Rehab for SuperVillains (18+)-Chapter 146: Make another hole!

Tila froze, her sharp features twisting with rage, cornered.

Lila’s voice trembled, her eyes wide with feigned betrayal.

"Kael, why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!" Her words were desperate, designed to sell the act, to push Tila toward surrender.

Rhea flanked Tila on one side, her fists wreathed in flickering flames, her amber eyes locked on her target.

Kael and Freya held the other side, Lila their leverage, the room crackling with tension.

Kael pulled a power-suppressing collar from his pocket, unlocking it with a quick press of his thumb’s fingerprint.

He tossed it to the floor in front of Tila, the metal skidding to a stop at her feet.

"Put it on," he said, his voice calm but unyielding. "Do it, and no one gets hurt."

Freya pressed the icicle closer to Lila’s neck, the cold biting into her skin. Lila gulped, her eyes glistening with tears, her vulnerability almost too real.

"Tila, please," she whispered, her voice breaking, urging her sister to comply.

Tila’s gaze flicked between the collar, Lila, and Kael, her lips curling into a sneer. "Fuck you, Kael," she spat, her voice venomous.

She bent slowly, her fingers closing around the collar, her eyes never leaving Lila’s tear-streaked face. For a moment, it seemed she might comply, her hand hovering near her neck.

Then.....

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tila screamed, a piercing, guttural sound that startled everyone.

The next instant, the room plunged into darkness, shadows erupting like a tidal wave, swallowing every inch of light.

Freya gasped as a collar snapped around her own neck, the cold metal locking with a click.

Her icicle vanished, her powers suppressed, leaving her hand empty.

Tila lunged from the shadows, grabbing the icy statue of Lila, but Kael’s hand was already on Lila’s arm, yanking her back.

Freya, dazed for a split second,, adjusting to the darkness snapped into action, joining Kael to tug Lila free, their combined strength pulling against Tila’s grip.

Outside the shadowy dome, Rhea stood frozen, her amber eyes wide, unable to see through the inky blackness.

"What the hell’s going on?" she muttered, her fists igniting with fire, the flames casting a warm glow around her.

Without hesitation, she charged into the dome, her fire exploding inward, illuminating the room in a brilliant flash of orange and gold.

The light revealed chaos: Kael and Tila locked in a tug-of-war over Lila’s frozen form, Freya shaking off her shock, her blue eyes blazing despite the collar.

Rhea’s fire banished the shadows, exposing Tila’s furious expression.

Freya abandoned Lila, lunging at Tila with a swift punch, her fist connecting with Tila’s cheek.

The crack echoed, Tila stumbling back, her sharp features contorted with rage.

Tila glared, her hand morphing into a shadowy sword, its edge glinting like obsidian.

Before anyone could react, she vanished, her form dissolving into the lingering shadows.

The room grew heavy, the air thick with menace.

"Out! Get out of the house!" Kael yelled, his voice cutting through the chaos, his stun baton raised, ready for an attack.

Freya grabbed Lila’s frozen arm, dragging her toward the exit, her boots pounding the floor.

Kael followed, fumbling with the collar around Freya’s neck, his fingers working the lock.

The front door was gone, replaced by a writhing wall of shadows, the entire house transforming into a labyrinth of darkness.

Tila’s voice echoed, manic and unhinged, bouncing off the walls. "I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill you all!" she chanted, her laughter wild, chilling.

Kael’s thumb found the collar’s scanner, and with a press, it fell from Freya’s neck, her powers surging back.

She raised her hands, unleashing a blast of ice that shattered the shadowy wall, carving a jagged hole in the house’s exterior.

Sunlight poured in, scattering the shadows, and Freya shoved Lila through, Kael right behind her, yelling, "Rhea, move!"

Rhea sprinted toward the hole, her flames trailing like a comet, but the opening sealed shut, shadows knitting together like a living barrier.

She skidded to a stop, her amber eyes wide, trapped inside the house.

Kael spun to Freya, his hazel eyes urgent. "Make another hole! Now!"

Freya blasted the wall with ice, shattering plaster and wood, but the new opening revealed only more shadows, a void where the house’s interior should have been.

No sign of Rhea, no flicker of her fire—just an endless expanse of darkness, Tila’s laughter echoing within.

"We have to get Rhea!" Kael said, his voice tight, his grip on the stun baton white-knuckled.

Freya’s blue eyes were grim, her jaw set. "We can’t go in, Kael. It’s a trap—we’ll get lost like her."

Lila, her icy restraints still, her glasses fogged, mumbled, her voice a desperate whisper.

"Get Rhea out fast, Kael, or Tila will kill her."

Rhea stood alone in the house, the walls pulsing with writhing shadows, Tila’s maniacal laughter echoing like a warped record.

She wasn’t scared—her amber eyes burned with defiance, her fists clenched, flames flickering at her knuckles.

The memory of her last encounter with Tila, the blood, the scars, fueled her resolve.

Not this time, she thought, her lips curling into a determined smirk.

Kael’s briefing echoed in her mind: watch for shadows darker than the rest, moving fast, striking from unexpected angles.

She was ready.

Rhea ignited, her body wreathed in a roaring corona of fire that lit the room like a bonfire, banishing the darkness around her to an extent.

The shadows recoiled, hissing as if alive.

She scanned the area, her senses sharp, searching for any flicker of movement.

Come on, Tila, show yourself.

There—a shadow, blacker than the rest, zoomed toward her from the left, slicing through the firelight like a blade.

"Oh no you don’t," Rhea growled, her smirk widening.

As Tila’s form emerged, her shadowy blade raised, Rhea slammed her fist into the ground, unleashing a shockwave of flame.

The fiery punch caught Tila square in the face, the impact sending her reeling back into the shadows with a yelp of pain.