to save you from me!” He started moving in a blur and continuously punched me and when he kicked me in the gut, I collapsed. “You can’t beat me Orion. Just face the facts already.” 
I looked up and saw 2 blurry figures. I smiled and said, “I can’t. But she can.” I said weakly. All I heard was a body hitting the floor and a figure crashing through the window.

It was a cold August night when she came. Adrian had just come home from his first day in kindergarten. His mother had just tucked him in an hour ago. He heard a creak and jolted upright. “M-m-m-mm-mom?” He whispered. He looked around nervously and tried to keep his teeth from chattering. “Are you scared?” A feminine voice whispered. It was coming from the closet.  
“You’re not mom.” 
“Congratulations Sherlock.” A figure came out of the closet. It was all black and had a smoke-like appearance. It had blood red eyes that drilled into Adrian’s head.  
“Is this a nightmare?” He asked. 
“Only lucky children can wake up from this nightmare. Not everyone can be lucky, however.” The figure continued to approach the bed. It had long claws that were as sharp as knives. It scratched Adrian’s legs and went all the way down. The claws sank so deep that they grazed bone. Adrian screamed so loud, yet nobody could hear. The louder he screamed the deeper the claws sank. Then the claws moved up into his hip. It went down to his nether region. “Damn. You have a smaller dick than I thought.” 
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT!” 
“What! I was just commentating. You’re what, 5? No need to get offended, you still have growing to do.” 
“Not that! Hurting me!” 
“Jesus f*cking Christ I was roasting you! Of course, it’s going to cause you emotional damage.” 
“MY LEG!” 
“Oooooh that. Yeah, I don’t feel like saying punk.” 
Every night was like that. No matter what he did, it always found him. Every day, when he told his mom, she checked him and saw nothing but a very dirty mind. Eventually, he got sent to a psychiatrist named Dr. Hammond. “I’m not crazy.” A-12-year-old Adrian said. 
“Let’s take a look at the data before we come to any conclusions.” Dr. Hammond was a tall man with white hair and blue eyes. He wore a black and red tuxedo with the strangest symbol in the middle. 4 creatures separated by a red x. One was a normal human. One was a rock-like beast with 4 arms and ram horns. One was a shadow-like creature with several heads. The last one was a red skinned man with black horns. “Alright, so you claim that for 7 years now you have been attacked by a female, shadowlike creature with sharp claws that would physically and verbally assault you. Yet in the morning when you would try to tell someone, you would appear with no sleep deprivation and no scars.” 
“Listen. You are my 5th psychiatrist and the last 4 said the same thing.” In his best Russian, German, Spanish, and Australian accent, he repeated, “He’s a liar or he’s crazy.” Then in his normal voice he said, “So, before we waste 3 months just for you to say the same thing, how about we walk out that door right now, and tell my mom those same words.” 
“So, you truly believe that a monster is attacking you at night?” 
“Yes. And I already know you’re going to-” 
“I know you’re not lying.” 
Adrian was shocked. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but are you saying that you believe me?” 
“Of course, I do. Unlike you, I can actually read minds.” 
No way he can do that. Adrian thought. 
“Yes, I can do that.” 
“What the-” 
F*ck.” 
“Pick a number between 1-10.” 
“You’re thinking of a negative number and I’m pretty sure that’s cheating.” 
“Holy sh*t.” 
“Now you may have noticed my tuxedo has a weird symbol.” 
“Yes.” 
“Well, let’s just say, it has nothing to do with being a psychiatrist. There’s a group called M.O.T.H. that uses supernatural forces to control the Earth. The forces they are messing with don’t like being controlled and can easily get out of control. I run a group called the Exorcists. We have been around for centuries, uncovering and destroying M.O.T.H. plans. Some Exorcist agents are failed M.O.T.H. experiments. Now there is something that has troubled us as we went along. We have intel of a power 4. One of them joined us as a ‘failed’ experiment, but they quickly found a replacement. We have no idea who the identities of the Power 4 are, we don’t know if they were originally human, we don’t know where they are, and we don’t know why they were created.” 
“Wouldn’t they have been created to destroy you?” 
“M.O.T.H. has never used the Power 4 so as long as they keep them hidden, they have leverage.” 
“Well, that’s an issue.” 
“That thing that has been attacking you is a little new. I want you to ask it questions. You have another session next week. Tell me exactly what it says.” 
Adrian walked out of the door but couldn’t find his mom anywhere. But there was a person that had his name on a whiteboard. “Who are you?” He asked. 
“I’ve been informed to tell you that your parents, stepparent, and sister have been killed.” 
There was a look of shock on Adrian’s face. “Excuse me but whatever prank this is, it’s not funny.” 
“I’m afraid that this is no prank. Your mother got a desperate call from your stepdad, so she rushed home and unfortunately, died there.” 
“How did they die?” 
“They were found dead in their rooms. Slashed to death. The killer hasn’t been found.” 
“They’re all dead?” 
“Including possible guardians.”  
“There is however a camp you can go to that will take care of education and medical services until we can find a proper home for you. It’s either that or an orphanage.” 
“What kind of camp is this?” 

I woke up a few hours later. Since I’m 100% robot and human, my self-recovery system works faster. Unfortunately, this was the one time I didn’t want it to work efficiently. “Thanks again for—WHAT!?” 
“You’re welcome, Adrian.” The voice was Caden Ciskowski. He wore his usual black and white jumpsuit, was covered in freckles and had buck teeth. Caden had, like me, experienced supernatural stuff. His parents had died, and nobody wanted to take care of him, so he ended up in an orphanage. When Ethan Hammond was notified of what he’s experienced, he confirmed it, and took him to the camp. Everyone at the camp had feelings of sympathy for everyone but it only goes so far when someone was as annoying as him “It’s been around 20 years since you’ve last spoken a word to me, but I’m so glad that you trust me enough to save your life!” 
Great. I thought. Now BINGO is messing with my communications. I meant to send that distress signal to Kayla.  
“You called him?” Bella asked. 
“No. BINGO’s messing with my communications. But he did save us from- - our wonderful leader----- SPED DEMON. GOD DAMMIT!!!!!” In robot mode I picked up my head and smashed it on to the ground and stomped on it with my foot repeatedly. I picked it up and changed back into a human. 
“Couldn’t you have just done a hard reset.” 
“That was the hard reset.” I got up and walked around the ship. I eventually found the hospital room where I saw Lola with a lot of wounds. I touched all her different wounds and they were soon good as new. “Micro bots.” I said. I knew Bella and Caden had followed me, so I gave them a show. 
Damn.” Caden said. “Wish I got an upgrade.” 
Lola woke up a few moments later. “What happened? What’s Caden doing here?” 
“He helped us.” I answered. 
“Nice. The only thing he helped me with was having another visit to Hammonds couch.” 
“It’s been hard for me to fill his shoes.” 
“Luckily, the next visit I have to the couch, is one I’ll look forward to.” 
Everyone groaned. “Come on! That’s worse than Bella dating Ewan.” Caden said. When he saw that Bella was glaring at him, he smiled nervously and said, “But we can all deal with that right?” 
“How many times must I say that’s it’s Speed Demon.” Ewan stood in front of the door. “I’m sorry. Was I supposed to wait for Adrian and Lola to be in the middle having sex in her sick bed? You know I’m always free in my apartment Bella, so give me a call when you want to take a visit to MY couch. See ya.” And just like that, he was gone. 
We all glared at Bella. “You know where he lived, this entire time!” Caden took the words right out of my mouth. 
Bella chuckled nervously.  
“Give us the address Bella.” I said. 
“Why!?” She asked. 
“So we can end this once and for all.” 
“I don’t want you to kill him!” 
“Not what I meant! I meant end M.OT.H. once and for all.” 
“You do realize this is definitely a trap, right?” Caden pointed out. 
“Yes Caden, I do realize that. Unfortunately, Ewan is a lot smarter than he looks. He’ll get suspicious right away when Bella comes in. Luckily, I have a plan. Ewan obviously has a computer to communicate with M.O.T.H. I’ll hack into that while Bella distracts Ewan.” 
“And how will I do that?” She had a look that said that she knew exactly what I was going to say. 
“Get as creative as you want.”  
“Thank you.” 
“I don’t think this plan might work out that well. If Ewan knows that we’ll come, he’ll have backup.” Caden said. 
“That’s where you and Lola come in. Caden, while Bella’s inside, she’ll plant cameras so Lola can see where everything is. Caden will be backup in case something goes wrong.” 
“Why can’t I fight?” Lola asked. 
“Caden has fighting skills and we wouldn’t want people to get suspicious of someone flying out of a building. If something goes wrong, we want to end it as quickly and quietly as possible.”

Ding dong! I watched as Ewan opened the door for Bella and they walked in together. I never approved of those two, but maybe her connections can help us for once. “Cameras 1-12 are waiting to be planted,” Lola informed me. Once all the cameras have been planted, I’d be clear to go inside. If all cameras hadn’t been planted in 10 minutes, Caden would go in to see what’s going on. He said he was going to bust open the door and say “FBI MOTHAF*CKA!” I really hope he was kidding. 
Around 10 minutes went by, and the final camera had been planted. “Alright Adrian, they are watching Stranger Things in the guest bedroom.” Lola said. 
“I know. I’m catching up, so you need to shut the f*ck up.” I joked. 
“Wait, you can see them?” 
“Yeah, I just wanted you to feel like you were playing an important part.” 
I heard her groan, then say, “Ewan’s heading to the bathroom, so you’re clear to go in.” 
“Alright.” 
“WAIT!” 
“WHAT!?” 
“Bella’s seen this episode.” 
“So? It’s the Mind Flayer episode. You know how much Bella loves the Mind Flayer. She’d probably watch that episode over and over again.” 
“No. She doesn’t rewind. Doesn’t matter if it’s her boyfriend, doesn’t matter who’s she’s watching it with. There’s a window that should give you a view of Bella. Make sure that’s really her and not some dummy like I’m sure it is. Caden, be on standby.” 
“Got it.” Caden replied. “Quick question.” 
“What is it?” 
“Can I still say ‘FBI MOTHAF*CKA’ if I get caught.” 
“Caden, you idiot, we already talked about this, you are not saying that.” 
“Oh, come on! I really want to! Just because you and Orion are a thing now, it doesn’t mean you can call all the shots!” 
“GUYS!” I yelled. “Now is not the time. Caden, you are not screaming ‘FBI MOTHAF*CKA’ although that would be super funny, you can do that when stealth is optional but right now, stealth is the upmost importance. 
I heard Caden groan, but I could tell that he knew I was right. 
I climbed towards the window she was talking about. My eyes widened. “CADEN!” I screamed. “WE’VE BEEN COMPROMISED! FIND BELLA AND GET HER OUT OF THERE!”

No response. 
“Caden?” I repeated. 
“Sorry, but he’s a little tied up at the moment.”  
“Oh no.” I said. “Lola, call for backup right now. I’m going after Caden. See if you can pinpoint Bella’s location inside the house. Ewan would never lay a hand on Bella unless she wanted him to, so that buys us a little time.” 
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Speed Demon, Orion.” I got hit to the floor. 
“Really bad timing. How about you make your death a little painless and tell me where you hid Caden and Bella?” 
“You only defeated me with Caden’s help. Now that he’s out of the picture I’ll have you all to myself.” 
“Woah dude, back off! We both have girlfriends.” 
“Oh my god, when will you stop being so annoying!” He tried to blast me with electricity but missed. 
Interesting. I thought. “You know, I finally realized why Bella loves sloths so much. You’re both as slow brained as one.” 
“SHUT! THE F*CK! UP!”  
Now I figured out an easy way to drain his power. Just get him to miss. 
“Adrian! I’ve got Caden, and Bella’s location has been pinpointed. Come on, let’s go!”  
“On my way!” 
“You’re not going anywhere Adrian!” 
“Are you feeling alright Ewan? It sounds like you’ve got a sore throat.” 
“That wasn’t me.” Ewan smiled. 
Before I realized what was happening, I got hit from behind. When I got knocked off guard Ewan hit me with an electrical beam. I started getting weaker. 
“Adrian!” I heard someone shout. It must’ve been Caden, or Lola.  
I looked and saw them trying to get close, but the wind was pushing them back. “NO! GET BACK! HE’S DRAINING MY POWER!” 
“Adrian, hang in there! We’ll find a way to get you free!” 
“No! I said we were going to end this. And we’ll do it one way or another. Ewan can’t stop now or we’ll both die from the explosion. If I turn human, he’ll have nothing to absorb.” 
“ADRIAN NO!” 
“CADEN! Get them out of here. NOW!” 
“But-” he started. 
“THAT’S AN ORDER!” 
Reluctantly, he took them away. I saw Tamara trying to go after them, but I used some of my remaining power to shoot her with a light beam, pushing her off the building before she could reach her targets. 
“Goodbye.” I whispered. And everything went dark. 

In the resulting explosion, Lola rushed through the debris trying to see if Adrian survived. Bella found Ewan’s lifeless body. She pulled it close in a desperate hug and cried on top of him. Lola burned the body when she finished. She said that if Adrian didn’t have a proper burial, then neither could he. “Why did you burn the body!” Bella screamed. 
“I already told you.” Lola answered. 
“Just cause your stupid boyfriend killed himself doesn’t mean you have to be a big p*ssy about it! Plus, Adrian was probably buried in the building.” 
I’m not kidding, Lola literally started force choking her. 
“Take it back.” 
“I won’t.” Bella answered. 
Lola let her go. Bella disappeared and we haven’t heard from her since. We later found that in Adrian’s will, Lola would be his successor as Exorcist leader. Later, she gave her speech. “You may have heard rumors about Adrian’s death. Those rumors are true. Except the one where Adrian had sex with Ewan, you guys are disgusting! Ewan was draining Adrian’s power. If he succeeded, then M.O.T.H. would’ve been able to turn Adrian into the monster that they wanted to turn him into. Adrian realized that if he turned human, then Ewan wouldn’t have been able to drain his power. Unfortunately, that resulted in an explosion that would killed them both. He took that risk. A hero and an enemy died that day. A coward left. Our sources say that Bella might’ve joined M.O.T.H. Kayla is already trying to track her down. To many of you, you lost Orion. I lost Adrian. Some of you might not even know who he was. When someone disappears for 5 years, a lot of people can come and go. I’ll never forget Adrian or the sacrifice that he made. But that won’t stop me from destroying M.O.T.H. We also have reason to believe that the Power 4 might become a threat faster than we thought. I found Isaac Icarus’ journal and it said that it was planned that Orion would train and lead the Power 4 into battle. We have to work overtime to figure out where the Power 4 are and destroy them. That is all.” 
I can speak for everyone in saying that we were all moved by her speech. I still can’t believe that Bellaa might be gone. I will not hesitate to kill her if I have to, though. I found Lola in her office. “Hey Lola, I wanted to ask you something.” 
“Ask away.” She said. 
“Do you really think that Bella might actually join M.O.T.H.? I mean sure, she was dating Ewan, but at the same time, she was trying to get him to join our side too.” 
“You’d be surprised what people do when someone close to them dies. You saw how I reacted. Although, I didn’t lose Adrian once. I lost him twice. The first time hurt so much. The second time wasn’t any better.” I saw tears dropping from her eyes. “No matter what, Bella will never know how that feels. She’s only lost someone once. That’s no excuse to join something that she always opposed. Nevertheless, we will find her. She will not escape us. I know she’s hiding somewhere. I may not find her today. I may not find her tomorrow, maybe not even within this month. But she can’t hide forever. Eventually, she’ll slip up. And when she does, I’ll be there.”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! “Dinnertime!” A guard yelled. He started in a hallway with only 4 cells. The first cell was the first prisoner. “Hello there Vinnie.” 
“Not hungry.” He said. 
“You don’t have a choice. Besides, you’ll never escape. These cells dampen your powers. You might as well eat.” 
He took the bowl of food and ate silently. 
The next prisoner’s name was Sophia Donahi. She never said anything the entire time she was a prisoner. She would eat, however. The next cell held the newest prisoner, Lucy Fuchs. “Hello Lucy.” 
“When am I going to leave?” She asked. 
“We’ll let you know.” She didn’t know that she was meant to be a permanent prisoner. 
The next cell had the guard’s least favorite prisoner. “Alright Caroline. Time to eat.” 
“I’m not going to eat until you give me proof that Aaron is still alive.” She said. 
“Of course, he’s alive. We’re trying to find him as we speak.” The guard lied. 
“LIAR!” She grabbed the guard through the bars and slammed him against the bars. “To cut costs, you made sure my cell didn’t dampen my powers because I couldn’t use mine to escape. I saw Aaron burning in Hell! So, unless you M.OT.H. freaks can now resurrect people from the dead like you did with us, then I’ll think about complying.” 
The guard chuckled. “We never resurrected you. We just made it look like that so that we could break Aaron’s spirit. That food is the only thing keeping you living this long.”  
She started to scream and banged the guard’s head into the bars. She kept doing it repeatedly. She did it so hard, you could start to see his skull. When she finished, he dropped to the floor. Dead.



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