We fucked up big time

I might have well titled this post “Hitting the fan part 4.”

So, as planned, me, Elie, Ren, Tyler, Jane, and Kimiko met up with Raoul at the Black Garden. He had changed his getup, now wearing dark robes and a blindfold, and his neatly combed hair was now mussed up.

“You kept me waiting,” he said.

“We were waiting for the rest of our party,” I said. “How'd your case go?”

“Perfectly,” he said. “As per usual.”

He then nodded to Elie, Jane and Tyler one after the other.

“Are these three up to the task?” He asked.

“Why wouldn't they be?” I asked, folding my arms.

“The Path of Black Leaves is a dangerous place,” he said. “We are both Demi-Gods so we should be fine, and the swordsman and swordswoman you brought seem like they can hold their own. As for the scholar, the runner, and the pipsqueak, I have my doubts.”

“Pipsqueak?” Tyler asked, annoyed.

“Elie and Jane are smart enough to stay safe,” I said. “And Tyler is way stronger than you think he is. He's made a lot of progress in his training, and-”

I was cut off by the sight of Raoul suddenly teleporting directly in from of Tyler, staring him down. Even though he's a blindfolded blind man. Tyler took a startled step back. Raoul stood before him for a minute before turning to me.

“Do you insist upon his accompaniment?” he asked.

“I do,” I said. “He has a lot of potential. Let's let him live up to it.”

“Very well,” he said. “I'll allow them to come along, if they stay out of the way.”

“Whatever you say, Murdock,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow, which I could barely see through his blindfold.

“You know, 'cause your a blind lawyer, just like... you know what, never mind,” I said. “Let's go already.”

Raoul nodded, and snapped his fingers. A rift opened up, leading into a dark forest. The leaves on all the trees were either pitch black or gray, and many of the trees were seeming to wither away.

“Come on then,” Raoul said, stepping through. “I'll lead you to the nearest Tree.”

We followed him through.

“So what exactly is this place?” Tyler asked.

“The Path of Black Leaves,” Raoul explained. “The dominion of my old master. Unfortunately...”

He nodded to a particularly withered and leafless tree.

“It's been slowly declining since their death...”

“You're master was a Fear, right?” Tyler asked.

“Close enough,” Raoul said. “Even I'm not entirely sure. They were known by many names, but one you may be familiar with is the Slender Man.”

“I thought that was just a bad meme,” Tyler said.

Raoul chuckled at that.

“Not quite,” he said.

“You said they died, right?” Tyler asked. “How'd that happen?”

Raoul shrugged.

“Something involving the color blue,” he said. “I wasn't there to witness it, but rumors did get back to me after the fact.”

“Oh,” Tyler said.

We continued for a while longer before Raoul froze in place and raised an arm to halt us.

“We're not alone,” he said.

Everyone who had a sword drew it, while Elie and Jane withdrew to the center of the group.

“What is it?” I asked.

Raoul hesitated for a few seconds before answering.

“Dobroslav Abreu,” he said. “An old friend, once upon a time. I'd keep those weapons drawn if I were you.”

“Is he dangerous,” I asked.

“He's like me,” he said. “One of the master's oldest living servants. Centuries old, and wielding great power. And like me, he's developed followers of his own. Unfortunately, our path's parted with our master's death, and he has since grown.. somewhat crazed...”

Shortly after, a number of masked goons swarmed us, led by a Slavik man wearing the same dark robes as Raoul, and wielding a large knife. He charged straight at Raoul, who quickly ripped off his blindfold.

This was first time I had ever actually seen Raouls eyes. Or, rather, lack thereof. His eye sockets were completely empty. He made a Naruto-esque hand sign, and fully turned his attention to the man charging him. The man froze in place, and his colors became completely inverted.

“I'll hold Dobroslav as long as I can,” Raoul said, seemingly struggling to speak. “Deal with his minions!”

It took a while, but we managed to incapacitate Abreu's goons while taking minimal damage ourselves.

“Okay, they're down,” I said, turning back to Raoul, who was still immobilizing Abreu, but I could see that Abreu was visibly struggling against his imprisonment, and could break free any second.

“That great, now could someone knock this fool out and restrain him!?” Raoul hissed.

I struck Abreu on the back of his skull, knocking him out, and Raoul released his hold on him. I went to assist Raoul while Elie and Jane went to disarm and tie up Abreu.

“Again, why didn't you use that power against Daniel?” I asked.

“Again, downsides,” Raoul panted. “It only works on one person at a time, and I have to focus entirely on them. If my concentration wavers for even a second, I lose my hold on them. Good for restraining someone powerful, but only if I have enough backup to justify it. And Dobroslav is far weaker than the Doctor, and easier to restrain. The Doctor would have broken free far sooner.”

“I see,” I said. “So, what should we do with him?”

“Give me a minute,” he said.

After he had recovered his strength, he snapped his fingers, and Abreu shifted into negative again, and began floating.

“We're taking him with us?” I asked.

“This magic trick is a lot simpler, requires less focus, and will last as long as he remains unconscious,” Raoul said. “Speaking of...”

He drew a syringe and stabbed it into Abreu's arm.

“This should keep him down for a while,” he said. “I'd like a chance to speak to him later. Just make sure he's well restrained.”

“This could end badly,” I pointed out.

“So could bringing along the weaklings,” Raoul said.

“Enough of that,” I said. “Let's get moving.”

We kept moving, and I kept an eye on Abreu, and even tried seeing his destiny, but something was interfering.

“You'll find that some beings are harder to predict than others,” Raoul said. “If you keep growing stronger, your penchant for foresight may grow as well.”

We eventually found the Tree. It was large, and had a dark mahogany color to it. Twisted faces seemed to grow from the trunk, and drops of blood leaked from the branches.

“Here we are,” Raoul said. “Now go on. Get your sample.”

I sprouted my gauntlet, and snapped off a bloody thorn from the tree, and placed it in a small black box we had brought with us.

“So, where next?” Raoul asked.

“We should go to Dr. Ferris's base,” Tyler suggested. “We can use his Extractor.”

“Elie's Extractor could work too,” Jane said.

“Whichever is closest,” Raoul said. “Doesn't matter to me.”

After exchanging some information involving locations of the Extractors, it was revealed that Daniel base was the closest. So, that's where we went. We set Abreu down on a table that Daniel had set up, and stationed Kimiko and Ren to keep an eye on him. I brought the Tree sample over to Daniel's Extractor, with Elie and Jane on either side of me.

“You guy's know how to work this thing, right?” I asked.

“Not sure,” Elie said hesitantly. “He modified it to work with a computer hooked up to it. This could take me some time to-”

Before he could finish, both he and Jane were swept off their feet, and shadowy tendrils rose from the ground, binding them in place. Bill Dawson then rose from the ground, sneering at me.

“Long time no see,” he said, snatching the thorn away from me and melting back into the ground.

He then reemerged next to Abreu, as more Tendrils held Ren and Kimiko in place.

“What are you doing!?” I demanded, as he placed the thorn in Abreu's hand.”

“You see, Kallaway,” he said. “There's more than one way to predict the future.”

Raoul made a move to remove his blindfold, but more tendrils rose up to hold his wrists before he could.

“Not yet, my friend,” Dawson said, smirking. “Anyway, I happen to know that what I'm about to do will be...”

A syringe melted out of the palm of his hand, and he gripped it tightly.

“...Favorable to my cause,” he finished.

He then jammed the syringe into Abreu's heart, and a moment later, the maniac jolted awake.

“Have fun,” Dawson said, grinning, as he melted into the ground, and the tendril's holding everyone back receeded.

Tyler drew his sword and made a move to try and strike Abreu down, but Abreu unleashed a pulse of dark energy that threw him and almost all of us off balance. Only me and Ren were able to hold our ground, but Ren's sword was knocked from his hand.

Abreu turned his attention to the thorn in his hand, and grinned broadly. He turned to Ren, holding the thorn in a reverse grip, raising it above his head. Ren raised his right arm to try and guard against the attack. Abreu brought the thorn down in an angle that would embed it right into Ren's arm.

But that didn't happen. Tyler, who had recovered somewhat, kicked Ren's feet out from underneath him, causing him to fall to the ground, safe from the attack. He then jumped to his feet and tried to engage Abreu. He got a couple punches in, throwing Abreu off balance, and then made a move to hit him with a palm strike. But before the hit landed, Abreu raised his hand holding the thorn up, directly in the way of the blow, causing the thorn to impale Tyler's hand.

Tyler retreated, crying out in pain, and both Ren and I acted immediately. I drew my sword, while Ren recovered his. I bisected Abreu at the waste, while Red decapitated him. His lifeless chunks dropped to the ground before us.

I turned my attention back to Tyler. He ripped the thorn out of his palm, and then, in a state of panic, he pulled his belt off and tightened it around his upper arm, just below the shoulder. I used my vision eyes to examine his arm, and saw what was happening. He had gotten the thorn out, but the damage was already done. The tree's blood had infected his bloodstream,along with all the Eldritch power that was in it.

I tried using my foresight. I tried to figure out what the best possible solution could be. But I couldn't see anything. The makeshift tourniquet was working for now, but we needed to figure something out fast.

“The Enhancer!” Elie shouted. “It's like the Extractor! It can pull Eldritch power out of things!”

I wasn't sure if that suggestion would work, but it was the best I could think to do. I escorted Tyler to the Enhancer, punched a hole in it with my gauntlet, and stuck Tyler's hand through the hole.

“Try and hold still,” I told him, looking at the dials on the side of the machine. “Which of these is which?”

Raoul quickly removed his blindfold, and looked around for a minute, before focusing on a specific direction.

“Daniel!” He shouted. “Get back to your base now! Your pipsqueak is in danger!”

Raoul then fell to his knees, seeming to have pushed his powers a bit too far.

“Stop calling me that!” Tyler said through gritted teeth.

Daniel suddenly appeared there, looked around the room, noticed the chunks of Abreu on the floor, then the fact that Tyler was in a lot of pain, with one arm in his Enhancer.

“Okay, a million questions, but first, WHAT is this!?” he demanded.

“His arm is infected with the Bleeding Tree's blood,” I said. “We're trying to remove the energy using the Enhancer. Lend a hand?”

He teleported up to the Enhancer, and turned one of the dial's up gradually. Red light, shifting between the shapes of branched, vines, leaves, and thorns, began filling the empty space inside the Enhancer.

“This could end badly,” Daniel said. “The Enhancer may not be able to hold all this power in, especially with the hole you put in it.”

I raised my gauntlet up.

“I can control energy with this thing,” I said. “At least to some extent. If this goes South, I'll do my best to hold it all back.”

“Okay,” Daniel said. “But the Enhancer wasn't built to contain anything like this...”

He placed his hand on Tyler's shoulder.

“Hey, stay strong,” he said. “I'm gonna make this work. Just give me a minute.”

He then held out a hand, and the Vambrace he mentioned in his last couple posts flew into his hand from underneath a desk, and several wires and a Cell came to him as well. He ripped a panel off the Enhancer, and started using the wires to connect the Vambrace to the inner wiring of the Enhancer.

“Okay,” I asked. “What are you doing, and how are you doing it?”

“Newborn's power,” he said. “It gives me enhanced understanding of both technology and anatomy, and a certain level of control over both. The Vambrace is designed to infuse energy from a Cell into my body, but I should be able to reverse that so that the energy in the Enhancer can be channeled into a Cell plugged into the Vambrace.”

He plugged a Cell into the Vambrace and place his hand on Tyler's shoulder again.

“Don't worry,” he said. “We're gonna get this energy out of you.”

“What if he doesn't want it out?” came the voice of Bill Dawson, seeming to come at us from all angles..

“Dawson!” Daniel growled.

Tyler's eyes snapped open, and a fierce red light poured out of his irises.

“Look at all that power,” Dawson said. “Right there within your grasp.”

Tyler's glowing eyes focused on the power flowing in front of him. His expression looked hungry.

“All you have to do,” Dawson continued, “Is reach out. And grab it!”

“Don't listen to him!” I told him.

“This is dangerous power,” Daniel said. “You could die, or worse, if we don't-”

“You know how to ork this machine,” Dawson whispered. “Just a knob that needs turning...”

“Tyler!” Daniel snapped, trying to get Tyler's attention. Tyler turned his gae to lock eyes with Daniel.

“I read the post with Kallaway,” he said, almost vacantly. “How you used this machine to awaken his powers. How all it took to survive the process was to be strong enough to handle the power.”

“Tyler, this is Eldritch energy we're dealing with here,” I said. “Your body can't-”

“Can't it?” Dawson chuckled, cutting me off.. “Aren't you the one who said he had potential?”

“Yes, you did,” Tyler said. “And that I should live up to it. Were you lying the whole time!”

“No, I wasn't,” I said. “But this isn't what I was-”

I was cut off again when he swept one of my legs out from under me with his foot, and then struck me with his free hand knocking me down. Daniel made a move to try and restrain him, but Tyler simply chopped him in the throat, and then kicked him in his bad knee, bringing him down as well. It was at that point that I realized I might have trained him too well...

“That's it,” Dawson's voice whispered. “You're almost there. The power is almost yours.”

Tyler reached his free hand up to the other dial. The one that was meant to amplify energy. He cranked it up, and the power inside the machine became brighter and more chaotic.

“No!” Daniel snapped. “Don't! You can't handle this kind of power!”

“Are you going to let yourself believe that?” Dawson asked. “How little faith your boss seems to have in you...”

“Shut up!” Daniel snapped.

“Does he really even give a shit about you?” Dawson asked.

That seemed to get a reaction out of Tyler.

“After all... aren't you just...,” Dawson hissed.

Slowly, Dawson's form rose from the ground behind Tyler, placing a hand on his shoulder and leaning in to whisper in Tyler's ear.

“...His second favorite intern?” he finished.

“That's enough out of you!” Daniel growled.

Still on the ground, Daniel raised his index finger to attack Dawson, but Dawson was faster, turning quickly to grab Daniel's finger and snap it. Daniel cried out in pain and fell back down to the ground. Dawson let out another chuckle and melted back into the floor. Daniel remained down for a few seconds before pulling himself to his knees.

“Please,” he begged. “Don't do this.”

Tyler focused all of his attention on the energy before him, clenching fist and gritting his teeth.

“I can handle this!” he hissed. “I just have to be...”

His knees buckled briefly, but he caught himself, and rose back to his feet.

“...Have to be... strong... enough...” he said through his gritted teeth.

Slowly, the energy was absorbed into his right arm, as he struggled to stay standing. Daniel rose to his feet, leaning on his cane to remain upright.

“Stop this!” he said desperately. “You don't know what you're-”

What happened next happened so fast I didn't quite catch it. Daniel was suddenly pinned against the opposite wall, pinned by what had just a second ago been Tyler's arm, but was now a giant, arm-shaped tree branch, while the door of the Enhancer was completely shattered into countless shards on the floor, with the tattered belt lying among them.

Tyler remained still for a minute, just as shocked by this as everyone else. Slowly, his wooden arm shrunk, dropping Daniel to the ground as it returned to its normal size. He took a few seconds examining his new wooden arm through his glowing red eyes, before turning back to Daniel and smirking.

“Well, look at that,” he said. “The strongest man in the room. Slumped down on the floor.”

Ren made to ready his sword, but I raised a hand to stop him.

“Okay, that's enough,” I said. “You have powers now. You're stronger. Now just calm down, and let's talk.”

He glared at me through those crimson eyes of his.

“No,” he said. “I don't feel much like talking.”

As he spoke, a large thorn grew in the palm of his hand, taking the shape of a sword.

“Just relax,” I said. “This doesn't need to get any worse.”

“Worse?” he asked, chuckling. “I feel better than ever!”

It seemed like Ren wasn't going to stay still any longer. He charged at Tyler, clashing with him for a few blows. Tyler's arm seemed to move almost on its own, blocking all of Ren's attacks. As their weapons met for the 5^th time, vines suddenly sprouted from Tyler's thorn sword, entangling Ren's blade. With a swift motion, Tyler disarmed Ren and then stabbed him in the chest with his own blade.

Kimiko cried out and made a move toward Tyler, only for him to throw his thorn sword at her, hitting her in the shoulder, and causing her to fall to her knees in agony.

“ENOUGH!” I yelled, stepping in front of him. “You need to calm the fuck down.”

“Try and make me,” Tyler snarked.

I made a move to attack him, but he dodged me with a spinning motion, and after turning his head to fully target me, he expanded the size of his wooden forearm to a massive size, and backhanded me with it. At least he made sure to fully turn his head...

I now regret teaching him that...

I was knocked back against the wall. At the same time, Raoul seemed to have recovered enough of his strength to stand and face Tyler.

“I knew bringing you along was a bad idea!” Raoul snapped, catching Tyler's attention.

Tyler expanded the size of his arm, and thrust it toward Raoul, who did his negative color restraint move he's done to hold back Abreu earlier. Tyler was stopped, but he was still visibly resisting the hold for a few seconds before utterly shattering it and knocking Raoul to the floor.

I guess Raoul was right. Strong enough being's could break out of that hold easily. Especially when he's already weakened.

Tyler turned his attention to Daniel's Extractor. He expanded his hand, and grabbed the Extractor and the computer it was attached to, and crushed them in his grasp. He then threw them into the Enhancer, and expanded his arm ever further, growing numerous branches and vines that encases all of the machinery, before crushing it all into a useless metal heap. He then returned his arm to its normal size, and looked down upon the damage he had done.

Daniel finally got back to his feet, but something was seriously off about him. His eyes were closed tight, and he was standing up straight, in spite of his bad leg, and he casually reset his broken finger like it was nothing.

“Back up, I see?” Tyler said. “Finally! Someone who can actually put these new powers to the test!”

Daniel retrieved his cane and drew a long cloth from his pocket. He tied it around his eyes berfore drawing the concealed sword from his cane.

“A blindfold?” Tyler said. “Seriously? How do you expect to fight me if you can't even see?”

“I don't need to see you,” Daniel said. His voice sounded off, and I realized it wasn't really him who was talking. “That's a hell of an aura you're putting off. Makes it pretty easy to feel where you are.”

“Getting cocky, are you?” Tyler smirked. “Whatever. Let's go, Doctor!”

Daniel next words confirmed my suspicion that he was no longer the one in the driver's seat.

“The Doctor's unconscious at the moment,” the shard said. “You're up against me now.”

Tyler stretched his arm out to attack them, but they simply set their sword on fire, and slashed at the incoming hand, causing it to retreat as Tyler winced in pain. They then teleported right up to Tyler, and slashed a him. Tyler barely blocked the flaming sword with his hand, and winced again as the flames made contact.

Tyler seemed to notice his current disadvantage, and punched a hole in the ceiling and pulled himself through it with his expanding hand. He turned for a moment to glare angrily at the shard possessing Daniel's body. The shard shot a bolt of fire from the tip of the sword, which Tyler managed to evade just in time, as he made his escape.

With that, the shard sat down, and allowed the body it was inhabiting to fall unconscious again.

Jane and I were able to bandage everyone up and get them to stable condition. Daniel and Raoul are still unconscious, but alive.

As for Tyler... I don't know what to think.

I can only hope that...

He can still be saved...