Still in the heat of battle, the retreat makes time for much needed retrospection. As the Tempest flies in the night air within the dark, vast forest, chased by the array of Exhuman attackers, his focus sinks into the deep abyss of his mind, analyzing the state of the situation.

A few questions were answered, as for one, the nature of the extending branches was revealed to be rapid duplication, and while he needed to develop a more thorough plan, knowing now that there’s a forced length of every segment gave ideas on how to potentially exploit its stiff movement mechanics.

Also, now the rotation ability could be linked to Bernie, as well as knowing that there seem to be other effects granted such as forceful movement. Furthermore, now it’s clear how the user takes control, as he seems to have a light construct that moves by his control, and the objects that it makes contact with are then under his control as indicated by the same glowing dots that covered him. At the same time though, the abilities seem to have a limited range, as the dotted effect vanishes once he moves far from Bernie.

At the same time however, more questions began popping up. The most prominent were how both of them were also in the air as though having flight abilities. Due to the nature of Exhuman abilities, especially that exhibited by natural users, their powers should be related to a central theme rather than a haphazard collection, yet neither of their powers seemed to relate to flight, especially in such a raw manner as neither of them were hoisted by any visible mechanisms but rather just airborne.

Coincidentally, right in front of the Tempest, Rodge suddenly appears out of thin air, flashing in a bright red luminescence before his body is revealed. The moment of shock is quickly overwhelmed by surprise as Rodge takes control of the branch of a nearby tree, and swinging his arm he duplicates a trail towards the Tempest.

Reactively, cables project out of the side of the Tempest’s arm to pull him out of the trajectory, but his legs also are thrusted to rotate his body in such a way where the extended branch flies beside the top of his head. Reoriented, the Tempest fires a cable on the branch, using it to pull himself while boosting, flipping around the branch and below before pulling himself forwards with two cables protruding from his hips, one on the extended branch and another on a nearby tree, which then detach to throw himself forwards. Another cable projects onto a branch, pulling him up and above it to which he fires two more on nearby trees, stepping on the extended branch as he uses it as a ground.

He begins sprinting with immensely enhanced speed, leaving a blue trail as he catches up to Rodge in a matter of seconds, cables continuously pulling him as he sprints with delicate steps on the light branch, coiling his arm back as it blazes with energy, prepping for a powerful punch.

Right as he gets within striking distance, the air around the Tempest begins vibrating, and while he persists forward, he notices his vision suddenly distorted heavily as to him, the black night suddenly changes to a deep yellow, the tone of honey. At the same time, all the objects in his peripheral – the trees around and the target in front of him – begin to morph as their bodies start expanding and waving from side to side as though melting.

It’s as though the whole world is being warped, as even the branch below him stretches and waves as though made of gel, the sky deep yellow. The stretching image of Rodge loses all shape before suddenly vanishing, leaving the Tempest perplexed.

While all the shapes blend into an unfamiliar mess, the Tempest notices a speeding glowing object approaching him from the corner of his vision, its shape basic enough for it to be recognizable as a triangle.

He tsks in realization that he’s once again being trapped, to which he leaps backwards, plummeting downwards through the stretched branch. A few cables project from his back, reeling him farther away as he stares ahead, watching the triangle miss him. After being dragged past the anchors, the Tempest is released backwards, to which he swings his right arm, quickly firing an upward cable onto a nearby stretched tree to pull himself up, realizing after passing through the stretched branch that the world isn’t truly melting, but rather it’s a visual illusion affecting him. That said, the world’s shape is still maintained, so as long as he can make movements that would function well given standard conditions, they should work now too.

Now armed with this knowledge, he reels himself up towards the stretched tree, passing straight through it as though having imperfect collisions. His eyes dart to a distant thick branch, to which he sees Bernie standing on it, another light triangle beside him.

Thrusting forwards, the Tempest pursues his target, reaching cables onto nearby trees to pull himself forwards as he grows distant from where he had tried to strike Rodge. In fact, as he moves swiftly through the air, the world suddenly morphs again, as the yellow sky reverts to black, and the stretched trees regain their composed shapes.

Now escaped from the illusive zone, the sight of Bernie becomes crystal clear in the distance, as he sends his light triangle towards the Tempest to try taking control. However, now that the triangle is visible, it’s effortless to avoid it, as the Tempest continues chasing Bernie. Right before colliding with the triangle, he detaches his cables as a forceful boost pushes him downwards from the head, ducking from the triangle before he boosts forward again, projecting a cable to a far tree to diverge from a straight path in order to be less visible.

He spins around the tree before dashing to the right again, continuing to make more divergent actions as he boosts towards low branches, leaping in between them and using them as anchor points to swing off of, even jumping on one of the thicker runs and sprinting a few steps to get a boost of momentum before jumping off and raising his left arm, projecting a cable to swing him around a tree at an upwards angle while he’s boosted from the back of his legs.

By yanking his arm, the Tempest is thrust high up in the air, so far up in fact that he ultimately finds himself above and behind Bernie, who’s still facing away, unaware of where his target is. Acting quick, a cable projects from his left shoulder onto the tree Bernie’s standing on, and he reels towards the target at accelerating speeds while pulling his glowing fist back.

A voice shouts from far ahead, to which Bernie jerks his head backwards, only to see his enemy approaching him faster than he can retaliate. His jaw drops as he covers his face with crossed arms, having no other choice as the blue fist soars towards his face.

Right before the fist makes contact, Bernie’s body begins vibrating with a purple distorted aura. At such great speeds Tempest’s fist penetrates Bernie’s body, but not only that, Tempest's entire body penetrates straight through Bernie’s body.

Immediately glancing backwards in sudden fear to having just committed a heinous murder, the Tempest finds that miracously, Bernie still stands behind him, completely unharmed. He slowly lowers his arms, also perplexed for a moment, seeing the Tempest a few feet from him, his fist blazing with might.

Bewildered, the Tempest approaches Bernie and throws a punch with his glowing fist, only for it to pass straight through Bernie’s body, yet he doesn’t seem affected. Stepping back, it seems he’s completely unable to affect Bernie, as he simply phases through him as though Bernie wasn’t there, like a phantom. He even extends his hand into Bernie’s body again to test it, as it dawns on him that he couldn’t affect the target at all.

A smirk grows on Bernie’s face as he lets out a great sigh of relief before glancing at another direction, calmed that he was saved.

However, that quick relieved glance just doomed him, as the Tempest immediately followed Bernie’s gaze only to find one of the men who tried to ambush him from behind on a distant branch, his hands out facing Bernie. His eyes then magnetize to the Tempest’s as an expression of despair grows on him, realizing he’s been compromised.

Without wasting more time, the Tempest leaps off the branch, boosting forth and projecting cables in the open forest to carry himself towards his new target. It becomes clear now how the initial attack failed, there is indeed a user who can protect others, somehow making their entire bodies able to pass through other objects and energies. That man could easily negate any attack, which made him a hefty threat that needed to be dealt with.

Dealing with it thus is the plan, as the Tempest navigates swiftly towards his new target, pulling himself towards nearby trees and leaping off them with amplifying boosts that get him closer to the man. As he draws closer, the world as he sees it suddenly morphs again, but while the sky remains black, all other objects such as the trees, leaves, and grass suddenly decolorize into various shades of gray. The corners of the Tempest’s peripheral also become much darker, similar to a vignette effect, the world darkening. In fact, his entire vision appears more grainy and thus unclear, gradually degrading. Vertical lines appear, moving in his sight, as though he’s viewing the world through an ancient film.

Persistent in pursuit, he hones all his focus on his sole target, marking him regardless of the state of his vision. Even in the grainy, black and white world, he swings off of branches and dashes down like a meteor, approaching the man with a closed fist.

The man, discerning that no obstacle would stop the chaser, holds his hands out. His body begins vibrating with the same purple effect, seemingly using his abilities to protect himself. However, the vibrations don’t seem as consistent, as they constantly seem to stop and restart, the purple aura flickering as though the man was struggling to maintain himself.

Getting close to the man, the Tempest’s vision reverts to normal as nature regains color and clarity, for it seems he’s escaped the illusive field once again. Now with nothing holding him back, a cable projects off his body and onto the man, reeling him straight for the victim, his fist primed to deliver a strike.

Unable to defend himself, the man stands in helpless fear, staggering backwards but trying to stay on the branch. His entire body then suddenly flashes red, and right as the Tempest’s fist reaches the target’s body, the target completely vanishes.

Landing on the branch, the Tempest coils his arm back after once again failing to land a strike. He groans in irritation, turning around to view his surroundings, noticing the other previous ambusher on a distant tree, likely being the one projecting the illusions given the distance he is. Now nearly all of the abilities the Tempest has experienced have been linked to a user in the group, as he has been successfully gathering understanding even if he hasn’t sufficiently defeated any of them yet.

However, there is one specific ability that he has yet to chain, one of the more peculiar and annoying ones. At first it appeared to be that several enemies had the gift of flight, and eventually it just seemed that all of them could simply appear anywhere at will given how they just happened to be on the tall branches of the colossal trees. However, now, there was an instance of a member appearing in a red flash, and disappearing in a similar red flash, both being separate occasions from separate enemies.

It seemed as though there was another ability, one able to relocate others, which has been abused to continuously reposition the group to maintain momentum with the Tempest no matter how fast he moved.

Gasping in a sudden revelation, the Tempest lowers his head down to the ground, for it dawned on him that there was one man he hadn’t seen since the fight broke out. Focusing deep down on the ground, his gaze returns to where the fight had begun, to which his sight captures a single man standing around. That man is the first one he met, Alexander, who raises his head upon recognizing that he’s being watched. His expression becomes disturbed as he staggers back, for now he’s become the new target.

The Tempest gracefully steps off of the branch he was on, diving straight down towards Alexander. At last, he’s found the most hefty threat, the one who’s been making all the others be able to keep up with the Tempest at all times while keeping them untouchable. But without him, the controller, all of them would immediately lose their navigation and cheap escape routes, rendering the fight far easier.

He boosts downwards as cables project off his body, slingshotting himself downwards to accelerate while his fist is engulfed in fiery energy.

Drowning in dread, Alexander watches the devil drop from the sky with the speed of lightning. He then begins hastily raising his hand, aiming one at Rodge – who stands on one of the distant branches– before closing his hand to a fist, and dragging his arm down in front of him. He opens his hand once again, to which Rodge suddenly vanishes in a red flash, reappearing right in front of Alexander.

Rodge eyes the Tempest from above, and he aims his right hand, which is then set ablaze by the green glow. A nearby tree branch then illuminates green too before it begins duplicating rapidly, flying straight at the Tempest.

However, from such a distance, there’s no challenge for the Tempest to dodge, boosting to the side before extending his arm down and firing a cable onto the branch, yanking his arm to use the branch to help increase momentum.

Desperate, Rodge takes control of another branch, projecting it towards the Tempest. At the same time, Alexander continues holding his hand up, closing it, and dragging it in front of him before opening it up. The next time he does this, the illusion caster appears. Alexander continues this routine while the Tempest dodges branches, grabbing one to throw himself around it before then using his cables to ground himself onto another extended branch to sprint down.

Upon repositioning Bernie, the Tempest leaps forward after a branch attempts to pierce him in his sprint, which the Tempest swings off of before extending both of his arms and spinning. His entire body flashes blue as he starts boosting with the bottom of his arms, and by spinning, he generates immense momentum that rockets him towards the group.

Right before impact, the final member joins, who immediately holds his hands out, causing all five of the Exhumans to begin vibrating with the purple distortion. At that exact moment, the meteor strikes the ground, causing a massive explosion of released energy that carries the dirt off the ground, covering the area in dust.

The five Exhumans huddle together, surrounded by the dust, their backs against each other. They glance around the heavy fog, unable to see any of the trees while they continue to vibrate. The man maintaining the phasing effect visibly sweats as his arms are shaking badly, his teeth gritted. Alexander in the center has both of his fists clenched, turning his head around constantly while Rodge grips his right arm with his left hand to hold it steady.

“Hmm, Alexander Joseph, so you’re the one moving everyone. Interesting, a leader who commands rather than fights headfirst, under regular circumstances I could see that being effective. But I also notice that instead of simply teleporting yourself, you chose to bring everyone to you, even though hiding would be far easier and more effective. Is it because you can’t move yourself? Does that mean that no matter what you do, you’ll be stuck standing here? It seems you’re marooned, trapped in the fight you chose to instigate,” torments the horrifying, deadpan voice of the Tempest, which seems to come from all directions within the thick fog.

Continuing, he observes, “That’s quite unfortunate, I see one of you is able to protect your allies from attack, but I also notice you’re struggling to keep up; you won’t be able to last forever. But you can’t leave your leader behind, so you too are stuck here, fighting a battle of attrition that I can win simply by standing here.”

Alexander grits his teeth with a tsk before passionately screaming, “Okay, what’s the point of this? Are you having fun there, sicko?? You know, it’s ironic seeing you wearing a mask of someone who fought to liberate us from oppression, seeing how it seems all you want to do is force it back down on us! Of course only he understood us – he was one of us– you’re nothing but a sadistic fraud who uses that mask as an excuse to kick people down and still be able to sleep at night!”

A few moments of silence pass after Alexander’s speech, as for a moment, it seems he’s verbosely subdued the beast. However, as the fog slowly begins to clear, a pair of blinding blue goggled eyes pierce the cloud, glaring straight at Alexander from the darkness. The eyes stalk him as they circle around the group, causing Alexander to begin sweating profusely.

“I am giving you one chance to surrender yourselves, and I will not need to physically harm you in my extraction. I’d prefer for this errand to have ended a while ago, but it seems you’ve effectively wasted my time. But time is running out,” callously offers the voice.

Teeth sinking into his palms, Alexander cries, “NO! We’re going to put you in the ground, and then we’re going to bury you with the rest of this evil empire! Meditat was a martyr of a civil war, but now we’re here to keep moving forward and do one single thing he struggled with, taking down the outdated!”

At last, the fog dissipates, revealing the body of the Tempest standing right in front of the group, his blue blazing eyes glaring at them. He leans forward for a moment, his eyes trained on Alexander before responding simply, “Your choice.”

Time ticking, the legs of the man upholding the barrier begin wobbling as the man exhaustedly admits, “I…can’t hold it…much longer….”

Alexander turns to his fellow comrade before nodding his head and granting, “Thank you Dean, you can let go now. We’ll deal with him head on.”

He then turns to face the Tempest, attempting to sheath his fear behind his allies, hoping for the best. He had to win. There was no other way.