In the prison.
After eating breakfast, the prisoners started returning to their cells one by one. So did Aiden, laying on his bed.
His mind was elsewhere. He had spent the day watching the other Exodites, the prisoners who, like him, had been thrown into this place.
Some of them looked hardened, accustomed to being a Exodite. Others still carried fear in their eyes, as if they had yet to understand why they were one.
'Worth… is it really worth it? he wondered. Am I even looking for something real, or just dreaming about it?' He started thinking, back about why did he become a Exodite.
During lunch, he had been thinking, about everything he could have been doing anything other than rotting away in a cell.
He sighed, sitting up as he murmured to himself, "I spend more time dreaming than living… But isn't that how you find purpose? By imagining what could be?"
I'm now worried, that even if I escape did Mira leave with Riven because of trust… and loyalty?
Aiden stood and walked to the rusted steel bars, gripping them tightly. The prison was quiet, but not silent. There was a occasional clink of chains, the murmuring of distant voices.
His gaze swept the other cells. Some prisoners sat in quiet contemplation, others huddled in corners, whispering among themselves.
"I've seen my exit… but I don't even have a plan. There are too many of those creatures wandering around.' He reflected.
Aiden had considered escaping before, but the Soecters were stopping him. And if he stayed here too long, Marvin would come back for him. That much, he was sure of. But at least he had the Helper remembered his escape path.
In the mist of his thoughts, a sudden, sharp crack like breaking bone snapped Aiden from his thoughts.
He turned his head just in time to see a shadow loom over him. A massive figure filled the cell, its frame blocking out what little light trickled into the cell.
What…?
Before he could react, a hit crashed into his ribs with brutal force. The impact sent him flying backward, his body slamming into the steel bedframe. The jagged edge of the bed connected with his spine, pain jolting through his nerves. His vision blurred for a moment.
Aiden gritted his teeth, swallowing the pain. He couldn't afford weakness… Not here. Not in this place. Especially die here.
He pushed himself up, his eyes locked onto his attacker. They was massive taller, broader than anyone he'd faced before. The man was his cellmate he was taller than before.
"What the hell? Why are you attacking me?" Aiden whispered, careful not to wake the others.
The man didn't answer. He simply stood there, staring.
So, he scanned his cellmates body, he noticed something that he remembered he just encountered.
This time his body was very half, from the others. "Are you one of those creatures… but how? You was just normal."
His cellmate moved with an unsettling calm, stepping forward like a predator. His movements were slow. But in his cold, empty eyes, Aiden saw it nothing. No humanity. No hesitation…nothing to lose.
Aiden dashed forward, dodging his massive fist. He retaliated instantly, launching a flurry of punches and kicks.
Each strikes landed, each blow meant to incapacitate, to knock him off his feet.
But just like his ambushed, nothing happened.
Aiden's fists blurred as he struck again, ribs, jaw, stomach. Each punch carried strength he hadn't even known he possessed. There were sharp crack of knuckles against flesh filled the small cell. Sweat dripped down his face, mixing with the blood seeping from his split knuckles.
But the man didn't flinch. Not once. Not a grunt. Not even the hint of an expression. His expression was a blank mask, as if the onslaught meant nothing to him.
'Seriously why won't you go down…I know some specter specialized in certian aera like speed, strength and durability but there has a be a weakness.'
He realized that his cellmate was really just in the cell for the whole day whatever happened occurred during that time. But how can someone suddenly become a Specter?…if it even is a specter.
"Stop…" Aiden muttered between breaths. "I'm really trying not to hurt you."
Aiden kept dogding his cellmates grabs and punches, however no matter what counter attack he did. They didn't go down nor stop from his pleas.
Then, Aiden's frustration reached a boiling point. He unleashed a rapid combination of kicks and punches, his feet snapping through the air like strikes of a whip.
Aiden jumped, driving his knee into the man's chest, forcing him back. The man's feet slid but he didn't fall. Instead, he stepped forward again, like a juggernaut, and grabbed Aiden's wrist with terrifying strength. The grip was, unyielding.
Aiden's heart raced, his mind flashed as he remembered the ambushed vice grip. But this wasn't a fight for restraint anymore, it was a battle to survive.
In an instant, he shifted his momentum, twisting with explosive force, his free hand reaching for the nearby drinking sink hanging from the wall.
With one swift motion, Aiden brought himself and his cellmate down, onto the nearby cell drinking sink. The sink shatter, the impact echoed through the small cell.
Still, his cellmate didn't react his head barely broke, as he was about to move. Aiden pulled his head back and slammed his head, down hard into the ground. Again. And again.
Each strike was louder, the sound of the cracking of the ground, reverberating off the cold stone walls.
His cellmate head snapped back each time, to stand up, but his body remained unwavering, but he finally stopped.
Aiden's arms were shaking, bloodied, his own pain forgotten in the heat of the moment. He didn't really want to kill, but something in his mind blocked out all his reasoning.
He saw faintest flicker of something in the cellmates eyes. It wasn't the he was dead, but it was relief.
"Is he happy to no longer be in here, but he will be if he still alive."
As Aiden spoke his head dropped, his breath a cold air.
At this time.
"WENG! WENG!"
An ear piercing alarm rang, he saw all the specter creatures in the prison rapidly rushed out of their heading all around, the prison.
As they moved, Aiden could see throught the bar one creature was suddenly jumped on getting knocked down.
"Is this my time to escape?"
He stood up walked out the cell, that was no opend fromm the system he saw a riot all the Exodites was attack the creatures.
He looked back, at his cellmate still on the ground before walking off.
A low striking sound, followed by the sounds of bones breaking. Two ferocious roars, and howls of pain, coming from ahead of him.
Aiden stepped forward,his head kept looking back and forth as multiple Exodites were fighting distracted by the creatures. He still didn't want to be stopped by them.
Still, despite the sounds from infront it was his path out of them prison, he remembered how his plan was using a open lock.
Even with his plan he was worried, this place was filled with the creatures even with strong Exodites it could be impossible.
There also Marvin, I never returned…now alerted no time tell when he will arrive.
In the mist of his thoughts, the air cracked in his sight two beams shot toward Aiden, glowing like molten streaks of light. It was so close that his body tensed and instinct took over.
Move!
Before the thought could fully register, his muscles responded. His body partially dissolves into a translucent, swirling mass of phantom energy, resembling a mix of ethereal mist and flowing tendrils curled around him, pulling him forward like an unseen force had yanked him out of the way.
Still, His body had pulsing silhouettes remained where he once stood before he reappeared several feet ahead, untouched.
'I-I just vanished.' He thought.
He never thought a spacelocker would have abilities, like this but from he know it belong to another set of abilities.
However, he had no time to think about, cause when he looked up to see two short, strong Exodites heads snapped around, eyes widened with shock they didn't think he had that abilities.
It was the men, who stood infront of Aiden cell watching at his cellmate, as he looked at them. The two lunged at him, both fist wreathed in energy.
The first Exodite swung a right hook, the sheer force of it distorting the air. Aiden's body reacted faster than his mind, he leaned back just in time, the fist barely grazing his chin.
Before he could counter, the second Exodite pivoted behind him, bringing down a glowing medieval Energy that formed on his arm, aimed for Aiden's shoulder.
"Shit…"
Aiden twisted mid-dodge, his foot skidding against the ground as he narrowly avoided the strike. The impact shattered the steel table, just where he stood.
The second Exodite wasn't done before Aiden could fully regain his stance, he dashed into a sheild basd on his shoulder.
Aiden's breath hitched too close!
His body dissolved again, leaving behind a faint silhouette as he dashed to the side. The uppercut whiffed through empty air.
Aiden exhaled, his heart pounded in his ears. 'I can move like this now?' His body felt weightless, his reactions sharper than ever before. 'This is my new ability…?'
The realization sent a thrill through him. But the Exodites weren't going to wait. 'One is like Mira a Vortex Lancer and other is Riven a Aegis Ward this is going be hard.'
"What the hell is this?!" The first Exodite growled, eyes darting around as Aiden reappeared behind them.
"Focus!" The second Exodite barked at his partner.
There both spoke back and forth.
"I see so the last plan of us failled."
"How I thought after…he changes into one of them We will have the uper hand."
"I guess whoever is creating the new remedie is useless."
There was a man standing in back away from, everyone suddenly shouted. "Everyone together!"
Aiden tired of there conversations shouted. "You can throw everything you've got at me, but I won't stop until escaped."
They both rushed forward. The two of them coordinated seamlessly, moving as one. The first attacker feinted left, forcing Aiden to shift his balance just as the second came in with a straight punch, aimed directly at his gut.
Aiden twisted at the last second, slapping the punch aside with his forearm. The impact sent vibrations up his arm, but he ignored it, countering with a sharp elbow strike to the Exodite ribs.
The man grunted in pain but powered through, grabbing Aiden's wrist before he could retract. His grip was like iron.
The first Exodite took advantage of the opening, charging in with a brutal knee strike aimed for Aiden's ribs.
Aiden acted on instinct, his body dissolved again, particulars wrapping around him as he slipped through the grip like mist. He reappeared crouched low behind the Exodite, his foot swept out in a sharp arc.
The Exodite stumbled, arms flailing to regain balance.
Aiden shot up like a coiled spring, slamming his palm into the man's chest with a burst of force. The impact sent him skidding backward, crashing into a stack of metal crates.
The second Exodite wasn't done. He rushed in again, this time aiming a downward hammer fist a small sheild attached. Aiden sidestepped, grabbed the man's arm mid-swing, and twisted using his own momentum against him.
From a sharp pivot, Aiden flipped the man over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground with a heavy.
The man groaned, coughing as the impact rattled his bones.
Aiden took a step back, panting. The fight had lasted mere seconds, but his heart was pounding like a war drum.
Still, even from the pain and adrenaline, he couldn't stop now there was one Exodite left.
He turned his gaze toward their leader, the man who had fired the finger beams. Unlike his subordinates, he didn't seem to fight.
He verified that, as just from Aiden, gaze he was already stepping back, one hand raised to fire his beams again.
Aiden wasn't about to let him. He focused space shifted.
Reality itself seemed to distort around the leader. The ground under his feet tilted at an unnatural angle his foot slipped on nothing.
"What…?!" The leader's balance was stolen in an instant, his body tipping forward uncontrollably.
Aiden was already moving. He surged ahead, shadows flaring behind him, and drove a powerful kick into the man's gut. The impact lifted him off his feet.
The leader's eyes bulged as the force sent him hurtling backward, slamming into a pile of crates with a loud crash.
He didn't get back up.
Silence fell over the battlefield. The two henchmen groaned in pain, struggling to move, while their leader lay unconscious.
Aiden exhaled slowly.
He looked at his hands, then at the fading shadows that still coiled around his body. His mind replayed the fight how he had moved, how he had disappeared and reappeared.
He smirked. "This weird power… belongs to me."
At that moment he finished speaking, in the corner of his eyes he saw everyone stopped, that when he heard loud coughing and screaming let us out.
When he was confused, he saw creeping up behind him was a white mist of smoke, before he could even move to escape the fuss was already inhaled.
He stepped forward covering his nose, but he already felt weak, after a minute walking forward to his escape despite, not knowing what happening, he feel to his knees then flat onto the ground.
As his eyelid fluttered to to his falling alseep, he heard the clicking of boots, he saw Marvin and Liam walking up to him, Marvin wearing a mask and Liam isn't wearing a mask.