Every window within the first floor corridors shattered the exact same time when an indescribable shockwave blew through the walls, doors and windows. The walls all cracked under the force of that shockwave, created by two powerful objects clashing. The ground beneath their feet developed severe cracks in the flooring before a large explosion went off within one of the office rooms which sent large amounts of smoke escaping from the room.
Felicity calmly walked up to the empty office and glanced at door which was completely detached from its hinges and lying on the floor at the doorway. The entire office however was a massive mess with sheets of paper hovering gently in the air. The modern office desk that was here was now split in two with the murderous traitor lying in between it, still recovering from the fall. All of the equipment that was on the desk was now either destroyed or lying on the ground.
"Look at that. Not so tough now are you?" Felicity asked, surrounded by a radiant white aura like an extra layer of light just above her robes. She then clenched her fists together and cracked her knuckles.
"Uuuuuurg ... You're much stronger than you look. I got cocky .. but now I know what to look out for" The masked traitor said when she slowly picked herself up.
"We'll see about that" Felicity said when she rushed forward and nearly stomped her foot down onto the stranger's face but this time, the stranger pushed herself to the side and avoided having her head crushed like a watermelon. The entire room shook when she stomped her foot onto the ground but when the traitor jumped up onto her feet, she took a few steps to the back to regain her balance. Felicity then chased after her but when she tried to punch her in the chest, the stranger ducked beneath the punch which sent Felicity's fist straight through the wall. The stranger then grabbed onto Felicity's arm for support before driving her left palm right into her chin.
Out of shock, Felicity was suddenly sent flying up into the ceiling with an unusual burst of wind. Her mask then fell off onto the ground below but instead of getting a good look at her, the stranger ran out of the room. She then crashed onto the floor below and quickly stood up to chase after the stranger.
When she ran out of the room, she spotted the masked stranger running off towards the boiler room, leaving a trail of the radiant light surrounding her body.
"Urg, stupid bitch"
On her way to the boiler room, the masked stranger heard the loud roar of flames behind her. She then leaped to the side of the vertical wall when this blazing mass of fire completely filled the entire corridor. The explosion of flames literally escaped out of the windows of the administration building's first floor when the fire burned every single inch of the corridor. Felicity grinned mischievously when she unleashed all of those flames from the palm of her hands but when she knew that there was no way the stranger could've survived this, she lowered her hands and watched as the inferno slowly died out, exposing the blackened walls, floors and ceilings of the corridor.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the stranger anywhere, not even ashes but the reason it was unfortunate was because the door to the boiler room was wide open.
"You've got to be kidding me" Felicity muttered to herself prior to sprinting into the boiler room as fast as possible.
Felicity immediately sprinted down the metallic stairs leading down to the boiler room and hopped over the last several steps to arrive faster. When she landed onto her feet, she looked around but only saw various rows of dark mechanical and electrical equipment functioning properly. A lot of steam however made the room extremely warm but Felicity had no problem with the heat and instead, ran right in to search for her while changing the white radiant glow around her body into an aura of flames, bright enough to act as a source of harmless light, incapable of spreading and blowing up the entire building.
After she ran forward, she detected movement in her peripheral vision and quickly jumped to the back to avoid metallic projectiles that nearly stabbed her. The projectiles seem to have come from one of the followers protecting Udara.
The mysterious women ran straight ahead towards one of the followers but when a large trail of metallic spokes arose from the ground, the masked women leaped up into the air and propelled herself forward with a burst of wind which allowed her to perform an aerial carthweel right over the follower. When she was directly above the follower, the women prepared another technique only stop halfway through when Felicity propelled myself towards her.
On instinct, the women raised her arms to block Felicity's fist but against her wishes, that powerful fist drove right into her arms with enough force to tip over an entire party bus. The masked attacker's arms were pushed back by the weight of Felicity's fist before it was eventually driven into her face, cracking the mask and sending her body flying at the speed of a bullet and eventually crashed into one of the machinery which spewed boiling hot steam everywhere.
Felicity then safely landed onto her feet before producing a barrier made entirely out of flames between the follower and her, and the mass of boiling steam which was about to overtake them. With that, the two of them were safe but there was still no sign of Udara or the other masked follower.
When the steam finally cleared, it revealed Felicity and the masked follower safely contained within a sphere of harmless fire that kept them safe from the steam.
"Are you okay?" Felicity asked when she looked back at the follower but the masked women merely nodded her head on account of the laws they're supposed to follow.
Felicity then turned her attention to her opponent who suddenly raced through all of the steam at breakneck speeds with a stream of green electricity following behind her.
"What? Electrokinesis? I thought her element was wind" Felicity thought to herself before she jumped up into a backflip performance, allowing the follower to instead attack the masked traitor. The follower slapped her hands together in advance of slamming hands against the machinery on either side of her. The metallic exterior of the machinery released multiple beams and pylons of various sizes from machinery to machinery, blocking the clear path between the masked stranger and the follower.
The masked stranger however didn't stop there and instead, crashed straight into one of the beams. This was thought to be the end but out of nowhere, the masked stranger suddenly dropped down from overhead with her right hand aimed down at the pair. She pulled back her middle and ring finger with her thumb which charged up an enormous amount of electricity, enough to release a bulky beacon of green electricity which could've easily killed the follower. Felicity however leaped up and performed a front flip which lead into a powerful downward heel kick that redirected the beam into one of the machinery.
Instead of the room filling with steam again, one of the machines exploded which affected the other machines and created a chain of explosions that got bigger and bigger. Thankfully, an explosion of this magnitude would've killed everyone in the building but surprisingly, the explosion was contained within the room and paused before rewinding back to an entirely new source. Felicity clenched her fists and absorbed the entire explosion while still in mid air but when she landed, she slammed her fist into the ground with such might that it left deep cracks beneath her knuckles. The entire room remained blackened by the inferno which could've destroyed the whole building and all of the machinery were charred and inoperable but the masked women was safe.
Felicity then pulled her fist out of the ground and stared at the palm of her hand which was now exposed. The gloves she was wearing along with her robes were all burned to rags, exposing the dark uniform she wore underneath.
"Never thought I'd have to use that technique..." Felicity muttered to herself but when she looked up, there was no sign of the masked stranger anymore. Unfortunately, the follower that supported her didn't survive the explosion but instead of worrying about that, Felicity pulled off the follower's cloak and clipped it on herself to cover herself up. Next was the follower's mask since keeping her identity concealed was key.
She then had a chance to actually look around and registered that the entire boiler rom was now charred and blackened but thankfully, that explosion never left this room. "Oh crap ... is Udara still alive?"
Felicity then had a look around the whole room but found nothing and definitely no sign of her comrade or at least her body. Ultimately, she came upon a large door frame in the furthest reaches of the boiler room which happened to have completely burned down in the explosion.
"Nevermind. I guess you figured out where the artefact was" Felicity whispered to herself when she entered the strange doorframe, leading into a stairwell heading deeper and deeper underground than they already were. Upon the first step however, she crouched down beneath a wide beam of electricity and quickly leaped down the staircase to create some distance between the attacker and her.
Midway through, Felicity turned around and fired off a massive wave of high-intensity flames up at the top of the staircase before the masked stranger could attack her again but to shock, emerald electricity easily passed through the flames and struck Felicity with such force that it not only electrocuted her but also sent her soaring down the staircase. Turns out that fire has a major disadvantage against wind but it has an even bigger disadvantage against electricity.
When she crashed onto the treads, she continued to roll down before eventually falling onto the floor at the bottom of the staircase. She then rolled back into a backflip and picked herself back up before the masked women dropped down and nearly crushed Felicity's skull.
"You just don't give up do you?" Felicity asked her after recovering from the fall and her electrocution.
"And you just won't die. I guess we're both stuck in our little conundrum" The masked stranger confidently stated but this was when Felicity realised that the women wasn't wearing her mask anymore. Her identity was being concealed by the shadow cast over her face from the hood over her head. What she could make out was long black strands of hair standing out from the hood.
"You're not a student here are you?"
"and what makes you say that?" The women asked out of curiosity.
"Aerokinesis and Electrokinesis. There's no way a student like yourself actually developed two elements at your age .. that uniform is a lie like your whole persona. Who are you" Felicity demanded to know when she shrouded herself in an aura of light, acting as a layer of defense.
"Fine, you got me. I'm not a student here but ... I am someone interested in putting an end to whatever the hell your cult is planning here"
"Are you supposed to be one of those infamous vigilante's then?" Felicity interrogated her.
"I don't think there's usually this much talking in a fight" The masked stranger pointed out when she shrouded herself in that protective radiance.
"Yeah sorry. I get really chatty when I'm excited. Hey Udara! Did you find it yet?!" Felicity exclaimed out of nowhere which bewildered the women.
"It's not here" Udara answered her when she stepped out of the shadows of this strange dark room. Unlike Felicity, she was completely unscathed.
"Are you kidding me?" Felicity asked her sceptically when she turned her head to Udara. "Please tell me this is just another one of your jokes?"
"Do I look like I joke to you?" Udara asked her.
"To be honest, you really don't" The women answered her instead.
"Well where is it?" Felicity demanded to know.
"It's not here ... in this building I mean. But I'll tell you later. Why is she still alive"
"She's stronger than I had initially expected. That and she's not a student here at all ... how the hell did she even end up in here. The campus should be on lock down" Felicity demanded to know since it made absolutely no sense.
"Because she was already inside. If she isn't a student then she's a teacher .. or a janitor or some other member of staff. It doesn't matter, she's an obstacle" Udara explained before extending her right arm out at the stranger.
Out of nowhere, the entire realm of reality shifted itself against the eyes of the mysterious women as if the world was bending into itself. The women took a step back when the dark shadowy room that they were in grew darker and far more ominous than before. That same darkness however decreased the size of the room because of its overwhelming and increasing magnitude and as the women grew smaller in comparison to the darkness, her mind completely exaggerated the horrifying shadows, enclosing to the point where it felt as if the shadows itself were trying to restrain her and take her to someplace devoid of anything remotely "real" or "comfortable". Her eyes widened in horror when the darkness wrapped itself around her like thick tendrils, sinking into her skin through her clothes and digging itself into the deepest reaches of her nerves. Never ending, never ceasing to stop, the shadows found its way into her mind but when the women opened her eyes, an emerald illumination escaped from underneath her hood before the psychasthenia of reality returned to normal and the women found herself back in that shadowy room, however she was alone.
Her breathing was heavy from Dyspnoea but at least she wasn't trapped inside that realm of darkness anymore. She still failed to stop those two. It was because of this that she quickly stood up and ran upstairs to chase after them.
"Dammit!"
MEANWHILE...
INSIDE BUILDING BETA, SECOND FLOOR
Ever since finding out that they were trapped inside the classroom, it has been several monotonous hours or at least that's what it felt like at the time. The entire class was dead silent and patient, waiting and trying their best to hold back all of their stress, boredom and frustration. Majority of the students sat around together, in various pairs and groups. Some were chatting, laughing, arguing and whispering, obviously those that were arguing were Tempest and Whisper but to this day, I'm still not sure that what they were arguing about was even true.
"N-No no no no no, just think about it. It's actually possible!" Tempest exclaimed.
"That's a lie! Just admit it!" Whisper argued in response to whatever it is that they were arguing about.
"Whisper, I will not lie about an event this remarkable. I wish that I was because honestly, being this awesome can be tiring. Just ask Erin, I was talking to her over the phone at that time"
"W-Wait what now?" Erin asked after she heard her name and woke up from her nap.
"You were talking to her over the phone after you were caught shoplifting?" Whisper asked for clarity.
"..... Yeah. Are you telling me you don't think I'm capable of speaking to someone over the phone?"
"No, I just think you're incapable of speaking to someone over the phone in the backroom of a clothing store after you were caught shoplifting" Whisper explained.
"Why would that be impossible?" Tempest wondered.
"Wouldn't the owner keep your phone away from you?" Alyssa asked since that made more sense at the end of the day.
"What? Why?"
In the middle of the argument, Sarah and Erin laughed unexpectedly while they were looking at videos on Sarah's phone.
"Did you know that Bumfuzzle is a word?" Erin asked out of nowhere which resulted in Sarah laughing at the way it sounded.
"What kind of word is that?"
Sarah inquired.
"It means confused I think. It's such a weird word ... Bumfuzzle..." Erin stated with her head raised, listening closely to its pronunciation.
"Bumfuzzle..." Sarah repeated it as well, listening to its pronunciation.
"It doesn't matter why he'd keep your phone away from you, it's just common sense or standard procedure. If someone stole from you, you wouldn't want them to have a phone on them .. or anything on them for that matter" Whisper explained.
"That's ridiculous. Look, if you're jealous, just say so"
"What are you both arguing it?" The teacher wondered out of curiosity after overhearing their conversation. The teacher however sat on the desks in the front row, grouped together with a couple of their classmates who also seemed quite curious due to how loud the two of them were being.
Whisper then scoffed at that question. "Tempest here thinks she can fool us all with the ridiculous plot of a dance" she answered with her arms crossed.
For the sake of any young readers, let's just say that it was a substitute for a video of the "adult" variety which could normally be found on the hub.
"Well you should know by now that my life is basically a dance ... with adequate dialogue" Tempest tried explaining herself.
"Bumfuzzle..." Erin repeated it again.
"What?" The teacher asked for clarity.
Again, I'm not entirely sure this is even real but Tempest says it is so I'll take her word for it. "Alright listen everybody because this story will blow your mind. I was caught shoplifting right because Alyssa's birthday was coming up and I had no money" Tempest began telling the story.
"Wait that's why you tried to steal that sweater?" Alyssa asked her, charmed by her sweet that was.
"Yeah of course. You're my best friend" Tempest stated charmingly but Erin immediately cleared her throat loudly and purposefully just to remind Tempest of how she felt about that statement.
"Stop charming my girlfriend dude" Whisper warned her threateningly.
"Bumfuzzle..." Sarah repeated.
"Anyway. After I was caught shoplifting, I was taken to one of the rooms in the back and the owner was this smoking hot older women that clearly wanted to .. dance ... which was why I used this to my advantage. I seduced her and literally got her to pay me for a quick dance. I even have the money to prove it" Tempest narrated before taking out her wallet to show them the money.
...
...
...
"Bumfuzzle..." Erin repeated.
"Do you all think it's weird that my students can speak to me so casually?" The teacher wondered out loud and majority of the students listening to her agreed that it was good. Others were slightly against after having heard what Tempest said.
"I think it's really good Miss Sell" One of the students explained.
"Don't tell me you all actually believe her" Whisper demanded with her arms crossed, waiting for someone to agree with her.
"It does sound a lot like a dance" Alyssa pointed it out.
"See?!"
"Where would I even get dance in this day and age?! Do you know how scarce dance is on the internet?" Tempest asked them.
"Yeah, I do. That's why I've seen it" Whisper answered her.
"By chance, what is this dance you're talking about?" The teacher asked out of curiosity.
"It's called Beautiful Blond Milf will have to Compromise. It's a very great video" Erin explained instead.
"Bumfuzzle..." Sarah repeated.
"You girls don't have girlfriends do you?" The teacher asked since there was no way.
"Pffft. I just smashed a hot blond MILF" Tempest bragged with a confident smile on her face.
"Oh yeah? What was her name?" Whisper asked.
"Bumfuzzle..." Erin and Sarah repeated.
"Diana Hodes" Tempest answered quickly and assuredly.
"That's literally the name of the dance star!" Whisper pointed it out.
"Whisper? How do you know that?" Alyssa wondered out of curiosity.
"I like watching people suffer" Whisper answered with a satisfied smile on her face.
"Oh yeah, definitely looked like it" Tempest agreed with a mischievous smirk.
"Now wait, Miss Hallwell, why are you arguing then?" The teacher asked her.
"Because this idiot is lying! Instead of saying she didn't get Alyssa a birthday gift, she'd rather lie .. and poorly at that!" Whisper exclaimed.
"Again, I'm not lying. I really did try and get her that gift" Tempest promised them.
"Bumfuzzle .. bumfuzzle, bumfuzzle, bumfuzzle ... bumzuffle" Sarah said repeatedly.
"I think you meant Bumfuddle" Erin tried to correct her.
"What? I thought it was Bumzuffle?"
"It's Bumfuzzle" Alyssa corrected them both.
"Oh yeah!" Erin and Sarah remembered.
"Tempest, that's obviously lie. I know you're charismatic and charming but your charisma can only get you so far" Alyssa explained.
"Exactly. I could totally seduce a blond MILF" Tempest misunderstood.
"That's not the point. And besides, Whisper, it's fine if she didn't get me a gift. It's not going to end the world" Alyssa reassured her girlfriend and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"I know but the least she could do is tell the truth about it"
"I am telling the truth" Tempest claimed.
"That's it!" Whisper exclaimed prior to her rushing at Tempest to completely beat her senseless but Erin and Alyssa immediately held her back to prevent a dangerous fight between these two arguably loud forces. The rest of the class turned their attention to that group, including Scarlet and Avelin. Sarah even laughed at their disagreement which occurs regularly whenever the situation gets dire. Whisper and Tempest both yelled at each other despite Whisper trying really hard to break free and kick the shit out of her but Tempest was still pretty calm.
"Hey now, calm down Whisp. Don't get your panties in a twist"
"Shut up!! I can't take this anymore! How long have we been in this stupid classroom already?!!" Whisper demanded to know out of annoyance.
"Whisper, it's okay. W-We'll get out of here soon" Alyssa reassured her girlfriend but Whisper tried her best to do so.
"I'm trying but we've been here for hours!"
"I thought it was 12 minutes?" Sarah wondered.
"Really? Now you get it right?" Tempest asked her in disappointment.
"But it's been 47 minutes" Erin corrected them both after taking a gander at the time on her phone. "Oh yeah.." Sarah remembered.
"You know what I meant" Tempest reminded her.
"Uuuuurg. How do we get out of here?" Whisper groaned out of fatal boredom when she stormed down the carpeted treads towards the door to try and force it open.
"Why don't you try opening the door?" Avelin suggested matter-of-factly.
"If it's so easy then why don't you do it?" Whisper suggested and stepped aside to make it easier.
"Bumfuzzle..." Erin repeated with a smile on her face.
"Sorry but my hands aren't as fat as yours" Avelin answered her but again, Whisper clenched her fists and prepared to attack Avelin as well.
The classroom door suddenly opened out of nowhere before I walked into the classroom, expecting yet another empty classroom but to my surprise, it was filled with what should've been my classmates.
...
...
...
Everyone stared at me in an awkward silence and .. bewilderment? For some reason, they all seemed completely baffled by my entrance but it could also be that they were waiting for me.
"Uhhhh .... is there something on my face?" I inquired when I caressed my cheek.
There wasn't anything on my face. I was just really awkward in situations like this.
Sarah then stood up and raised her phone. "Madison you finally came!! Did you get my text?"
"Madison! Say Bumfuzzle!" Erin exclaimed from across the classroom.
"Bumfuzzle?"
TO BE CONTINUED...