Katherine was standing a few steps outside of her class.
The teacher had asked someone to get some printouts for the class, and Katy had volunteered.She was heading back to the class, when she heard the sound.
Whatever could that be?' she wondered.
After a moment's hesitation, Katy walked towards the source of the sound, the printouts still with her. She would just take a quick look, Katy decided. She had brought the printouts pretty quickly, so she could spare a minute or another. With that decision made, she turned towards the source.

Katherine approached the end of the hallway, holding a stack of papers. When she was about ten feet away from where her hallway ended and intersected the southern main hall, she could see Kirin and Alex running as fast as they could toward her right. By the time she reached the end of the hall, the man in the jumpsuit had reached the intersection of the halls as well. He had been slowly walking, but came to a stop when he saw her.

Standing about five feet away, he turned slightly toward her, flung his arm toward her and opened his hand, as if reaching for her. His gauntlet began to spark and light up a bright blue color, and suddenly Katherine felt an overwhelmingly strong force lift her from her feet. Papers flew everywhere as she was suspended in place. As she hung in midair, a low frequency rumble was emitted by the man's helmet and gauntlets. The man gestured with his gauntlet-hand to come closer, and in the blink of an eye she was thrown toward him by some mysterious force. The rumbling sound intensified both in pitch and in amplitude as she moved through the air. Now within grasping range, the man wrapped his free hand around her throat and continued to follow Kirin and Alex.

By now, security guards had assembled to investigate the commotion caused by the rendering of the front doors, only to witness this highly dangerous man carrying a hostage. One guard was brave enough to step toward him and yell, "Please, put her down! Nobody wants to get hurt-"

"Out of my way"

The man's voice was filtered through the helmet, such that high frequencies were cut off and so his voice sounded low and menacing. It had a metallic quality to it as well, as if he were an android. As he spoke he lifted his arm with an open palm aimed at the poor guard, charging up his gauntlet. It began to glow once more, although this time it released a loud high-pitched whirling noise. The guard was launched backward incredibly fast, knocking two others behind him to the floor as he continued flying through the air. He stopped only when making contact with the gymnasium doors all the way on the opposite end of the hall. Needless to say, the man was out cold if he was alive at all.

The other guards began to run away, pulling out their walkie-talkies and yelling "Put the school on lock-down! We have an emergency!" As the man continued down the hall, the lights throughout the school shut off one by one behind him, coordinated with a loudspeaker announcement initiating the lock-down. Cries of panic and confusion could be heard from the rooms lining the halls as he passed them by. He reached the end of the hallway and ascended the stairs to the language and history halls, just in time for Maia to notice him do so.

This must be a dream. Maias' heart was pounding hard and her weariness had suddenly vanished as she watched the mysterious figure proceed. Someone had been killed, in a way Maia could not have imagined. This was not one of her crime thrillers that she could lay aside whenever the tension became too much for her. This was reality. She couldn't escape it and the awareness made her legs feel wobbly. Nonetheless she tried to remain calm, following the man upstairs as silent as possible. What am I doing?

Alex heard the announcement of the lock down and looked at Kirin and said, "Okay so the word is out..." he paused for a moment and his eyes grew wider as Alex said, "That means the police station has received a signal and..."

Just then his cell phone began playing the theme from "Castle" which was his ringtone. Quickly Alex grabbed his phone and saw that Captain Dan Knight was calling. Alex answered, "Hi dad."

Dan asked, "What the hell is going on Alex?"

Alex heard his father strapping on his riot vest and replied, "I'm not sure to explain this dad."

Dan replied understandably worried, "Try son."

Alex told him about the man in the jump suit, the door being ripped off the hinges, but he left out the part about Kirin's mysterious cell-phone because he wasn't sure what it was and didn't tell him that the thing was chasing him and Kirin. Alex didn't want to worry his father anymore than he already was.

Dan took it all in and said, "This is way out there son. Are you sure..."

Alex got to the front of the lab and found a lap-top on the side of the desk. It was hooked up to the Wi-Fi and Alex logged in and quickly uploaded the photos to his dad's e-mail.

For a moment there was silence until Dan said in an almost whisper, "Whoa." Dan snapped back into reality and said with great worry in his voice, "You stay out of trouble. Don't you do anything stupid. I'm on my way. Understood?"

Alex replied, "Dad I know mom will be calling any second; tell mom I love her please and dad...." Alex took deep breath and said, "hurry. I love you."

Dan said noticeably upset, "Just stay where you are."

With that the line went dead. Alex told Kirin, "My dad's on his way with every available cop. Sounds like they were getting ready for a weekend in Iraq."

Alex ran over to the wall and grabbed a fire extinguisher and said, "Maybe it can screw with it's vision. If nothing else I might be able to club it upside the head."

Alex was not exactly what one would call religious. He attended Church with his family, and he would practice his faith in his own way. In this case though he was very quietly saying The Lord's Prayer while leaning against a wall and watching the door knowing it was only a matter of time.

Kirin nodded at Alex's relay of information and choice of arms, but rested his free hand on Alex's shoulder, interrupting his prayer. "We don't have time to ask for help. We need to act now. We have to assume that this threat knows exactly where this phone is at all times." With that, he grabbed the door handle, ready to fling the door open. "Stay close to me, got it?"

Alex nodded and said, "Got it." Alex was not even thinking clearly as the situation seemed to grow more dire with each second. Who knew what kind of damage this thing had done since they went into hiding, or if there was anyone else still alive in the school. For all they knew this thing could walk through walls or who knew what else it could do besides rip down doors. Regardless Alex was involved now and Kirin was his friend so there was nothing else Alex could do but stand by his friend. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he exhaled he quickly crossed himself and said, "I'm with you."

Alex stepped forward next to Kirin and said, "Just for the record if I get killed my parents are gonna be really mad at me." Alex smiled a bit at his gallows humor and then the smile quickly faded. As he looked at the door handle and then at Kirin. Alex adjusted his weapon of choice gave slight nod and said, "Ready."

Kirin nodded to Alex. He took a deep breath, turned the handle, and threw open the door.

Kirin swung open the door, revealing that the man in the jumpsuit was standing just on the other side of the door. Still holding Katherine in one hand, he quickly reached his other hand toward Kirin in an attempt to grab him.

Maia had kept some distance between herself and the man, but the fact that he hadn't sensed her yet let her approach a little more, close enough to recognize the hostage. It was Katy Dixon, a girl she had classes with. She couldn't do anything for her currently but perhaps if she - May didn't have time to end the thought because the man had suddenly stopped, and she had realized that she came closer than she had wanted. She investigated the devices the man was carrying. She didn't know what the helmet did, but the purpose of the gauntlet was clear for her.There were wires protruding from it - Perhaps if I pull them out.There seems to be nothing supernatural on him, he is just a human being, armed with futuristic gadgets. No, her hands were too shaky, she would probably screw it up. May was still hesitating, when all in a sudden the door flew open and she saw Kirin and Alex standing next to each other. She watched the man as he was raising his arm again to - Don't let him kill them. An inner voice told her. You have to do something! May had taken the decision and sneaked up on the man who could kill people just with a motion of his hand.

The man's presence took Kirin by surprise. It seemed that he WAS able to pinpoint the phone's location at all times. But he knew that if he was to survive, he needed to act. Kirin tilted the upper half of his body back to dodge the grapple, while also throwing his bottle at the man's face. It shattered right away, spewing the acid all over himself, Katy and the man's helmet. Kirin could feel the burning across his own face and arms, but that could be dealt with later. He then tried to push past the doorway, hoping that his attack was enough to at least distract the man.

Before Katherine could react, she found herself in mid-air.
"What the blazes?" Katy thought to herself as she was thrown towards the man. Realizing the potent threat the man posed, Katy felt herself panicking.She decided to comply for now, till she she found a chance.
Was this guy a terrorist? She asked herself, the question causing herself to become even more worried about her predicament. However, Katy knew there weren't any terrorists around who could make people float in mid-air...yet.
Was she being taken hostage? Katy asked herself as the door swung open to reveal a familiar face. It was Kirin.
Recognizing the bottle in his hand, Katherine knew she had to act now. When Kirin had gotten the man's attention by spewing the acid, she moved her free arm in one quick movement which ended with her ramming her elbow in the man's lower diaphragm. As she broke free, she became aware of the stinging sensation of acid. There was no time to worry about that right now, she told herself as she broke into a run.

The door was open and Alex was wishing he wasn't seeing what was in front of him. The Jumpsuit had a hostage by the throat; Katy, He saw Maia sneaking up behind him and it looked like she was going to attack him; unarmed!

Luckily Kirin took action with the acid and then Katy was able to get free. Alex was not about to be left out of the action so he decided to take his shots, but before he did he yelled, "RUN MAIA! RUN LIKE THE WIND!"

With the last word still echoing in the hall Alex coated the the front of the helmet with CO2 and then gave a quick shot to his gauntlets. In one motion he hit him in the helmet with the extinguisher and said, "I dub thee Sir-Lion of Beef" and then with one more shot to the head Alex said, "I dub thee in great pain!"

After the last shot Alex noticed the extinguisher was cracked and he knew that meant it was about to blow. He hurled the extinguisher back into the lab at a shelf full of chemicals. Alex was hoping the impact would cause the extinguisher to explode and with the chemical interactions maybe give off a nice fireball to buy them some more time. However Alex though wasn't about to stand around to find out. His two goals were one get away from Jumpsuit and two get to the others.

Alex began to sprint down the hall hoping Maia had taken his advice and ran to the others .

I was thinking I hadn't had enough cardio in my workouts lately...I don't feel that way anymore.

With one eye closed from the burning, Kirin watched Alex and Katy break away from the man in the suit. After Alex's command for Maia to run, Kirin pointed to her and rose his voice. "You two go with her! It's me he wants! I'll meet up with you later!" And with that, Kirin took off in the opposite direction, towards the front of the school.

Almost got it - Maia was only one foot away from the man and had already reached out her hand for the cables, when the shattering of glass made her flinch.She backed off when she heard the boys' orders and started running, following Katy.

Alex was actually conflicted about following the orders Kirin was giving out. One hand it was the smart play and there was strength in numbers. On the other hand Alex hated deserting a friend in their time of need.

Then one overriding thought entered his mind...his father told him to stay safe and this was actually the safest play under the circumstances.

Alex bolted towards Katy and Maia and said, "Let's see if we can think of something to help Kirin. He ain't gonna last long against that."

The man in the jumpsuit reared back and dropped his hostage. The chemicals spewed all over him weren't enough to damage his equipment significantly, but there was slight corrosion. The more hindering factor was that he was now unable to see, the bubbles forming from the acid eating through the metal were gathering within the vision components of his helmet. He spent a few moments wiping as much chemical off his visor as he could, then turned in the direction of Kirin's voice as he shouted down the hallway. Able to see at least enough to give chase, he followed Kirin towards one of the frontal stairways.

Kirin ran faster than he ever ran in his life. When he reached the staircase at the corner of the history and language hallways, he sat on the railing on the stairs and slid down, landing in front of the science hall and nurse's office. This landing also had one of the double-doors exiting the building, it was just outside this exit where Kirin and his friends would wait for their respective buses every day after classes. He pushed through them and stepped out into the bright afternoon sun.

Maia stopped after they had reached the stairs at the end of the hallway. " That man, whatever he wants - he killed a security guard, and I don't think he'll shy away from doing it again." Her voice was surprisingly calm, considering she was still trembling. " We can't help Kirin right now. There is another staircase in the opposite direction, maybe he made it outside."

Alex realized that Maia was right. They might have done some damage to it with their attacks, but this thing tore through a solid steel door like it was cardboard, and now came the word it had killed someone. Alex began having doubts that killing this thing was gonna be so easy, and worse his dad was getting ready to lead the Police Department against it. Alex began to worry if his dad would survive much less be able to stop it.

Alex wanted to get word to his dad about what he was going up against, but there was no time to really warn him. Chances were likely he was en-route and he wasn't going to be paying attention to his phone. However if they made it outside maybe Alex could warn his dad when he arrived.

Alex nodded and said, "You're right Maia. Okay let's take a leap of faith and hope he got outside." Alex bolted to the staircase that led to the outside.

May was a little astonished by Alex' determination, but it also made her confident enough to catch up with him.

Kirin burst through the doors and made it outside to find several police cars already lined up outside. Officers leaned over the hood of their cars from behind them, pistols drawn and pointed at him. A loudspeaker announcement from the lead car ordered, "Freeze! Lay down on the ground face first with your hands on your head!" Not knowing what to expect, the officers were obviously taking every precaution they could as they demanded such harsh cooperation from the very person who needed saving.

Before Kirin could begin to explain the situation, a huge burst of energy originating from the doors flung them open and knocked Kirin to the ground. As the outside dirt got kicked up from the sudden disturbance, a cloud of dust obscured the force's vision of the doorway. The man in the jumpsuit staggered outside, holding his gauntlet hand out in hopes of finding Kirin while covering his face with the other hand. An officer remarked to someone sitting in the lead car, "Sir, there's too much dirt to see anything! What should we do?"

The man stepped outside of the car, wearing a black Kevlar vest and matching riot control helmet. The uniform looked particularly well-kept, not having seen action in a while. On the man's shoulder was a badge stitched onto his shirt sleeve, which read "Suffolk County Police Force" along the top and "Captain Daniel Knight" along the bottom, surrounding the county emblem. As he stepped onto the pavement he raised the loudspeaker mic to his face as he adjusted his waist holster for his pistol. Clenching the mic in his sweaty hand, he asserted himself toward the cloud of debris, "Alright, whoever you are you can come out of that fog slowly and with your hands behind your head. You are completely surrounded; there is no escape. Surrender quietly and nobody will get hurt!"