Chapter 59 - The Fog Rolls In

Devin circled around the fog as he looked for a decent way to get near Okoye. The fog would obscure her figure before clearing enough for Devin to see her once again. Devin couldn't figure out exactly what the fog would do if he touched it just from looking at Okoye, but whatever its effect was definitely wasn't something he wanted to be hit by. As Devin continued to circle, looking for an opening, Okoye sat straight up and let out an ear-piercing scream before collapsing once more and curling in on herself to the fetal position.

"Okay I need to get her out of there soon." Devin muttered as he released his wings once more. Devin kept time of the movements of the fog and soon he saw an opening. Devin blurred forward and reached Okoye in a fraction of a second. Picking her up, Devin turned only to find that his opening had already closed with a wall of swirling, pale yellow fog.

"Shit!" Devin cursed as he looked for another opening only to find himself in a dome of pale yellow. Devin contemplated his options on how to get out. He could try blowing away some of the fog with a fireball or maybe some other magical means. Devin really didn't want to use his only transformation on getting out of this, but he might have to. Gathering fire mana into his palm after shifting Okoye to one shoulder. Once he had a full fledged fireball in hand he let it loose and watched as it slipped right through the fog without doing anything.

'If the fire itself wont affect it then maybe if I lob it and it explodes near the wall then the concussive wave might do it.' Devin thought as he generated another fireball. this one he aimed at the ground right before the wall before launching it. The orb of fire streaked through the air once more before impacting with the ground and exploding. The fog concaved from the pressure wave to the point that it became translucent enough to see the outside. Devin decided to lob one more before making a break for it. One more explosion followed before Devin began to run for it. He had to run as he was getting dangerously low on mana and wanted to conserve the last bit just in case so his wings were not extended.

Devin managed to make it out of the dome just before it closed. Once he was out he turned to look at the woman as he set Okoye down only to see the hooded woman looking in his direction. He could feel her eyes on him even though they weren't visible. She didn't move nor speak, just stared at him. Like she couldn't quite understand how he had managed to escape.

"Who are you?" a whispery voice said from all around Devin. Devin whirled around looking for the source of the voice.

'It couldn't have been the cloaked lady. I can at least see her mouth and it hasn't moved.' Devin thought as he surveyed the surrounding area with his peripherals while eyeing the woman again.

"Was that you?" Devin finally asked the woman as he flicked his eyes to Okoye to see if she had come around. She had regained a good portion of her color as she had been extremely pale when he had set her down a minute ago, but she still hadn't moved.

"Who are you?" the voice asked again as the woman turned fully to face Devin.

"It's usually polite to give your name first before asking for another persons." Devin countered as he watched the woman. The sounds of fighting continued from nearby as T'Challa continued to battle Klaue.

"I am Affliction. Who are you?" the woman said as Devin now believed that the voice was from the woman.

"My name is Devin. Why are you here?" Devin asked. If he could keep her talking for the moment then it would give Okoye a chance to recover and T'Challa a chance to finish his fight.

"I was given a task. I need to finish my task." Affliction replied as she continued to stare at Devin.

"What task was that?" Devin asked as he looked back to check on Okoye. Seeing her still unconscious, Devin turned back and found that Affliction was standing five feet in front of himself.

"Retrieve the metal from Klaue. I can't go back without completing my task." Affliction said as she raised her hand palm up. Then an orb of the yellow fog began to coalesce above her palm similar to Devin's fireball. Soon she lobbed it copying Devin's actions from earlier. Devin seeing the orb coming his way dove away before retreating to a safer distance. As the orb landed it expanded ten times in size before dissipating. Devin turned to look at his opponent only to see another orb flying his way. Devin began to run as he didn't want to get hit by whatever that stuff was. Devin pulled out a handgun from his inventory and fired at the woman but as each bullet hit her, a small hole would appear in her body with the same gas that she was controlling was lining the hole.

"Oh goodie, she's one of those bad guys. Feels like a One Piece rip off. Eiichiro Oda is gonna sue someone." Devin said as he continued his run. Soon Affliction switched from throwing orbs to a full on stream of pale yellow fog being blasted from her palms like a giant flamethrower. Devin her a feminine groan signaling that Okoye had finally awoken. Devin reangled himself towards his companion as he was still being pursued by a stream of fog. Devin hauled the confused Okoye up onto her feet and began pulling her along.

"What is going on?" Okoye asked as she finally got with the program and began to run along side Devin.

"Don't you remember fighting her?" Devin asked as how could she forget fighting Affliction in the first place.

"It wasn't a fight, one moment I was about to engage her when I got hit by some kind of mist and next thing I know it's like I'm in a horrible nightmare and can't wake up. After that I woke up on the ground." Okoye said as the pair dodged another lobbed orb before it exploded. As the pair continued their dodging another shout came from nearby before it cut off abruptly. Soon, T'Challa joined them to help tackle the last villain. Though this caused the woman to pause.

"Looks like I won't finish my task." Affliction said with a sigh and with a wave of her hand she began to disapate.

"Hold it!" T'Challa shouted as the woman was disappearing.

"Don't worry, Leviathan will eventually come find you and then I will have finished my task." Affliction said right before she disappeared. After waiting to see if the woman was coming back, Devin began to speak.

"Well we managed two out of three. Let's get back." Devin said as he started for the trailers.