Hidden in Blue
The Minotaur's hide stopped any arrows from actually hurting it but they still seemed to piss him off. The Minotaur's glowing gauntlets shattered everything that they touched excluding every trick arrow Night Raid shoot at them so they went into close combat. Raid soon realised that he wouldn't be able to dodge the bull's swipes forever and the beast didn't look like he was getting tired anytime soon. Raid was suddenly hit by a shockwave, caused by the bull slamming its fists to the ground, and was sent hurtling into a wall that surrounded the cargo hold. The Minotaur charged into the stunned hero and they both went crashing through it into the hold then landed on opposite sides in a bit of a daze.
Night Raid, now in a sitting position against the wall, had felt one of his ribs crack and released that the armour hidden in his suit wouldn't be able to protect him from another strike. The bull rose, breathing heavily, and roared his victory but then Raid felt something cold pass through the top of his spine to the tip of his tail and he found the strength to stand but he was hunched over as if he was possessed. One of the lenses on his mask had cracked a bit so a small part of his eye was visible but the iris was no longer blue. When the Minotaur charged again Raid grabbed it by the horn with one hand and rammed it into wall. This happened several times more before the horn cracked from the punishment and the bull was sent flying into more crates but this time it took a longer time getting up than before.
Raid's eyes were now black and his physical form had changed drastically. He was now the same build as the bull and each of his claws, which he normally cut everyday, were now about an inch in length. The Dark Wolf dragged his claws across some of the metal crates and left four deep groves in them. The two rushed at each other but now the bull was outmatched. The creature punched him creating a small crater in the bull's chest and realised that the Minotaur was made of stone. It was a golem! The Dark Wolf smiled, revealing several overgrown fangs. He gave the Minotaur an uppercut and its head came clean off. The stone head bounced once when it it the floor then broke into pieces. The Dark Wolf started savagely destroying the rest of the body but he stopped when he heard someone calling him.
Dan, wake up. This isn't who you are, fight it!
The beast that was once Night Raid howled and slowly transformed back into the hero, who fell onto the ground, unconscious.
***
Storm Rider and Poseidon had trapped Sekhmet in a vortex made up of ice and snow when they had heard the howl. Rider wasted no time and shot towards his friend's voice. When he got to the cargo hold he saw the Minotaur's broken stone head, it's body lying in pieces, on the floor and his best friend passed out beside it. Rider rushed over to Night Raid and helped him up into a sitting position. Jake took off his friend's mask and opened his eye to check his condition but was surprised at the colour. Dan had always worn special contacts or sometimes even glasses over his eyes to make them appear green, even around Jake, and he only took them off when he slept or he was out on patrol. Jake put his friend's mask back on and carried him back to the others. Osiris had psychically forced Sekhmet to pass out, turning her back to normal, and Poseidon had knocked off Circe's magical tiara and freed the once possessed lioness from the sorcerers' spirit.
Raid woke up just before the portal appeared to take them back to base but didn't say anything about the Minotaur. When they got back it was nearly one o'clock so the two hightailed it home via their motorcycles. Dan recalled his torn costume to the ring and immediately went to bed without a word. Jake stayed downstairs and sat at the kitchen table. Dan had left his headphones downstairs from the other night so Jake put them on but they weren't synced to police scanners so he listened to music instead. The song was long and dreary, before long Jake had fallen to sleep, spellbound by it's melody.
The next day Dan woke up at early found his friend laying on the kitchen counter, looking like the dead, wearing his headphones. After checking the music Dan cursed, quickly removed the headset then soaked a dishcloth and wiped it on his friend's face. Jake groaned then blinked his eyes. Luckily Jake's parents didn't wake up early on Saturdays and his sister was staying over at her friend's place so no one would of seen Jake like this. Dan went to the medicine cabinet by the fridge and took out a box that contained green pills, one of which he then put into a glass of water to dissolve.
"Wha," asked a groggy Jake.
"You were listening to a creature from my home planet," said Dan as he stirred the drink, "their music doesn't affect us but to humans the creature's music can send you into a coma if listened to for long enough but luckily you only got about is hours of the stuff in your head. We listen to it to clear our heads for things like meditation, you're lucky that I need very little sleep or else your condition could've been much worse."
Dan offered the drink to Jake, who drank it without hesitation.
"My parents left me some medication in case I got sick," continued Dan, "turns out I'm immune to most viruses on this planet but the medicine still comes in handy when someone I know gets an off world illness."
When the drink was downed Dan tried lead Jake up to bed but he refused.
"I'm fine bro but I want you to tell me something."
"Sure," said Dan, sitting down across from him, "I've got nothing to hide."
"Except for the fact that your eyes aren't really green, you hide alien medicine in our house plus you can completely destroy an invulnerable Minotaur, who turned out to made of stone and wasn't so invulnerable after all, so thanks for sharing those secrets with me."
Dan shifted uncomfortably on his chair and his tail swished around nervously.
"On my home planet Luna," he began, "we're each born with a different eye colour can either be seen as a blessing or a curse. If your eyes are green or sometimes even yellow it's normal and if you get red eyes you're considered a person of interest."
"Still not explaining the blue."
"I'm getting to that. You see when you humans first saw albinos you considered them cursed and shunned them but overtime you came to accept them. Wolves born with blue eyes are treated as if they're cursed. My people are, for the most part, purely scientific so they ran tests a few decades ago to see what cause us to have blue eyes."
"Blue eyed wolves are never related to one another but each had something different with a part of their brains. Some had accelerated intelligence, but they die young from the strain, others can get anything from photographic memory to ADHD. I know a guy who has complete control over his metabolism so he can eat literally anything he wants and it won't bother his stomach."
"Ok," said Jake, leaning on the back of his chair, "but what's up with you? I think I would've notice if you possessed any unusual mental attributes."
"Mine isn't like most," said Dan with his ears laid back in embarrassment, "a few of us have physical side effects but I'm the only one of them on Earth so far. We're not supposed to leave our planet in fear of one of us having the equivalent of a mental breakdown but my mum was pregnant with me when she and dad left so I'm don't technically exist in their database."
"What are the side effects?"
"Temporary memory loss, enhanced strength and other minor issues," Dan lied quickly, "We don't know how or why only some of us are this way but I haven't show any kind of blackout for a long time."
"Until yesterday."
"I'm not sure, I don't remember anything form last night. My first blackout happened when I was four then again at eleven but your parents thought they were just night terrors. I learned to control some of the mutations in my DNA," Dan held out his paw, "so I could use it in better ways-"
Four claws suddenly grew from his paw, each were about an inch in length. Jake whistled but when he tried to touch them the claws retracted immediately.
"No way," said Dan standing up, "they can cut through wood like butter. I use them mostly to cling to walls but if I get a high enough surge of adrenaline I can cut through pretty much anything, I guess that includes the Minotaur's hide."
Jake's phone vibrated and the caller id showed a picture of a pyramid.
It read:
46254M3725E87543E67884T8653876647A6312T975367554H9675Q
"What does it mean," asked Jake passing the phone over to Dan.
"It's coded but not very well," said Dan, "it says MEET AT HQ and the other numbers are an anagram for coordinates. I'll leave a note for your folks."
"Thanks"
Jake made towards the door but stopped and turned to Dan, who had not moved from his position at the table.
"Aren't you coming?"
"No," said the lupine, "too many questions will be asked and I don't have the right answers. Just tell them that I'm probably still recovering if they ask about me. Anyway I've got work from some of my other classes to catch up on. Remember," now his tone was serious, "that they don't know who I am yet or the role that I play in your life so let's keep it that way"
"Um, ok," said Jake, then he disappeared through the door.
Dan waited for the sound of Jake's bike to leave the driveway before he stood up from the table. He hated lying to his friend but he needed to do some solo investing while he knew Ra was occupied. He wrote two separate notes for Jake's parents so they'd think that the two boys were off doing different activities then grabbed his backpack, with his quiver and bow stored inside, donned his ring and sped away.