Through the Dark

I opened the front door of my house and walked inside.
Sitting on sofa in the living room was Pekka and thankfully Tuukka. It seemed like they were conversing and our entrance interrupted him.
"Ah, there you are, Corey," Tuukka told with a small smile.
I put my hands out in front of me. "Look, Tuukka, I am so, so, so sorry about what I did to you, abandoning you like that. I'm-I'm sorry." I threw my hands down in defeat.
He cocked an eyebrow. "At least I'm back here, right?"
I sighed, nodded my head. "Yea, at least you're still here..." I letted out a nervous chuckle and pulled up a chair from the dining area to the sofa. I sat down and saw that Mitty was already sitting on another chair that was on the other side of the sofa, next to Pekka.
"How did you get here?" I asked Tuukka.
Pekka raised his hand in the air while leaning backwards to make eye contact with me. "Uh, I had to do the job you were assigned with."
I felt terrible knowing that I was suppose to do a task that I said I would do, yet still back out of it. But I did have a legit reason, right? I ran my fingers through my hair. "Thanks, Pekka."
The blond man nodded his head. "Yea... Actually, you pretty much helped me save Tuukka since you distracted and killed practically all the guards so that it was an easy job to accomplish."
"Okay, good! At least something came out with what I did." A wave of relief washed over me.
"Hey, Tuukka," Mitty started, leaning over towards the leader's direction, "what did you do in the headquarters?"
"Oh, well..." Tuukka raised his eyebrows while rolling his eyes once. "...I learned many things, that's for sure."
"Did he try to take over you?" Pekka asked.
"Two times." He raised two fingers in the air. "But of course, I knew the way out, so he found out that what he was doing is useless. Now, he's trying to upgrade his powers so that it'll be nearly impossible to escape."
"Yikes...that's good to know..." Mitty made a shocked look with her teeth bared.
"Yea, so that's something to look out for," Tuukka pointed out. "It might be more dangerous to go face to face with Kari now because I don't know when his new 'upgrade' would be around."
"Well, actually, we found a safe way to face Kari," Mitty told them.
Pekka made a confused look. "We did?"
"Well, 'we' as in 'Corey and me,'" she clarifying.
"Oh, okay, I was about to say..." He leaned back.
"What is this 'safe way' to face Kari?" Tuukka asked her.
"Well, if you hadn't known, Corey faced Kari not too long ago, which was the reason why he couldn't save you," she started.
"I was mad, I had a reason," I grumbled with narrowed eyes.
"Because he burned down your parents' house?" Tuukka asked.
"Yea..." I blinked for a moment with confusion. "How did you know-- Kari told you?"
"Yup..." He nodded his head. "He told me a whole lot of stuff since he assumed that he could keep me hostage forever."
"Don't assume, or else that'll make you an as--"
"Yea, we know," Mitty said, cutting off Pekka.
He threw up his hands, nodding his head with pursued lips.
"Okay, okay, let's get back on track," Tuukka told them. He then turned to Mitty. "What were you saying about this 'safe way' again?"
"Oh yes." She nodded her head. "So Corey went against Kari since he was mad at what he did and I caught them, so I went in there to try to--"
"Get to the point," Pekka squeaked with gritted teeth, making a hand motion for her to hurry up with what she was saying.
Mitty letted out a heavy sigh. "I went in there to save Corey from getting himself killed and Kari began to go into my mind to take over me. Corey shielded me with himself and Kari said that he was blocking the connection. So what I'm trying to say is that Corey doesn't only make himself immune to Kari's mental powers, but he can also make others immune to the powers by blocking them physically."
"Oh well, look at that." Pekka cracked a smile on his face. "Corey, our little protecter. How cute."
I glared at him with a frown, telling him to not call me that through my facial expression.
"Huh..." Tuukka rubbed his chin while processing what Mitty just told us. "...that I can see being possible..."
"It is possible," she told him.
Tuukka turned to her, then went back to staring ahead while in deep thought. "This is actually quite a great advantage for us here. But the thing is: can he withstand Kari when he gets the upgrade?"
"Corey, can you?" Pekka asked me with raised eyebrows.
Everyone turned to look at me.
I shrugged. "I dunno."
"How do you feel withstanding Kari's powers now?" the leader questioned me.
"I feel fine...I mean, sometimes when I do, I feel the ground getting all weird, but other than that, I can handle it well."
"Nothing weird with the mind?" Tuukka placed his pointer finger against his temple.
I shook my head. "No, my head feels fine."
"He was really stable when he protected me from Kari," Mitty told Tuukka. "I felt the pain immediately going away and it was like as if nothing had happened in my mind after that. I think he'd be able to withstand this 'upgrade,' maybe being less stable, but stable enough to do the job overall."
"But it doesn't make sense--" Pekka blurted out, "--how is Corey immune to Kari's mental attacks?" He darted his eyes at me with a frown. "What are your powers?"
I was tired of fending off my partners from knowing my abilities, but luckily, Tuukka saved me at that moment.
"He must have some type of mental shield. It's the only thing I can think of," Tuukka guessed.
"What's so bad about those powers, Corey?" the blond asked me. "If those ARE your powers..."
"I never knew that I was able to withstand Kari's mental attacks when I first got my powers," I told them. "But I think it's an useful power that I have." I nodded my head.
"So those aren't your powers?" Pekka seemed puzzled.
"Not what I was thinking of."
"What are they then?"
My eyes widened. "Uhhhmmm..." Change the subject. I turned to Tuukka. "Tuukka, what else did you find out from Kari?"
Tuukka letted out a sigh. "Well, the one thing that's on my mind is why he has me as his ultimate target."
"He told you?" Mitty's eyes lit up.
"He told me everything practically."
"But why is Kari going after you? Is it a legit reason?" Pekka asked.
"In his point of view, it is a good reason, but overall, it could've been dealt with in a better way."
"Why is he going after you though...?"
"It's, um, personal stuff...family stuff." He frowned a bit.
"Do you mind tell us though?" Pekka tilted his head to the right.
"It'll be good for you guys to know." Tuukka shifted himself on the sofa. "It first began weeks after I was born..."

Notes