"This is all my fault," Zack said to himself, sitting next to Stacya, who was still unconscious and covered in bruises, along with a severely broken leg.
"If I'd acted earlier and not been so damn scared, I could've saved you. I could've done more than freak out and lose control. I could've done more than turn into that..."
"Oh, would you give it a rest already!"
Zack heard his voice from the red smoke enveloping the entire room. Suddenly, two figures emerged from it.
Jake and Paulina.
"If anyone is to blame for this, it's me."
Jake said, scratching the back of his head as he walked toward the two. Just when he noticed Stacya lying there next to him, he ran toward her in less than a second.
He took a good look at her and felt even worse than he already did. Bruises across her arms and torso, scars on her face that began to swell, and a leg that was facing the wrong way. Although Paulina managed to stop the bleeding and bandage most of it, it was obvious these weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
"If someone is to blame for this, it's me. If I came earlier, I could've..."
"That's the thing, I was here! You weren't! I should've..."
"But even when I came, I was acting like some action hero. I should've..."
"Oh, enough, you two!"
Paulina shouted, silencing the two.
"This is too bad a situation to be arguing over trivial things like this."
Paulina said.
Jake and Zack looked at her, eyebrows raised and heads tilted to the left.
"What do you mean?"
Jake asked her, nervous to hear the answer.
"We're stuck in this hellhole, and what's worse is we still aren't alone."
"What? I thought we were through with Mr. E's monsters! Speaking of which, w-what happened to that thing?"
Zack shouted, knocking himself on the head, angry for being so nervous.
"It turns out it was my fri-old friend Max."
Jake said, his head facing down.
"Wait, he's the one who gave you your Shadow abilities! The guy who started all this!"
"Yeah. It seems when I overloaded his body with my blue energy, he developed his own red energy to cure himself. And from the looks of it, he's way stronger than I could've ever imagined."
Zack's jaw dropped. To think someone like that, someone he and Captain Rocket had been chasing for years, had gained power even greater than Jake's? This really was bad.
"Don't worry, I have some good news."
Paulina assured the two.
They looked at her with tilted heads again.
"Listen, I did a scan of the entire base while Jake and I were coming to you and..."
"You didn't tell me you were doing that."
"I didn't feel I needed to until I got some results. Maybe figure out a way out of this hellhole."
"And?"
Zack said under his quickening breaths.
"I found a way. I made a multi-directional scan of the whole base and found a giant maze stretching across several miles. It seems we're under the island itself. Luckily, there is a path leading to a large portion of the island that was seemingly destroyed by some kind of explosion. We could leave through there."
Jake and Zack looked at each other briefly and back at her, hoping to hear more good news.
But that was all they got.
"And what's worse is I detected several life signatures, and they all seem to be coming to this exact location."
Zack was shaking all over now. He was a nervous wreck again. He wanted to say something, something that would only make him more of a coward. However, holding it back proved more difficult than he imagined.
Jake, on the other hand, tried his best to remain calm. Not because he was scared. No. Despite the army of monsters coming his way, he was ecstatic.
This was his chance to stop Mr. E. Especially now that he was launching some kind of assault on them.
"So you're saying there's a way to get out of here?"
Zack spat out despite trying to stop himself.
"Yeah. All we need to do is take Stacya and..."
"I'm staying."
Jake said quietly.
"What?"
Paulina said, looking at him with confused cybernetic eyes.
"You guys can go. Take Stacya with you. But I'm ending this here."
Before Zack could speak, Paulina grabbed Jake by the shoulder and pulled him closer to her.
"Are you insane?! There is an army of monsters heading our way, and you want to stay and fight them?"
"Pretty much. Yeah."
Jake said to her nonchalantly. He was now smirking a little.
"Such confidence would only get you killed, you know."
She stated blankly to him. He still didn't care.
"I know. But at least I want to go out knowing I tried to stop his plan. You do know it, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"And you're not even a little determined to stop him? I thought you were a member of the Danger Squad. And yes, I haven't forgotten that little tidbit, just so you know, so why don't you want to stop him?"
"Because I've already stopped him before."
"Then why can't you do it again?!"
"Because I've seen what it takes to stop him! Do you know why we stopped his plan the first time? It was because he was too powerful. It took the Danger Squad and the Super Society working together, and we still couldn't beat his army, let alone Mr. E himself."
"Bullsh*t! I managed to hit him. Even scared the f**ker off."
"You scared a clone off. A clone that was probably one-hundredth of his full power. Face it, Jake. We have no chance. Our best bet is to escape now before he gets here."
As they stared at each other in heated silence, Zack watched the two the whole time but remained silent. Still shaking but for another reason. Not out of fear of Mr. E or his army. But out of his own cowardice.
His body wanted to leave. To run away from all this with Paulina, but his heart felt it was wrong. He wanted to be a hero. Not the same coward as he's always been. He wanted to stop Mr. E and whatever plan that got even Paulina to quake in fear.
However, he still couldn't talk. He was just too scared to choose what to do.
But she did.
"W-we can handle them."
A feminine voice said in a low tone. It was Stacya. She had regained consciousness, but the pain she was feeling was intense. So intense, in fact, that it made it hard to speak.
"W-we can do it if we work together. And we have Paulina here to... ugh..."
She winced in pain, trying to get up, only to be stopped by Jake, who knew she would fall thanks to her leg. He hoisted her up on his shoulder so she could somehow stand.
She hated this.
She hated feeling so weak.
"Yes, I am, but no, you aren't. Paulina and Zack are getting you out of here. Right, you two?"
Jake said, now facing the two. Paulina was about to speak but Zack stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.
He had had enough. Stacya, who was beaten and bruised, still had the fight to fight. It would be a disgrace to his master's name if he didn't have the same. Paulina stared at him in shock, but all he gave was a cold expression.
Jake, on the other hand, still waiting for his answer, covered Stacya's mouth so she wouldn't say something to convince the two not to take her.
She bit it.
Hard.
"Arch! What the hell, Stacya?!"
"Listen! I am a warrior of Atlantis! Not some pathetic creature in need of saving. I may not know of Mr. E's plan, but I will still fight him. Let me help you... ugh..."
She said, trying to get Jake to let go of her and stand on her own.
She couldn't.
"You're not pathetic, but you definitely can't fight. Sorry, Stacya, but we need to get you out of here, or your injuries could get worse."
"I do not care of my injuries. These pale in comparison to the ones acquired in my past. I will be fine. Just let me help you!"
Jake still protested by putting his foot down and yelling at her. She responded with the same gesture. He clearly didn't want her to fight, but Stacya did.
Zack watched the two and smiled. Paulina, on the other hand, tilted her head in confusion. The more she got to know Stacya, the less she understood her. Was this some strong sense of duty? Some vengeance she wanted? Some bloodlust she craved to satisfy or something else entirely?
All that she didn't know. All she knew is that she wanted to help Jake face that monster.
Judging by how Zack is acting, he wanted to as well. Maybe deep down, she wanted to do the same but couldn't admit it. She knew why though.
She didn't want to face him again.
However, Jake did.
That's why Jake's next words shocked her even more.
"Maybe I can heal her."
Jake said, silencing everyone in the corridor.
"What?"
Paulina said to Jake, staring him down from top to bottom.
"I can heal her. I've done it before. Tell her, Zack!"
"Huh? Y-yeah! I remember! He saved my life once. During the Miltron Labs robbery a few days ago!"
"You can do that again?"
Stacya said with a gleaming flicker of light in her dark, saddened eyes.
"Yeah."
Jake said in full confidence.
Stacya hugged him tightly, sniffing his blue shirt while doing so, an Atlantean way to show gratitude. Although Jake didn't get it, he noticed her doing so and didn't have the heart to tell her that he didn't believe what he was saying.
When he healed Zack, he made a deal with Umbra of the Shadows for the power to do so. That wasn't his own power and his own skill with that power that did it. It was all Shadow energy.
However, from the way his blue energy reacted with Max's Shadow energy, they may have had similar properties. If that was true, then maybe, just maybe, he could heal her just like he healed Zack. If only he could ask the Barry about this.
Too bad he only has a one-way signal.
"I could try."
Jake said to her, unsure of his own claim.
He and Zack set her down by the nearest wall and got her to lay down straight on the ground. She didn't try to move. All she did was lay there, a smile from ear to ear on her grey-skinned face.
Now it was all up to Jake.
Paulina didn't understand how Jake was going to do it. Was he going to use his blue energy? Although she hadn't seen something like it before, she was sure it couldn't heal someone of their injuries.
She knew Shadow energy could've done so, but this? She wasn't so sure.
Mostly because when she saw it, it was like a violent ocean of mysterious power flowing through him. When she scanned for Shadow energy, it was calm, only moving ever so slightly. Like ink in a test tube. Jake's energy was like water in a bottle that had been violently shaken.
That didn't stop her from keeping quiet though. It seems her curiosity got the best of her.
"Jake, are you sure about this?"
Zack said as he held Stacya down.
Jake leaned over to Zack's ear and whispered.
"No, but it's worth a shot."
Now, focusing his attention on Stacya's broken leg, he outstretched his arms and began shaking them like he had a seizure. The more he shook them, the faster they moved.
And the more blue energy enveloped them. In just a few seconds, they were vibrating and barely visible.
Then, he lowered them to her leg.
She didn't scream. She didn't wince or move at all. She stayed still and waited. Her only change was the smile began to fade.
Paulina watched on in silent curiosity. She looked at Zack and he was sweating more than usual. He was nervous. Why wouldn't he be? There was no reason to think this would work.
This energy fused with Shadow energy, yes, and Shadow energy does have healing capabilities.
However, there was no reason to think it could do so since its very nature was the opposite of Shadow energy. Shadow energy was calm and tranquil, but this was wild and erratic. It lacked finesse, control. She would go as far as to say it was the opposite of Shadow energy.
So why was it working?
Slowly but surely, Stacya's leg began to move back into place. Slowly changing its position from a right angle to being more straight. Not only that, but her wounds began to heal and her swelling was fading. Although it was slow, the change was there.
It was indeed working.
But now Stacya was screaming.
She screamed and shook with erratic pain as the energy enveloped her. It seems her senses were not reacting well to the energy.
Jake didn't like it.
In fact, he hated hearing her scream. Hearing someone with such a soothing yet mysterious voice scream like a dying dolphin truly left a chill in his spine.
"I'm sorry I... don't know what I'm doing."
His movements began to slow as he realized he was hurting her. Zack wanted to stop him and tell him to keep going, but even he couldn't handle Stacya's intense screaming. Paulina wanted to stop this. Maybe this wasn't the way. However, just as she stepped forward to put an end to this, she stopped in her tracks.
"Don't you dare."
Stacya said, clenching her teeth and stilling her body.
Jake was confused and slightly scared, but one look into her red, tear-filled eyes gave him enough conviction to keep going. He shook his arms at an even greater speed, causing them to vibrate faster and the blue energy around her to glow even brighter.
And brighter...
And brighter...
Until...
A flash of blue light blinded the four of them, leaving them on the ground trying to cover their eyes.
Once Jake's eyes fully recovered just a few minutes later, he saw what he had done.
Stacya was fully healed. It seems the trick had worked. Although it took a rough five minutes, it worked. Her leg was straightened, and her cuts and bruises were nowhere to be seen.
He had saved her.
His smile disappeared, however, when she didn't look happy to be healed.
She was no longer lying straight down, but rather sitting on the floor, her hands on her left hip and right leg, now fully healed, but her eyes were transfixed on something.
Not just hers, but Zack's as well. He turned to see Paulina was watching something too.
"Guys? What's up? I did it! I healed Stacya! I was kinda expecting a more welcoming look."
He said, but they didn't seem to care.
They were all terrified.
Finally giving in, he turned around and suddenly took a step back at what he saw.
"Well done, dude! Looks like you were more interesting than I thought!"
It was Mr. E himself. Standing at the other side of the white corridor.
Sporting a black suit and denim pants and red tie. On his face was his infamous four-eyed mask.
The red smoke had cleared, and all that stood between them was nothing but air. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for.
Time for Mr. E to pay.
To be continued...