The child was scooped into Tyrone’s arms, and though the child was relatively light, he had no delusion that he would be able to carry the child through the entirety of what was to come.

Tyrone scoured the lab in search of a coat, and when he found one, The Dark Dimension Mutant created a makeshift sling across his back, sliding the child into the sling and freeing his arms from the burden.

It would be a rougher journey for the kid, but Tyrone knew he would need both hands for what came next – most of all, Tyrone didn’t trust his hands to not suddenly burst into all-consuming darkness.

After all, The Dark Dimension Mutant didn’t control his ability.

Tyrone spent a couple of seconds in silence, staring at his hands as darkness acquiesced to his whims and danced across his fingers in the same pattern his mind envisioned. Slowly but surely, he was beginning to figure it out.

Beyond a certain potency of darkness – with the presence of light – his ability would more than likely not work as intended, exactly like what happened in the desert that led to the current situation.

But that also meant that Tyrone had better control of his ability in the absence of light, and the curse – three curses to be exact – would not be activated in certain circumstances.

‘It’s good I am getting to know myself.’ Tyrone mused.

It was annoying that the repertoire of his ability kept expanding, and just as he felt he had an idea of his limits, it would introduce some new variables, and Tyrone would be forced to adapt and adapt and adapt continually.

‘But I still feel weak.’

And that was the greatest mystery of all – Tyrone had an inkling that his full potential could only be achieved with Sprite as a conduit so he would have to find his way to her side as soon as possible, less the darkness consumes him as well.

It was only recently the darkness stopped using his nightmares to fuel it.

‘I think it needs chaos?’ Tyrone guessed, wondering why his ability had been so easy to manage since awakening. ‘Peace may be toxic to darkness in some way?’

There was bound to be some sort of conflict soon.

Tyrone took deep breaths, focusing his mind in preparation for what was to come; His thoughts naturally drifted back to Jessica’s and Xandra’s deaths at the orphanage. Those memories served as a scathing reminder never to freeze in the face of conflict ever again.

The thoughts of his journey thus far reminded Tyrone that he had come a long way from knife fights in the hood. Still, the sensation of life and death didn’t dwindle – the potential consequences just grew larger and larger.

Death was no longer a death… but everyone’s death.

And that was also something that had fundamentally changed – losing used to mean death, but now – for Tyrone – it meant indefinite torture in a lab due to his inability to die.

In the end, everything was a gamble.

Tyrone couldn’t be certain that he would remain dead the next time he kicked the bucket, apparent by the fact that he took a bullet to the head in the desert, and somehow, here he was.

Immortality was probably a wonderful gift in theory, but that was only until the prospect of spending your life as a lab experiment became a possibility. The possibility alone almost made Tyrone wish that he remained dead, to begin with.

But what of Sprite?

What of Laura?

What of his parent’s sacrifice?

What about Billy’s sacrifice?

What of the infinite possibilities that could someday – if he dared dream – lead to being with Jessica and Xandra once more?

Tyrone had thought about it rather deeply and came to a simple conclusion – if the impossibility of his dark powers existed, then there was bound to be something akin to angels in existence as well… then, didn’t that also give legitimacy to Heaven?

Jessica, Xandra, Billy, his mother, and his father were definitely there.

Then, Tyrone’s question became infinitely simpler.

‘How do I get there as well?’ The Dark Dimension Mutant thought, possessing the inkling it would be an uphill battle due to the nature of his Mutation.  

After judging everything was secure, or as secure as it could be, Tyrone placed an extra knot on the sling and hopped up and down a couple of times to test the strength of the sling. It would be troublesome for the kid to fall out of the sling mid-battle.

Of course, the best outcome would be no battle.

If there was a possibility that a Dark Dimension Mutant transported to a facility for experimentation could just walk out of the front door, then that would be the option Tyrone would select.

‘It’s possible…’ He psyched himself up a bit.

As if responding to his stabilizing mindset, dark smoke rippled over Tyrone’s body; his senses sharpened, breathing became concentrated, and it was as if all the light in the facility had dimmed by a small percentage.

Where Tyrone walked, darkness would follow.

In the ever-increasing darkness, Tyrone realized he could feel a flicker of ethereal light, specifically the light on his back – the child. He could not see the child, but he could tell that the child was alive.

Yet, the darkness felt hungry… and it was growing hungrier.

The light on his back was fading and Tyrone instinctively knew what it was – the child was dying, but at the very least, his Mutant Ability was not the reason the child was dying.

Tyrone wouldn’t bear that responsibility.

He had been responsible for too much already, enough to distinguish was something was his fault and when it wasn’t.

-----------------

THE HALLWAY

Tyrone pressed the pass against the door’s handle, causing the light to flash from red to green. The door was pushed open, and behind a white corridor akin to a hospital’s was visible.

The Dark Dimension Mutant inhaled a breath of cooling air that could only come from an air conditioning unit, perhaps even several air condition units working in tandem. Tyrone knew how cold it was, and usually, he would shiver once or twice, but now, he felt strangely at home in the coldness.

Not physical coldness, but a chill down to his soul, even his personality felt as if it was growing a bit more distant from what it once was.

The lights in the white hallway blinked a couple of times with Tyrone’s appearance and ultimately settled down by dimming by a small percentage. It was as if Tyrone’s ability was creating the perfect mood for terror and doubt.

And that’s what it fed on the most – Tyrone’s own terror and doubt.

And if it fed on his terror and doubt, there was no reason it could not feed on the terror and doubt of others. Tyrone dreaded what would happen if the power even went out of control, and in a small part, it hadn’t gone out of control exactly due to his curses.

‘A fine line between a blessing and a curse.’

BEEEEP

BEEEEP

BEEEEP

The white hall flashed red with Tyrone’s exit from the Mortuary, meaning there was something he had overlooked. It could be that the Mortician had ticked him before dying, but Tyrone instinctively felt it had something to do with the kid strapped to his back.

“Left corridor stairway,” Tyrone muttered the instruction the Mortician had told him.

Wasting no time, Tyrone broke into a sprint towards the left corridor, but just as he was about to step foot into the corridor, the darkness around him swirled and teleported him a few feet backward.

BZZZZZZZ

Like clockwork, the left corridor spawned an intense laser grid that would have no doubt rendered Tyrone into more pieces than a skilled chef cutting vegetables for soup. Tyrone noted the specific order in which everything happened – his ability reacted, then he felt it, then his ability completed the action.

That begged the question – did he control the ability or did it control him?

But those were profound questions that could be pondered when his life was not in danger, and as Tyrone stared at the blazing red lasers that almost took his life, there was no doubt that more danger would be arriving soon.

Tyrone placed a hand on the wall, pivoting his body to keep an eye on both ends of the corridor. It was the best strategic position to protect the child strapped to his back, and prepare for an ambush from both ends.

Dark smoke swirled in the air to the right.

It was a warning – the noises coming from that direction were way too obvious to ignore, so Tyrone knew the ambush was more likely to come from there.

Once again like clockwork, Reavers, Mercenaries, and another group Tyrone could not identify burst into the corridor, taking positions along the wall, pointing weapons in his direction.

The weapons vary, but the intent was clear – death.

The Reavers had guns of varying deadliness, but deadly was deadly to someone like Tyrone – he had seen plenty of such weapons in the hood, and knew firing them in a small corridor was asking to be killed via ricocheted bullets.

The Reavers were not the problem, the Mercenaries were a part of the problem with their electric batons, but the major threat was the unknown group of soldiers dressed in white. He could tell their electric weapons were specialized to capture – a painful type of capture.

“Who are you guys?” Tyrone frowned.

If he could growl intimidatingly like Laura, he would have, but Tyrone knew he didn’t have that type of animalistic tendency inside him. All there was inside him was abyssal-like darkness capable of consuming everything.

And as mighty as that was, it would help no one if it was equally as harmful to the wielder.

‘This is why I need Sprite. She would have a thousand different ways to deal with this.’ The Dark Dimension Mutant groaned internally.

The Mercenaries, Soldiers, and Reavers shuffled around as someone made their way from the back of the group. This specific person was not dressed like everyone else – he wore a lab coat that told of his position as a Researcher.

Maybe someone even more important…

‘A director… a CEO… the boss? Just another Researcher?’ Tyrone’s mind ran through the possibilities. ‘Why does he have a body shape like Eggman? Could he be a mutant? What’s his ability?’

“Are you feeling it yet?” The Eggman-like Researcher inquired. “Are you experiencing the weakness?”

“What do you mean?” Tyrone questioned back as if he didn’t already know.

Of course, he had felt it the moment he exited the lab, and Tyrone knew the feeling well exactly because it was entwined with Jessica’s and Xandra’s demise in his mind. The sensation of weakness, the lingering abstract heaviness, and the dullness of sound.

‘A dampener.’

“A dampener,” The Eggman-like Researcher echoed his thoughts. “I admit, we didn’t calibrate the dampener specifically for you, but it should work the same regardless.”

“Then you should come closer to find out,” Tyrone replied.

“I prefer my men strapped to a table and docile,” The Eggman-like Research laughed slimily. “If you get what I mean?”

“If you like me that much, the least you can do is whisper it into my ear,” Tyrone joked, but the building fear caused him to unconsciously clench his buttcheeks. “What happens now?”

“That depends on you.”

The Researcher seemed to take a couple of subtle steps backward at the same time Tyrone tried to take subtle steps forward. The Reavers, Mercenary, and Soldiers also slightly shifted their positions in preparation to attack.

Tyrone bit his lip; though the darkness from the rest of his body was waning, his hands still felt fine – it seemed that the curse embedded in his hands could not be dampened by whatever technology was at use.

‘Mystic versus science… mystic wins.’ Tyrone internally cheered.

Tyrone took a large step forward, and the Researcher completely hid behind his entourage. The Mercenaries increased the current of their batons, ensuring that every blow to come would carry a five-percent chance of death.

 “Don’t hurt the boy too much,” The Eggman-like Researcher voice rang from behind the barricade of combatants. “At least, keep his head intact since we need his brain the most.”