Roy Davenport's tone was serious enough to draw everyone's attention. Nathan couldn't take his eyes off the man; his very presence demanded attention. Not to mention, he was curious. What was this investigation?

Davenport slapped a newspaper onto the desk. The desk was large, and the kids were sitting very far apart from each other. Nathan craned his neck to read the article, which had been placed in front of Rai.

The Supernatural Extravaganza, the title read.

"Has the town gone crazy, or is something far more sinister brewing?" Rai read out. She looked up. "Do I have to read the whole article? It's pretty huge."

Roy didn't answer. "You kids have probably heard of the strange things that have been going on around this town. I know for a fact some of you have experienced it," he turned his gaze onto Nathan, and the latter had to use every ounce of his willpower not to break out in a cold sweat.

"Yeah, I've seen this stuff in the newspaper, but you don't actually believe this, do you?" Fletcher asked.

"We have reason to pry," Dahle clarified, speaking after a while, "in fact, these incidents are exactly what we came to investigate."

"And these happenings is why you've been brought here today," Roy said. He brought out a small briefcase from under the table which Nathan hadn't noticed before.

"Sir," Finch started, his eyes narrowing, "You don't really think we're the reason behind these events... that we've done them?"

Roy laughed. "No, kid. We don't think you've done these. In fact," he clicked open the lock on the case, "You haven't been brought here because of something we think you did. You've been brought here because of something that was done to you." He looked up.

"Ten years ago."

Nathan felt his blood run cold. Images and screams filled his head. He gripped the handle of his chair, and beside him, he noticed Rai clenching her fists.

Dahle shook his head, smiling softly. "Your expressions tell us all we need to know."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rai's voice shook even as she spoke.

"Kid, don't. We've done our research. We've spent days and weeks on rummaging through records and cross-referencing. There's literally no point pretending," Roy told her, "Not to mention, you're not hardened criminals, and we are hardened cops."

He laid out another newspaper clipping in front of them, this one much older than the first. The yellow page was torn from the edges, but the text was readable. Nathan didn't need it anyway, he knew what it said.

"Ten years ago, this town faced one of the most daunting cases I'd ever handled. I was in Dahle's position then," Roy gestured to his junior, "Seventy-five kids taken from parties and events on a single day, and were untracked for almost two months."

"Search parties from everyone had come in and we from state took about a month to get to the bottom of this," he placed another picture on the table, "Charlie Craig. One of the most brilliant scientists of modern times. Also one of the craziest."

Nathan knew that man. He remembered his face. Even a picture was enough to bring back the floods of memories. He felt like curling into a ball and screaming. His hands were shaking now, and the dank, dark atmosphere of the room made it no better.

He'd tried to leave this in the past. He'd tried to forget about all of it, about the experiments, the machines, the screams. All of it. And now, it was all coming back. He wanted to physically push it away, but he forced himself to remain calm.

Roy's head turned down. He looked sorry. "Look, I know this is hard for your kids. I get that. But... I have no choice. I need you guys right now, and even though my conscience warns me against it, the situation demands it."

"I know what he did to you. The experiments. I know what you can do."

"You've got the wrong people," Nathan spat out. His eyes burned, and it took an immense effort not to crumble.

"Really? So, that sidewalk on Miller Street, that wasn't you? " 'Cause kid, I got a lady a phone call away who would swear she saw you. And you," Roy looked at Rai, "I'm assuming frying the AC was you?"

"Look, kids, I don't wanna hear it, okay? There's no point in denying anything. It's better if we just progress with the case."

He set down three tattered books on the tables.

"When the news of the happenings in this town came to me, they were horrifyingly similar to what Craig had recounted when we captured him. Everyone dismissed it as crazy talk, but something struck me. The guy was crazy, yes, but he wasn't stupid. So I decided to go back to his house. And ten years does a lot of damage to a place, and the walls were weak enough for me to find his 'secret compartment', with these three books," he told them, making little quotation marks in the air.

"These books are how we got to you. Two are his scientific journals, and one is his diary. He wrote down all the test subjects and the experiments, which was how we could narrow it down to you," Dahle said.

"The incidents of what is happening now bear a striking resemblance to what he outlined," Roy opened the thinnest book of the three, "here he writes about it. The draperies turning liquid, the ground turning into quicksand, footprints rising out of the ground, hallucinations, and whatnot."

"All this stuff has happened before. And he found out what it was. Which was why he took you, and the other seventy-one kids. He wanted to..." he searched for the right word, "enhance you. Upgrade you, so you could make an army, which would fight this thing."

"A thing?" Rai butt in, "you mean something is causing these things?"

"Screw that," Fletcher added, looking at Roy, "You mean you're asking us to fight it?"

"Yes, and yes," the senior officer answered, "the thing in question here, Craig wrote about it. It's something he called the Darkness."

"Because he was creative like that," Fletcher earned a glare from her brother. Roy shrugged.

"He's done extensive research on this, because it had surfaced once before. He's written a lot about it in his journal, but I'll give you the gist." He opened the book.

"As he writes, the Darkness is an ancient form of a dark energy, of sorts. It blurs the line between science and the supernatural. No one knows the origin, really. Just accounts in old books of similar happenings."

"Essentially, it's an energy. It's literally pure evil energy," Dahle continued, "and it says in the journal, that it expands constantly, using fear and despair. In a way, it feeds off of those."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Finch exclaimed. Roy gave him a look.

"Kid, we just said this thing is a supernatural dark energy. It ain't gonna make much sense with regular logic."

"He made you kids into...a shield, of sorts. An army, to protect him and everyone else from the darkness. Also to win worldwide appraise, but we'll ignore that."

Roy put his hands on the table. "Look, I know this is a lot. But I also know that if anyone stands a chance at beating this thing, it's you kids. I've seen you do it once," he looked pointedly at Nathan.

Nathan sighed. He'd been his usual quiet self. But he needed to speak now. "Sir, I get what you're saying..." there was no point in denying it now. These officers clearly knew what he was, and what he could do.

"But what happened... it was traumatic. Eight years old and experimented on, terrified by an insane scientist. Probably these guys too, and I know I've worked hard and long to overcome that. To try and leave it all behind. And now, you're asking us to go right back into that?"

"I know what I'm asking of you. I know it's not easy. But..." Roy's head dipped down, "I don't have a choice. I hate having to use kids, but you're the only ones who stand a chance. If we don't stop it, the whole town is going to fall further into an abyss... of fear and darkness. You can already see it. In the faces of everyone who's walking the streets. And it's not like you will be spared, or that the Darkness will stop at this town. Once it's sucked out all from here, it'll move on. I'm asking a lot, but the situation calls for a lot."

"Well, if it's like you say it is, and I'm honestly terrified that it is, we don't have an option. Silent Boy here," Fletcher gestured towards Nathan, "faced this thing once and had to use his abilities. If we don't help, we'll eventually have to do it anyway. So... we don't seem to have a choice, really. It's help or end up as horror movie victims."

Roy and Dahle looked at each other, their faces betraying how good they felt at Fletcher's words. Rai sighed, drawing all eyes to her.

"I'm afraid Fletcher's right. And this place is my town too. I'm not gonna have some dark fear-sucking son of a-" she caught herself, acknowledging the room she was in, "what I mean is, I'm not letting anything get to this town. So if I'm one of the only ones who can stop it, I guess I'm in."

Roy's face broke into a huge smile, as he patted her on the back, earning a smirk from the brown-haired girl. At the other end of the table, the twins exchanged meaningful glances.

"Well, it's not like we have a choice here, but I guess Rai's right. We have families and friends in this town, and we're not gonna let them go through this. We're in too," Finch agreed.

All eyes turned to Nathan.

Finch's words rang in his ears. He had a family here too. Some friends as well. His parents' faces flashed in front of his eyes. Then came his little sister, Naia. He wasn't going to let them go through this. They didn't need any trauma. He had gone through it himself, and he wasn't going to let it happen again. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm in too."

~•~•~•~•

A/N: YAAY I'M BACK!! Okay, I'll stop. I'm not in much of a good mood, cause one of my favorite teams just exited the world cup... but I managed to finish this chapter. I know this had a lot of dialogue, but you wouldn't expect this kind of a conversation to be short, wouldja? Next chap will be some talk, then probably some action. We still gotta see what these people can do, eh?

Please comment your thoughts!! I'd love some critique!! It would really help me grow as an author. A gigantic thank you to anyone who's read my hard work!!

The star buttons right there in the corner, so do vote if you think my story good enough!!

I made that gif banner up there at the top... I'm planning on doing a bit more with my graphics... whaddya guys think? That's Nathan, btw.

Until next time,
Wizard.