Cass ran, the fear for his mother overriding the fear of facing that thing. He was moving before Luna and his father could catch up - before their faces could even register the shock of him being gone. The stairwell was narrow and the turns were too sharp for him to build up speed - he let loose a frustrated cry between clenched teeth. He cleared a landing and saw it in front of him. He didn't know what he could do, his shields had been useless before and he didn't have any weapon other than his baseball bat, which seemed pathetically weak right now.
He watched as it grabbed his mom and hurled her away from it. His heart cried out at the same time he did, her scream fading as she was plunged into the darkness.
He knew he was almost out of speed - he'd used up most of it in the water maze, but he had to do SOMETHING. He couldn't do much for his family, he couldn't fight, but what he could do was RUN.
Cass reached into himself, beyond his reserves, beyond his speed, and begged the universe to answer. He pushed off the railing so quickly that the metal underneath him groaned. He was at the homunculus, then onto the wall next to it, running along it like it was the floor. He marveled at his feet pushing him forwards before gravity even had the ability to take hold. If I can do that, what about… as the thought occurred to him he leapt through the air toward the railing. He grabbed the closest railing and angled himself downward, head-first into the darkness, pulling against the railing like he was climbing a ladder upside-down. Faster he pulled, moving beyond the paltry pull of gravity. The air in front of him seemed to move out of his way rather than risk being ignited by his passage.
Soon he stopped using his hands and began kicking off of each railing, launching him forwards with speeds he'd never imagined. He caught up to Tess, her face locked in an expression of calm determination as she floated suspended in the air.
He'd read Spiderman, he knew what would happen to a human body that stopped instantly from a fall. I have to slow her down. He reached out and gently grabbed her ankle, tugging it upwards. He stepped down to another railing, reaching out to her as she floated slowly to him. He tugged at her ankle again, this time with more force. Is she this heavy or am I fighting her momentum? This time he pushed her closer to the railing.
His speed was failing. He'd already pushed past the limits of his ability and he had no idea where the extra speed was coming from. No time! He thought and realized he'd only have one more chance. He felt the last of his speed pool get used up and cried out for more. He reached for the bottom of his pool, found it dry, and pushed harder. Inside of him the bottom of his pool cracked and an unfathomable well of power waited beyond the cracks. He pulled it into him, drinking from it like a dying man. Light flooded the stairwell as his body erupted in lightning.
He waited for her to clear the set of stairs as she fell, the next landing shrouded in darkness behind her. Now! He thought then leapt, crashing bodily into her.
Luna and Zavier turned the landing, running into the homunculus. It looked like it had gone through an industrial shredder. It had pulled itself onto the stairs and was blocking the way down. Luna instantly began firing her gauntlet and Zavier whipped the chain around in punishing blows, slicing what was left of it to ribbons. Zavier was wracked with fear but he couldn't leave this thing behind to chase them. He had no idea where Tess and Cass were, but wherever it was they couldn't be in great shape if they'd left this thing alive.
After moments that felt like agonizing hours they got the kill notification. Zavier's arm dropped with fatigue, completely unable to support itself.
"Oh man, the gauntlet and your whip took all the energy!"
"It's okay, honey, we wouldn't have wanted anything that thing dropped anyway. Let's go find your mom and brother."
The two groups ran into each other, almost literally, as they were each running to find the other. Zavier's arms were around Tess in a moment, then he held her at arm's length, looking her up and down. After a quick scan he did the same with Cass.
"What happened? When we got to the homunculus it was almost dead, but both of you were gone."
Tess and Cass shared a smile. "Well," Tess started. "When I landed on that thing I did a good bit of damage before it managed to grab ahold of me and throw me down the stairwell."
Zavier's eyes went wide and Luna covered a gasp with both hands. Tess patted the air in reassurance. "I'm okay! One second I was falling, trying to find something I could grab onto - unfortunately, nothing was within arm's length. I barely had a second to consider that when I felt my ankle explode in pain. Just as that registered, something hit me like a truck and slammed me into the wall. One second I was falling to my death, the next I was laying on one of the landings down there with a broken ankle and rib cage."
Cass hung his head in embarrassment but Tess just laughed and pulled him into a hug. "It turns out that our son here did some pretty amazing thinking that saved my life. My ankle pain was from him grabbing my ankle and pulling a few times, it was just so fast that it all happened at once to me."
Cass smiled sheepishly. "I was trying to slow your momentum without grabbing anything that would hurt you too bad."
"You didn't want to Gwen Stacy her!" Zavier said with a proud grin. "That's awesome, man! You probably saved your mom a broken spine!" He pulled Cass in for a hug.
"Well, I kinda crushed her ribcage, though."
Tess laughed. "Well yeah, there was that. But you didn't have any choice."
"Tell us!" Luna cried in frustration. "You guys are dragging out the good parts!"
Cass ran his hand through his hair. He never liked being the center of attention, especially when it came to talking about himself. "Well, my speed was running out - had run out, actually. I completely emptied my speed pool but was so scared of mom dying that I just… well, kept going I guess. I felt like I could break through the bottom of the pool, so I did. I don't know if I could have in a normal time, but I knew that if I didn't mom would die. Anyway, even that was about to run out and I hadn't done anything to help mom yet. I realized that I had to get her out of the air, but wasn't strong enough to hold her when my speed ran out. So, I did the only thing I could think of - I tackled her."