Sideline Stories

* Daizo: The Family Sword
* Blank Face: Jason Stoll
* Ana & Alastor: Meat Is Murder
* Ace Dragovic: Metaphase
* Snow-One: Ashes of A Dream
* Ghost: Life After Death
* Prize City: Love & Envy
* Nicholas: London's Blackgate

Daizo: The Family Sword

Started June 15th

Finished June 23rd

An average day in the big city of New York, a small sushi shop stands. Customers come in and out. The store is busy as always. Behind the counter, metal chops down on the hardwood. The metal doesn’t chip even the smallest wood needle off the block. Every time the metal stops, more fish are moved onto the block. A scrawny Asian boy of 17 smiles as he talks to his fellow workers. Insults fire off quick as bullets. All the insults land, but all they feel is the pain is laughter. The boss yells at the Asian boy.

“Daizo, don’t let the customers hear you!”

“Okay, Dominic.” Daizo quiets down. “Sam, you haven’t even graduated yet. You’re talking about college like you know you're going.”

“Why wouldn’t I go? I can afford it.”

“No, your parents can afford it. Where are you going? You’re lucky if a community college lets you in.”

“Nonsense.” Sam waves Daizo off. “Aren’t you suppose to be off right now? Get the hell outta here and take the trash with you! Leave me to my peace.”

“You never have peace, you’re dating Ava.”

Daizo walks out in a not-so-clean getaway. As he walks to the back of the store, Sam is yelling at Daizo. The last words Daizo hears before he turns the corner are that of his manager yelling at Sam.

Daizo grabs a few trash bags. He throws the heavy bags over his shoulder and kicks the back door open. Daizo keeps his eyes down while he walks through the parking lot. The trash area has two garbage disposals that are blocked off by wooden fencing. Daizo sets down one of the trash bags and slides open the wooden gate. As Daizo turns around to grab a trash bag, he sees a black convertible with someone sitting in it. The wooden gate shuts in front of Daizo. He throws the trash bags away and walks out of the garbage area.

This time, Daizo makes sure to keep his head down. He focuses on the ground. Thoughts come to his head about who could be in that car, and what they might be after. The silence breaks.

“Ey, Daizo!” A hand rises from the convertible. “Come over here. It hasn’t been that long. I know you remember me.”

Daizo walks over. He sees a skinny but muscular Asian man sitting in the car. His jet black hair is slicked back. His hair was just too short to tickle his ears. His smile wasn’t friendly. Daizo could tell he only smiled to show his teeth.

“It’s been a little while, Bruce. Last time I saw you,” Daizo leans on the car, “you were trying to kill me. I’m lucky the boss stepped in and stopped you. Otherwise, I’d be dead. So what exactly are you doing here? You’re not here to look out for me.”

“Look out for you? Shit, if the boss knew what you did, I would have been able to gun you down in the street right now. I’m looking for a guy named Dominic. He’s supposed to be the boss of,” Bruce tilts his head,” Oh, the place you work. Funny, now I want to kill two people that work there.”

“Why do you want to kill someone who works at a sushi shop?”

“That’s none of your fucking business. You work here, answer the fucking question.”

“No, I’ve only heard his name. He quit before I started working here.”

“Thank you.”

Daizo’s feet tap as he walks back inside.

“And if I find out your lying to me. I’m bringing you to the boss. You’ll only be proving me right.”

Daizo walks back inside. As soon as the door shuts behind him, he runs through the store. Sam yells, but Daizo ignores him. Everyone in the restaurant looks at Daizo as he runs into the manager’s office. The manager’s door slams shut.

Dominic’s eyes are wide open. “I thought you were leaving. Why are you running around my restaurant?”

“Why the fuck is Bruce Chen looking for you?”

“Who is Bruce Chen?”

Daizo says annoyed, “The Triad.”

“They’re already here?”

“What did you do?”

“I, I was a little low on funds. I couldn’t pay my months due. I had to make a decision.” Dominic looks around with a nervous quiver in his eyes.

“And?”

“I killed their men.”

“You what?” Daizo yells so loud the people in the restaurant look up. “You signed your death warrant, and now you’ve signed mine. You fucking idiot.”

Daizo walks out of the office and slams the door shut. Everyone looks at Daizo. Daizo doesn’t make eye contact with anyone. He walks through the store, everyone can feel the tension. When they see Daizo finally leave the store, their talking slowly trickles back in.

The New York streets are open but crowded. Daizo has to push people out of the way to move through the people. The farther he walks, the fewer people are on the street. Eventually, Daizo begins walking down his street. Cars are parked on the side of the road, but no one is walking around. Daizo walks up the short rock staircase to a wooden door. He fumbles with his keys and unlocks the door.

Daizo walks through the house. The floorboards creak under his feet. He runs through the hallway down to a door. He opens the door to reveal a staircase up to his room, the attic. Daizo digs all around looking for anything he can find. He moves a bureau out of the way. Behind the bureau is an old dusty wooden box with hanzi carved into it. He slides the box closer and unclicks the metal pieces keeping the box locked. As Daizo begins to open the box, his vision becomes clouded by memory.

Daizo can smell the old grass in China. Outside had a smell that he will never forget. He was only six years old. His grandfather and he were inside his grandfather’s hut. They were both on their knees praying to a small statue of Buddha. Daizo keeps opening one eye to check if his grandfather’s eyes are still closed.

“Remember Daizo. Buddha can’t feel your prayer if you’re praying towards me.”

Daizo straightens himself out. “Sorry, grandpa.”

“You shouldn’t pray because I do it. You should pray because it brings peace.”

“I will.”

“Good.”

The grandfather stands up. He walks outside of the hut and Daizo follows. He picks up two wooden swords. Daizo takes one from him.

“You’ve gotten very good with a sword, but there’s something that the sword won’t teach you.”

“What?”

“Honor. When you fight someone, you look them straight in the eye. Only kill if you have to. If you can’t look them in the eye, then you don’t deserve to be fighting them. We are not ninjas, like the Japanese. We don’t sneak around. You are a youxia. A hero. We help people.

“Yes, grandpa.”

“Come, I want to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“An early birthday present.”

The box creaks open. Inside, was a tang sword with a black sheath lying perfectly atop old cloth. Besides the sword, a small golden buddha pendant. Daizo puts the pendant on. He opens the bottom drawer to the bureau and reaches his hand behind the drawer. First, he pulls out a gun. Next, he takes a few clips out from the back. Daizo stuffs the gun and clips it into the wooden box. He shuts the carved box and clicks the metal to lock it. When he stands up, the box rises with him. He runs down the stairs.

When Daizo opens the front door, someone yells.

“I was trying to open the door! You almost hit me!”

Daizo recognizes the voice. “Mom, you’re home.”

“Where else would I be. I don’t do anything but sleep and work anyway. Why are you taking your grandfather’s box?”

“I haven’t practiced with the sword in a little while. I like to practice at least once a week, but I’ve been so busy.”

“Don’t stay out too long then, unless you’re picking up dinner.”

“About that. Can I borrow your car?”

Daizo’s mother looks at him confused. “Sure, whatever. Don’t bring it back without a full tank.” She passes him the keys.

Daizo kisses his mother’s cheek. “I never do.”

Daizo runs down the stairs. He opens the back door and throws the box in. He runs around the car and jumps in the front seat. The car growls at him as he turns the key. The wheels roll out into the streets of New York.

The clouds go by over Daizo’s head. Street by street he gets closer and closer to the edge of New York. Daizo taps his left foot on the car’s dirty floor. His finger taps the steering wheel. He feels that every time he reaches a light, it always seems to turn red. Time passes as Daizo leaves Yonkers, and drives past the Bronx until he sees Washington Bridge.

The car slowly moves closer to the bridge. Nearing the entrance of the bridge, a cop car sits. The tinted window’s on the cop car give Daizo a sense that he’s watching, stalking, waiting. Once Daizo gets closer, enough to read the cop's license plate. Daizo reads the numbers. His eyes widen. He turns his car around and drives the other way. In his left-hand mirror, he sees the cop car turn onto the road.

Daizo weaves through traffic, but every time he checks his mirror the cop is there. The cop drives closer and closer, but no lights are on. Daizo takes a left, right, left, left. Until the sky becomes grey, and they are the only cars on the road. Daizo takes a deep breath and pulls over. The cop parks behind Daizo. Daizo sits in silence as he waits for the cop to walk up. He turns his radio off, rolls down his window, and puts both of his hands on the wheel.

The policeman walks up to Daizo’s window. “Liscense and registration.”

Daizo hands the man his papers. He looks up at the officer. The officer walks back to his car. When he comes back, he hands Daizo his paperwork and license.

His voice sounds almost eerily calm. “Okay Daizo, I’m going to need you to step out of the car.”

“Officer, am I getting arrested?”

“Not unless you give me a reason.”

“Then why must I step out of the car?”

The officer laughs. “Then may I search your vehicle? I see a large and seemingly dangerous box in the back.”

“Do you have a warrant for my car to be searched? That’s my grandfather’s box. I can tell you, there isn’t anything but old family relics in there. Since you don’t see any type of weapon, I don’t see why you have to search my vehicle.”

The cop nods and looks down at the ground. Daizo looks straight into the officer’s eyes. Then, the officer pulls out a gun. He aims it at Daizo’s head.

“Step outside of the car! Hands up!”

Daizo unlocks the car door. He slowly opens the door and steps out.

“On the ground!”

Daizo goes down on his knees. The officer kicks him to the ground. One knee cuts deep into Daizo’s back. Daizo can feel the officer’s breath on the back of his neck.

“Why were you trying to leave New York?” The officer’s voice loses its calmness. His voice becomes loud and rough. “You know what I do. Why did you turn around?”

Daizo talks through his gritted teeth. “I was trying to sell old junk off in New Jersey as something special. You know that there are too many professional junk collectors in New York, and you need a store to impress tourists.”

“And you turned around why?”

“I figured with Bruce talking to me earlier, you wouldn’t let me leave. So I turned around to try to avoid getting questioned like this.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I checked the box to make sure your story checks out.”

Daizo winces in pain. “Just check it!”

The officer puts handcuffs on Daizo. He stands up and attaches his gun to his belt. The officer opens the car door and reaches inside the car. He pulls the box out of the car and places it on the ground. He unlocks the box.

The officer laughs. “Bud, did you think I would have let you go without checking this?”

Daizo sits up. He looks straightforward at the police officer. His left-hand grabs his right thumb. He clenches his jaw and pulls. His right thumb dislocates. He takes a deep breath in.

“That mad, huh? Leaving New York. You're a fucking idiot. Look at you. Sitting there helplessly. Stand the hell up.”

Daizo stands up, and the officer walks behind him. He pushes Daizo forward. Daizo stumbles and walks closer to the police car.

“You’re going to die tonight.”

Daizo slips his right hand out of the cuffs. He turns around. His right fist slams into the officer’s nose. The officer stumbles back. Blood flows out of his nostrils. The officer puts his hand on his gun. Daizo grabs the baton off of his belt. The officer draws his gun. Daizo breaks the baton against the officer’s wrist. The gun falls to the ground. Daizo jabs the officer in the chest with the baton. He jumps down for the gun. He grabs it and looks up.

“I’ll-”

A boom echoes through the city. The officer falls to the ground with a bullet in his head. Daizo runs into his car. He places his gun on the passenger seat floor. Daizo’s car starts up. Daizo floors it as he drives away.

Another car drives over the policeman’s dead body. A black SUV flies down the road. Daizo takes a hard left turn. His wheels almost come up off of the ground. He flies down the next road. He looks in his mirror. The black SUV creeps ever so closer. All Daizo can hear is the sound of his car. White noise fills his ears as adrenaline pierces his veins.

On the left, he sees a skate park with a metal fence around it. He drives through the fence. His car spins left as he hits the break. Daizo reaches behind his back and opens the box. He straps his sword onto his back. He grips a pistol in each hand. He sets the clips he has on his seat, keeping one in his pocket. The car door bursts open with a kick.

The SUV swings into the park. Daizo fires off a few shots at the windows. The car doesn’t stop. Daizo jumps to the side, and the SUV slams into his car. Daizo slides down one of the ramps. He peaks over the top. He sees triad members get out of the car with assault rifles. He fires off a few shots. Most miss, but two men drop. Daizo watches three more guys get out of the car. He drops down, hidden beneath the ramp. Daizo holds both of his guns close to his chest. He tries to slow down his breathing and listen, but all he hears is his heartbeat in his ears.

Two triad members walk a bit lower to the ground. They hold their assault rifles ready. The two split up and walk around the sides of the hole. They turn with their guns ready. Both of the soldiers look at the ramp, no one is there.

Daizo stands under one of the soldiers. The other soldier notices. Daizo fires off his bullet first. The soldier drops. The other soldier readies his gun looking down, but a bullet flies up and cracks his skull. Daizo drops the ammo-less police gun. He takes a clip out of his pocket and reloads his gun.

Daizo climbs up. He stands up and looks at Bruce running at him with a Jian sword. He aims his gun and fires off a full clip of bullets. He can barely see Bruce swing his sword. The bullet falls to the ground in pieces. Daizo throws his gun and takes out his sword. Bruce slashes down. Daizo just barely manages to parry the blade.

Bruce has a fire in his eyes. “You lied to me. What is it now? How many of the boss’s people have you killed? You just dropped four here. You killed that cop. What is that, five? Don’t forget the real tragedy. When you killed the boss’s daughter.”

Bruce kicks Daizo back. Their swords clash together. With each swing, the blade becomes duller. Bruce’s attacks become faster and more violent. Daizo can feel his strength in every attack. All Daizo can do is block. He knows Bruce is going to hit him eventually. Bruce’s patience runs thin. He uses his sword like a hammer, slamming the blade over and over again into the same spot of Daizo’s sword. Daizo’s stance breaks. He stumbles. Bruce slams the hilt of his sword against Daizo’s head. Daizo regains a blurry focus. Bruce pulls a gun out of the back of his pants and fires a bullet into Daizo’s side. Dazio holds his left side with his right arm. With one slash, Daizo’s right arm and sword drop to the ground. Dazio drops to his knees.

“Ah!” Daizo screams out in pain.

Bruce stabs his sword through Daizo’s left shoulder and into the ground. Daizo looks up at the sky, pinned down by a sword.

“You think I’m going to kill you right now, don’t you? We have a long drive before that.”

Bruce rips his sword out of Daizo’s shoulder. He drags Daizo over to the SUV and throws him in the passenger seat.

“I hope you don’t bleed out before we finish our trip.”

Daizo sits in the car, wallowing in pain. His head moves back and forth, his jaw clenched and his face hot. Blood runs down the car seat. Not even Daizo’s pain breaks the silence in the car.

The car stops at a set of train tracks. and Bruce gets out of the car. He opens Daizo’s door and drags Daizo out onto the ground. Dazio says nothing as he is thrown onto the tracks. Bruce kneels beside him.

“You still alive in there?” Bruce slaps Daizo. “You look pretty awake to me.”

Daizo can hear the train’s horn as it gets closer.

“Remember this train? I want to make sure you do. This is the train where you killed Nuo. She was like a sister to me. I loved her. Now you get to die in the same place. Now, I don’t know if you regret it, but know that I would have killed you already if her blood wasn’t on your hands. That would have been mercy.”

Bruce stabs his sword through Daizo’s leg. Daizo yells out in pain again. Daizo watches as Bruce walks over to him and gets back into the car. The car disappears into the night, but the train gets closer.

Daizo kicks his body as far away as he can from the tracks, but his leg is still pinned down. Every time he moves, a rush of pain comes through his body. Daizo brings his left leg close to his body and off of the tracks. He kicks the sword, but it barely moves. The roar of the train drowns out everything else. Daizo looks up at the train.

Daizo sits on a roomette couch. He has his arm around a small pretty Asian girl. He runs his fingers through her hair, and she smiles an innocent smile at him. She looks at Daizo as if it will be the last time she ever sees him.

“What’s wrong, Nuo? You’ve been so quiet the whole trip. You keep telling me you're happy, but there must be something going on.”

Tears fall down Nuo’s face. “I told on my father. The Russians caught me-” Nuo can’t bring herself to tell anymore.

Daizo holds Nuo’s face as tears run down his cheeks. “Why Nuo? They wouldn’t have touched you.”

“I can’t help someone like my father. Not after the things he’s done. I’m not like you. I can’t…” Nuo buries her face into his chest.

They sat together for a long time until the tears stopped, and their arms grew sore from holding. Daizo woke up alone. Nearing tears again, he stepped outside of his room. When he walked into the dining cabin, Bruce jumped out of his seat.

“You did this, didn’t you? You son of a bitch!”

Daizo stares at Bruce. A blank face was all he could give.

Daizo’s eyes slowly open. He stares up at a blank white ceiling. He feels the comfort of a bed underneath him. As he looks around, he realizes he’s in a hospital. Pain shoots through his body every time he tries to move. Daizo lays there still.

A nurse walks in. She checks Daizo’s IV bag. “How long have you been awake?”

“I just woke up.” Daizo’s voice is deep and shaky.

“Are you okay to hear your condition?”

“I’m living it. I might as well know.”

“Your left arm has vital nerve damage. We don’t know if you’ll ever get feeling back. Your right leg was crushed under the train, and we had to amputate it.”

Daizo looks at the wall. His only movements are his eyes blinking. The nurse’s face twists with worry. Daizo hears nothing.

“Sir, are you okay? Are you okay?” The nurse gets louder.

The heart monitor starts beeping rapidly. Daizo’s face flushed with red anger.

“Get out of my room.”

The nurse runs out of the room.

Hours later, Daizo sits alone in his room. The door cracks open, and two officers walk into the room. They both pull up chairs and sit down beside Daizo’s bed.

“Hello Daizo, my name is Tony. I just came here to ask you a few questions about what happened to you last night. Can you remember anyone’s face?”

“I don’t remember anything.” Daizo snaps back.

“You can’t remember anything about that night?”

“I remember watching the train come closer as I tried to crawl away without my arms. It’s funny I don’t remember the train hitting me. My memory just blacks out before it.”

“Alright. If you remember anything, you know who to call.”

The two officers stand up and open the door. Tony turns around before he leaves, “Good boy.” Then Tony walks out of the room.

Daizo sits in his bed for hours. The day turns to night and back today. TV doesn’t interest him. He doesn’t sleep. He thinks about the night over and over again. He remembers Bruce’s rage, it’s like a fuel that keeps him awake. He thinks of Nuo’s face, but even the happiness of still being able to picture her face doesn’t calm him. She’s only added more fuel to the fire. Revenge takes over his senses.

The door opens. Daizo is awoken from his thoughts. A man in a suit walks in holding a briefcase. His hair is slicked back in an old professional way. He sits down next to Daizo.

“Is it okay if I sit here?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Good. My name is Rick Jones. I work for a company, Milletech. We’re looking for people like you. Someone who has lost something. We want you to be our poster child.”

“What do you mean?”

“We think we have the technology necessary to restore your lost limbs. All we ask in return, is you be a face for the company. A symbol of the good we can do.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Okay, once we get your mother’s signature, you’ll be moved to our company’s medical room. I hope to see you soon.”

Days passed before Daizo heard another word about Milletech, but the day did come. When it did, men came inside Daizo’s room, put him in a wheelchair, and took him away. He was moved into an ambulance and put to sleep. Everything after that was a blur. All Daizo can picture from that time is a scientist above him. Several days after the procedure going on. Daizo is drugged to sleep and wakes up only to be put back to sleep by doctors and scientists.

Time continued to pass, unknown to Daizo. Until one day, he woke up and no one was there. Again he lay in bed. This time, he was scared to move. If he couldn’t move his arms, would that mean they are gone forever? He fought the thought in his mind for a long while. Then, he tried to raise both his arms up. His left arm looks normal, but his right arm was replacled by a robotic arm.

Daizo looks at the arm. He can’t feel anything, but at the same time, he can move it. He puts his hand on the bed. Something goes off in his brain. His brain knows he is touching something, but he can’t feel it. His other arm feels normal. He can twist the bed’s fabric around his fingers and sense the softness.

Daizo throws the covers off of his legs. He sees his normal left leg and robotic right leg. He moves his feet around in a circle. His left leg tingles, but he feels nothing in the right.

Panic strikes Daizo’s heart. His breathing becomes rapid. No matter how much he breathes, the air doesn’t feel like it’s getting to his lungs. He stares at his robotic leg and his vision goes blurry. Daizo feels like he is going to pass out.

The door opens. Rick Jones walks into the room. “Don’t worry, I’m not a nurse, or maybe you wanted a nurse. I don’t know. How are you feeling?”

Daizo’s vision comes back. “Mostly fine.”

“No pain or anything?”

“No.”

“Good. I’m sure you checked out the new parts. For your left arm and leg, we fixed the nerves. Your right leg was badly damaged. We figured it’d be easier just to replace it, and your right arm was missing so we replaced that too. The biggest change we did though was your bones. We put a coding of titanium around your bones and nitrous oxide into your veins. With the new substance, the scientists were able to manipulate your lungs to be able to withstand and use the nitrogen in your body.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cars use nitrous oxide to gain more oxygen for combustion. We built your lungs to be able to do the same. Now that you have nitrous oxide flowing through your body, the extra oxygen will make you stronger. Nitrogen can build up proteins. We made you superhuman.”

“I thought you were going to fix me?” Daizo yells.

“We made you better. You're welcome. We did this for free remember.”

“I didn’t ask for this. I asked for you to give me my limbs back!”

“And we did. I know it's a change. Sit on it, think about it, and come back to me when you have thought this whole thing through. In the meantime, the other doctors will be showing you how to use your new body.” Rick pauses for a moment. “I forgot. Your eye. They’ll show you.” Rick leaves the room.

Days go by where Daizo practices using his new body. The doctors show him how much faster and stronger he is. He can punch through metal, run as fast as a car, run on walls, and jumps higher than walls. Daizo practices with his robotic limbs. Somehow, the robotics feel more normal than his own body. The scientist seems more than impressed by him. Every day Daizo finds a new level to his strength. His muscles on the left side of his body grow bigger as if they are trying to keep up with the strength of the robotics.

Soon, Daizo is brought into a room with a few other scientists. They all look impatient. Nobody will tell Daizo anything. Then, only moments later, Rick Jones walks into the room with a box in his hand. He lifts the box. Daizo sees the Hanzi carvings into it.

“It’s my grandfather’s wooden box.” Daizo unlocks the hatches and opens the box up. “My sword.”

“I was going to improve the sword too, but I figured that it would mean more if the sword stayed the same. I never came back to you about the improvements. How do you feel about them?”

“Thank you.”

“I told you.”

Daizo picks the sword up out of the box. He unsheathes it and looks at the blade. He can tell Rick had lied. The blade’s edge was fixed from his fight with Bruce. The metal was a darker color than the rest of the blade. Daizo puts the blade back in the sheath. The sound echoes around him.

Daizo looks down at himself. He’s sitting in a chair covered in blood. Blood leaks out of his sheathed sword. A scientist grabs the sword from him and sets it on a table. Daizo looks around in terror. His eyes bounce around the room. He feels the blood between his fingers when he moves his hands.

The scientist looks at Daizo’s face. A sudden realization comes to him. “You’re awake? You weren’t supposed to wake up.” The scientist scrambles around. “The other scientists said one good memory and you wouldn’t wake up.”

“One good memory? How long have I been asleep? When did I fall asleep?”

The scientist looks around for something. Daizo looks down at the metal-enclosed around his wrists. He lifts his robotic arm as hard as he can. The bolts latching the metal down begin to give. The metal piece blows off of the chair. Daizo grabs the piece around his other arm and rips it off. He starts walking over to the scientist.

“Wait, please! They’ll hack you! They put parts in your body to be able to control you.” The scientist pleas.

Daizo keeps walking closer, “Are you trying to bullshit me? If you could hack me right now, why didn’t you do it when you realized I woke up?”

The scientist stays silent. Daizo unsheathes his sword. With one slash, the scientist’s head rolls to the floor. Blood poured out of the scientist’s head. His body falls to the floor only seconds after his head.

Daizo runs out of the room, kicking the door open. His feet patter against the long hallway’s floors as he runs around looking for an escape. He feels as if he is running around in circles finding nothing. Then, the doors on the walls open up. Soldiers come out of the doors. Daizo looks behind himself, but soldiers are there too. The soldiers stand there like a wall, still without movement.

From behind the wall. Rick walks into sight. “Daizo. It's been a few months since we’ve seen each other.”

Daizo gets angry, “Months?”

“You get caught up in your work too? You’ve been doing well around here. Every task we give you is done flawlessly. Like a cog in a machine.”

“What missions?”

“Your last one, and most important, was to kill the mayor’s son. We needed a big investor to take interest in our work here, and that was enough to prove it to him. So thank you, you have been the face we wanted you to be.”

“Your acting like that’s it.”

“That is it. You have too much work to keep around. To keep you in a sleeping state is tiring on all the workers here, and we need to focus our energy on making more technology. No, you did not wake up on your own. I woke you.”

“That’s it. I can leave?”

“That’s it? You’ve been here for months. Even if you can’t remember, you’ve done a hell of a lot for us. Of course, you can leave, just know that we have the same technology we used to make you. If you ever come here with even a slight tone in your voice, we will kill you.”

Daizo slowly sheathes his sword.

“Show Daizo out.”

Two soldiers lead Daizo through the hallways keeping a keen eye on him. They open a door and Daizo walks through.

Above Daizo, the big blue sky stretches long and far. He can smell the air mixed with pollen that tickles his nose. His eyes hurt from the bright sun. One of the soldiers threw something at him. He feels cloth land on his back. Daizo takes the cloth and realizes they are clothes. The soldiers walked back inside and Daizo changed his clothes outside. He looked around for a minute and then realized no one was going to tell him where he was.

Daizo began walking away. The first streets he sees are only industrial buildings. A few left and right turns and he saw his first Landmark. He walked through the fields of green bushes and grass. Within the first half an hour, Daizo realized he would have to start running. He would run down the sidewalks. People who were looking down at their phones would suddenly get pushed out of the way. Yells always came from behind Daizo, but he didn’t care. He didn’t stop running. The look on his face, was as if he was running not somewhere, but from something.

Hours later, Daizo finally found the streets he remembered. He was back in Yonkers. Before he knew it, he was walking down his street. Daizo stopped and looked at his front door. His glance shifted down to his robotic arm. When he looks back at the door, he realized he could walk in. His feet shift around as he sits down on the steps. Thoughts roll around in his head, and the sky becomes dark.

A man walks by. Something falls out of his pocket. The wind carries the piece of paper off. Daizo sees. He stands up and runs after the paper. When he grabs it, he turns around to see that the man is gone.

Daizo reads the paper, “Daizo, meet me at your father’s grave.” He shoves the paper into his pocket. “What is this? That man must have been waiting for me to come here. I need to see what this is about.”

Daizo traveled down to a cemetery. By the time he got there, the air had become cold and the sky dark. Daizo didn’t need to see to find his grandfather’s grave. The location was known by heart. Something he would never forget. Standing in front of his grandfather’s grave, was Bruce.

“Your grandfather should have never been buried here. He should have been buried in China. In his home.” Bruce has a melancholy tone.

“It wasn’t his choice. We didn’t have the money to move his body from New York to China. I thought after you tried to kill me, you wouldn’t want to see me again.”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why aren’t we fighting?”

“Because now I do. I know you didn’t kill Nuo.”

“How?”

“Nuo’s alive. One of my guys recognized her and took a picture.”

“She has a giant burial, you mean to tell me her death was faked? The Mountain would have had to know about it. Why did he play along?”

“Don’t you get it? The Mountain is the leader of the Triad. People knew someone was a snitch. What would make you more terrified? If he put his daughter in prison or killed her for opening her mouth.”

“Why leave her alive then? He didn’t have to bring himself to do it. He could have just paid someone.”

Bruce shows Daizo the picture. Daizo looks at a barely recognizable Nuo with two large men by her side.

Bruce hands Daizo the picture, “She’s with Russians.”

Daizo becomes furious, “I thought she was dead this whole time. I could have seen her, been with her!”

“I’m sorry Daizo.” Bruce can’t make eye contact. “I thought I’d tell you. If you could survive what I did to you, you may be the only one strong enough to do anything about The Mountain. Good Luck Daizo. Save Nuo.” Bruce disappears into the darkness of the night.

Daizo walks up to his grandfather’s grave. He dusts off the carvings and fixes the flowers. Then he lays one hand on the grave.

“I’m a sorry grandpa, but I can’t be a youxia. The Mountain isn’t a man, he isn’t even a hundred men. He’s thousands.” Daizo goes silent for a moment. “But I promise you. When I find him, I will take him face to face. If I can’t kill him that way, then I’ll die trying.”

Blank Face: Jason Stoll

Started June 24th

Finished August 5th

They call me a myth—a work of fiction. The kind of person that you dream of seeing, but I don’t see myself that way. I’m a shadow. You can’t find me because I want it that way. I clean the dirt off your shoe that you didn’t know was there. Unfortunately, people don’t take kindly to me interfering with their business. So I decided to dawn the only mask people are afraid to put on.

The night was dark, but the air was still and humid. I could feel the air choking the life out of me as I sat down on the bar stool. People were stopping around, alcohol in their stomachs. Every time they came near, you could smell the courage on their breath. Their voices, yelling, always trying to top one another.

I sat down at the bar, my tan trench coat draped over me. Then, a white mask covers my entire head. A fedora was delicately placed on my head to draw attention away from my mask. Somehow, the hat draws most attention away. As if, people don’t even notice what's in front of them unless they can’t miss it. I sat there sipping my drink by sliding a straw underneath my mask.

As usual, my quiet demeanor attracts the worst types of people. A man tall enough to be an ogre walked up to me. He got real close to my face, “Who do you think you are? Take that mask off.”

I turned to the ogre, annoyed. “Is my mask bothering you? I thought it was on my face, not yours.”

“You think your a fucking smart ass? I’ll feed you your bloody ass mask. Don’t you-”

Then I cut him off. I didn’t feel like fighting, nor am I a good fighter, so I splashed my drink in his face. When he started yelling about his eyes burning, I decided to leave before any of his friends came over.

That’s how most of my days end. I live my life, get tired of it, and drink. Then, even while drinking, I can’t escape it. Something always happens. It could be the mask. Hell, someone always says something about the mask. I don’t know if it's a hatred of people who are different, or the fear that I could be some superhero with mutant powers. Either way, I’ve never been de-masked, and for all I know, never will.

People like to focus on me when I am nothing but a blank face, but there’s more than one side to a face. After I finished drinking, I went home to my small apartment to see Danielle. I had to walk past all the stains in the hallways to get to my door. When I walked inside, the woman I love dearly lay so delicate on the couch. Her dark black hair ruffled up on the cushion, and her legs curled up almost to her stomach. I tried to walk around quietly, but even my noiseless steps woke her. She slowly sat up in bed.

With a yawn, she said, “Take that ugly mask off.”

“I like the mask. It suits me.”

“And you can wear it all you want, just not when I’m around. It makes you look like Slender Man. I don’t like it.”

I took off the mask. She looked at my big black eyes and short dark black hair. I sat the mask on the table and opened the fridge.

“Did you make anything?”

She lays back down. “I wasn’t hungry.”

I walked over to the couch and sat down next to her feet. “Elle, are you okay? Every day for the last week you come right home and never leave this couch. Is something going on?”

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

I put my hand on her arm. “If you can, try going outside. Try for me. You don’t need to do anything. Just get out of the house.”

That night, I slept in my bed alone. I wasn’t upset by it. Loneliness has never affected my life. Everybody I have ever known has been shackled by their own needs. Instead, I fell asleep as easily as ever. Still, with my mind clear, and the night quiet.

Every day I have to wake up early. No one knows what will happen, and I’m included in that. At five o’clock sharp I set up all my different phones. I scroll through each phone's text messages. I find out when I have to work, what is happening, and what I have to do. Then I put on my white mask, grab my backpack, and I leave the house.

Cities are filled with people, life, and sounds. This city is a blur. A mixture of everything you think a city is, but it's not the same. You don’t fall asleep to the sounds of traffic at night. You fall asleep to the hazy confusion you can hear right outside your walls. Walking through the street every day is disorienting for people. I walk straight.

Over my face lays a mask unrecognizable to people. A mask made of plastics and facades. It looks just like a human face. Not my face, nor the face of anyone I’ve ever met. My features are all different. Contacts make my eyes baby blue, and a wig blonds my hair. With my business suit on, I look like your average man going to work.

I stepped inside Crown Estates. A business made for buying up all the land just to sell it for a higher price than it’s worth. Scummy, but that’s exactly what business is. I make my way to the 31st floor, where I join the IT department at their computers. People wave to me. Chat me up.

One guy said, “Hey Rick, you got any plans tonight.”

I had to say, “You know I always have plans. You ask me every night. You need a girlfriend or something.”

Everybody laughs, including me. It wasn’t intended to be a joke, but if you laugh, you laugh. I sit down at my computer and work. I look at all the different buildings. I help keep the information stored, the apps running, and the real estate agents technology working. I thought this was going to be like every other day. I was going to sit down for work, and when I got tired of sitting, that meant it was time to leave. Then, someone from the level above me walked up to my cubicle.

His face was cold and sour. “Mr.Walsh, the CEO wants to talk to you.”

“The CEO? Am I being fired”

“If you were being fired. He wouldn’t waste his own time by speaking to you.”

I thought about it, and he was right. So I went in the elevator, and waited till I was on the top floor. I stepped around cautiously. This floor wasn’t familiar to me, and I wasn’t going to act like it was.

When I found the CEO’s office, I knocked on the door. He was on the phone. He waves me in. I sat down and he continued on the phone, every once and a while looking at me.

“Yes, okay. If you ask me another question, I’ll fire you for lying on your resume. You said you had training, and you clearly don’t know what the fuck your doing!” He hung up the phone.

I looked at his facial expression. He fixed his messy dark hair with one hand. The other hand slapped the table.

“Rick Walsh! I’ve heard so much about you. The people in IT love you. The managers are happier now. You brought all our projects from delayed to right on track. You saved me money, and made the managers eat good off of their bonuses. You’ve been here for over a year. That’s more than enough time to show what you can do. I want to make you the head of IT. You will oversee everything, and teach the IT Department to do their jobs better.”

“Thank you Mr. Gatlin. So what exactly happens now.”

“Tomorrow, I will have my assistant show you your new office.”

That ended my day as Rick Walsh. Rick has no connections, no social network, nothing that matters to him outside his job. That’s what I need him to be. That’s what he needs to be. An empty person only filled with the purpose of climbing higher.

When I went home, the mask of Rick was no longer. I dawned the black hair and black eyes. I walked up the rock stairs. When I did, there was a familiar bracelet sitting on the steps. I delicately lifted it up, and continued on my way inside the building. When I opened the door to my apartment, Danielle was sitting on the couch looking out the window.

“I found your bracelet on the stairs outside. How long were you out there?” I said as I sat the bracelet down on the counter.

“I don’t know.” She didn’t turn away from the window.

“What’s going on? You won’t even look at me anymore. You can sit there all day, or we could figure this out. I can’t hold your hand when you keep pulling it away.”

She turns to me. “Who are you?”

“What are you talking about? You know who I am? Yes, I wear a white mask, but that doesn’t change who I am. I’m still Jason Stoll. The only one who knows who I am is you.”

“Then why can’t I know what you're doing when you're not you. Don’t say you wear a white mask. You know that’s not what I’m talking about! Rick Walsh, Jeremy Ledger. You have other you’s.”

“Rick Walsh doesn’t even have a life. Its an identity I use for work. I go into work as Rick Walsh, I leave as Jason. Rick Walsh is only a member of society to Crown Estates!”

“What about Jeremy?”

“He’s a personable fake rich guy. He’s just someone to use for favors.”

“How do I know that those are even the only people you have?”

“Because the only reason you know about them is because I told you. I told you about this. What are you getting upset about now?”

“Because I can’t do it anymore. You go out, and I’m always here wondering what your doing. I don’t know if your in trouble, or your cheating on me. What would happen if you died? Would I ever know?”

“I won’t die. When I first told you that, I thought you believed it.”

“I did, for a while. Then I realized that just your good at talking. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be able to pretend to be three different people.” She stands up and walks past me.The door opens. “I need some time.” The door shuts behind her.

I sat there for a second. I thought about how to solve the problem. How to make her believe in me again. I was stumped. I couldn’t think. She can’t come along with me, and if she doesn’t see what my life is like then she’ll never feel like she’s part of it. Thinking about the whole situation only reminded me of Jeremy Ledger.

Jeremy Ledger, a man with light brown hair and a bright white smile. A man of the people. He’s liked by many, and most people owe him a favor or two. I used Jeremy like a gateway to the rich and famous. He would promise a rich man something, and sooner or later, Blank Face would prove Jeremy wasn’t all talk. It’s easy to say that you can hire a million dollar gun if you’re the gun. I was able to convince the wealthy of Rossland that I was one of them.

Danielle had reminded me that Jeremy Ledger had been invited to a Gala for the rich and famous. Prominent names were going to be there. People that wanted to know Jeremy Ledger. So I put on the mask, and grabbed my black card with the name Jeremy Ledger branded on it.

That night, I walked into the Gala. You could tell the night had been a bit slow. Music was playing, but the wealthy are always more impressed with what people can say, versus what they can actually do. Even the people who can never seem to hold their liquor, know it, and seem to think of throwing up after a Gala as tradition. Those are the fun ones, but not exactly the type of person I was here to meet. I walked around looking for someone specific.

I walked around until I found him. Chris Gatlin. As I walked up to him, he made eye contact with me.

Gatlin talked through a smile, “Jeremy Ledger! Everybody talks about you. I was wondering if I’d see you here.”

“If everybody has been talking about me, you must know that I don’t miss these parties. It’s the only thing that’ll get me out of the house.”

“You young people are always inside of the house. I wish there were more parties for kids. Mine are always playing video games. I’d like to be able to drag them out to a party. Do you have any children Jeremy?”

“I’m too young for children. I may come from old money, but I’m still new.”

Gatlin laughs. “You should meet my daughter. I think you’d like each other. She’s the same way. I know parents aren’t suppose to have a favorite, but Renee, she grew up when we were still poor. She’s was raised the way I wanted to raise my children. I love the rest of my kids, but they’re all spoiled.”

“As a man you want to give your children everything. When you have everything to give, they grow up with a want to take. My father was the same way. He gave me everything. I was a spoiled kid, it took finding my own way to change that.”

“What am I doing? Your a young man. You don’t want to be talking about kids. You must have another reason for coming this way. I’m old enough to know everyone wants something, but you’ve been far more patient then most.”

“I do have something to ask. I remembered when I was back in Marion City, a news Article about you being attacked by a few street guys. I know one of the men. They call him Rigamortis.”

“Why don’t you come by my house tomorrow at lunch? We can talk about it there. Marion isn’t a party topic.”

“Ah, nothing fun ever is.”

As we continue talking, our conversation diverts from the stranger, and further to the normal. We talk about people, life, and make jokes of everything. For a moment, I forgot how odd my life was. Then, just as I almost slipped up, and said something a little too personal. I was reminded why my life isn’t normal. As we stand there, a red dot appears on Gatlin’s torso. At first, the dot was moving around, but the longer it was there, the more still it got. I waited a second for the dot to stay still. Someone was about to take their shot. Then I made my move.

“We haven’t eaten anything all night. Let’s check out the food.”

I made Gatlin walk backwards. He walked right into a lady. They both fell down, and the shot went off. One second too late to catch Gatlin. The bullet flew over him. Everyone decided the best option was to run around like chickens without heads. I watched everybody ducking for cover and running. I looked down at Gatlin. His face shocked by worry. I helped him up and dragged him into the crowd. I knew he would get lossed in the crowd. The shooter wouldn’t be able to find him after that. I looked up at the bullet hole in the glass. I knew exactly where the shooter was.

I ran down the empty hallways, I took off my mask, and put on the Blank Face mask. I took the trench coat out of my bag and threw it on as I leaped over the stair’s railings. I landed on the ground floor, and ran out a back exit. I saw a suspicious looking black car posted outside of the building the shooter was atop. I grabbed a knife out of my back pocket and slashed the tires. I ran inside the building, and started climbing the stairs. By the last floor, my humanity caught up to me. Before I opened the door to the roof, I had to take a second to breathe and think. I knew the man on the other side of the door would be ready with a gun. No matter what, he would have the advantage. The only thing I could do, is take the gun out of my bag.

I walked onto the roof, gun in hand. I pointed at the man. He was wearing a black and white suit with a black pea coat over it. Covering his face, a sleek black assassin mask. His spiky orange hair came up from the mask. He pointed the long barrel of his sniper at my head.

His voice was rough and formal. “That trench coat doesn’t hide your suit. You were at that party, and if that was the case. I imagine that your the one who fucked with my shot.”

“Why are you trying to kill Chris Gatlin?”

“Why did you follow Chris Gatlin here? We both know the answer. That’s why he’s going to die. Whether that be by my rifle, or someone else's.”

“We’ve had this confrontation many times in Marion, Crux. Go back home. When I shoot you this time, it won’t be a flesh wound.”

Crux laughs. “Deja Vu is a funny thing. I remember this moment, but I can’t put my finger on who it was. Was is Jeremy Ledger, or was it Eddie Kane?”

I jumped to the side, firing off a few shots. A sniper bullet grazes my cheek. I feel the blood wet my mask. Crux jumps backwards, and falls down off the building. He disappears below my sight. I run up to the edge. I watch as he uses some tupe of grappling rope to lower himself down. He lands next to his car, and looks up at me. I can’t see his face, but I can feel his smile. I take a step back from the edge and sit down tired. I know I’ll never be able to catch him on foot.

“He always gets away.”

That night, I sat in my room thinking. Crux is now in Rossland. Rigamortis must have sent him down here to kill Gatlin for knowing too much. I have to get the information before Crux kills him. Tomorrow, noon time. Nothing else matters.

At 12 on the dot, I rang Gatlin’s doorbell. The door opened to reveal a bodyguard. The man looked just as dead eyed as any worker.

“Mr. Gatlin is not seeing anyone today.” He tried to close the door.

I put my hand on the door. “He invited me yesterday. Can you go check for me?”

“His plans have changed. He doesn’t want to see anyone today.”

“I’ve got time. I’ll sit right here on the steps, and you can ask him.”

I watched as the door closed, and my small view of the inside of Gatlin’s mansion disappeared. I sat in silence. The only thing I could do was imagine what the bodyguard was doing behind the door. It didn’t take much time for the door to creek back open. I stood up, and looked Gatlin in the eye.

Gatlin spoke, “Jeremy. I didn’t think you would come. Knowing what happened last night.”

“No Gatlin, I think last night makes our talk only more urgent. Can I come in?”

“Of course. Follow me. We can talk in the living room.”

Gatlin led me through his mansion. Before I could even get tired of walking, we were already in the living room. We sat down, and Gatlin fixed himself before he spoke.

“I find it odd. As soon as you came to speak to me about this matter, I was attacked-”

I cut him off. “-I knew you were going to say that. No, I had nothing to do with this. A hitman that goes by the name of Crux was after you. The last time I heard of him, I was in Marion. I had one of my men go after him when the shot was fired. He escaped before anyone could apprehend him. Before he escaped, he hinted at being after you for what you know.”

Gatlin’s worry comes out in yelling anger. “I haven’t said anything to anyone! Why would they be after me? I’ve been nothing but good to them!”

“You’re dealing with a very powerful person Gatlin. He’s not after you for what you’ve done, but what you could do? You might as well tell me what you know, so at least your not prosecuted for nothing.”

“Maybe I can barter with them if I say nothing.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Why would I dig a deeper hole?”

“Then you can at least say that you put a hole in their plans.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes!”

“Because you wouldn’t be digging your own hole. You’d be digging theirs.”

After a pause of thought. Gatlin’s mouth twitched into speech. “I worked for Rigamorits. He is like a god. People say that Jesus wasn’t the last prophet, it was Rigamortis. I moved out of Marion because of the cult forming that praised Rigamortis. I wanted to become the Mayor of Marion. I needed a powerful person to back me. He was the only one that would. I saw Rigamortis only once.”

“What did he look like?”

“He wore a mask. A tight black mask. You could see the anger in his face, even without seeing his eyes. He helped me get high into the polls, but he had demands. He didn’t want me to be mayor, he wanted me to be the face. As it started to become more clear that I was going to win, he had his men sit me down and list out the changes he wanted. When I refused, he forced me to step down and let someone else from his group take my place.”

“And he won?”

“Rigamortis has been the Mayor for almost six years.”

“He’ll never step down. He’ll find someone new to use as his puppet. You said he has a cult following. If he has that many people following him, he has to have a base of operations. Somewhere that gives the cult identity.”

“I searched for it for a while. I paid PIs to try to find it. Some of them died. Some of them came back. All I learned was that their base isn’t out of the ordinary. It’s a building that you glance over. A place that you would never just go, but see people going to.”

“Do you have any other information for me?”

“No, and they still want me dead.”

I stood up. “Make sure your guards have guns, they don’t walk in front of windows, and you always have at least one by your side.”

“Jeremy. You aren’t just a wealthy man, are you? You have a much different side of you than the people of Rossland want to see.”

“That’s because, Chris, I’m from Marion. No one from Marion is what they seem. I learned that from being too trusting. Now, I jump into the lion's den. The pool of everything malice. So that no one else has to.

“Take my daughter with you. My other kids are with their mother, so they’re safe. She has no idea what's going on, and I don’t want her to be hurt because of me.”

“Okay.”

I stood up and looked at the doorway. Two body guards walked besides a young woman. She had brown hair that barely reached her shoulders. She was a little under average and her face was full of small features. She looked mouse-ish, but not unattractive.

I put out my hand. “Hi, my name is Jeremy Ledger. I’m sure your father must have said something about me.”

She smiles and shakes my hand. “I’m Renee. I haven’t heard much, but nothing bad yet.”

“Your father and I have come to an agreement. You’ll be staying at my house for a little bit.”

Renee looks at her father. “Why?”

Gatlin is stumped on what to say. He pauses for a moment before he speaks. He can tell Renee is getting impatient. “Your room is being remodeled.”

Renee’s eyes widen. “Really?”

“Yes, and I don’t want you peeking inside before its done. Now go on.”

Renee runs up and hugs Gatlin. She walked back over to me, and we started walking out of the mansion.

Renee spoke, “I know my room isn’t being redone. If it was, why wouldn’t my father just buy me a hotel room? What’s going on?”

“Your father worked with dangerous people. Now they are after him. He’s sending you off with me to protect you.”

“What?” Renee yells. She stops walking. “I’m not leaving when he’s in trouble. I’m staying with him.”

I grabbed her arm. “Renee, what could you possibly do? He’s sending you away so that you don’t get hurt. If he dies, at least let him die knowing his child will be alright.”

“But-”

“Let’s go.”

I dragged her out of the house. I held her arm, even though she never put in the effort to get away. When we got outside, I opened my car’s passenger door. She took a seat. I shut the door and got in on the driver’s side. I put the key in the car and looked at Renee.

“Is my father going to die?”

“I don’t know.”

“He’s been hiring so many new bodyguards. He has been like a maniac, just getting whoever he can find.”

Crux’s plan finally clicked in my head. “Have you seen them all?”

“I’ve seen enough of them. They’re always wandering around the hallways.” She stared at me, trying to figure out what I was thinking.

“Do any of them have orange spiky hair?” My hand rested on the door handle.

“Yes, one of them.”

I opened the door fast, grabbed my backpack out of the backseat,  and ran back into the mansion. This time, no guard came to the door to stop me. All of the lights were off. I hid in a corner and covered my face with the blank mask. I threw the trench coat over my clothes. The backpack stuck onto my back, and I proceed forward. I walked through the hallways nearly completely blind. The mask didn’t help my sight either. I aimlessly wandered until I heard sounds so quiet you’d think they were whispers.

From the other room, I heard Gatlin’s voice. He was pleading for his life. I cracked the door open to see Crux standing there, with his rifle pointed at Gatlin’s head. The dead bodies of bodyguards were laying on the floor. I walked into the room, my gun pointed at the back of Crux’s head.

Crux sighed, “What do you want Eddie?”

“I want you to put the gun down and walk away.”

Crux smiled. “I know you’ve been bolder since you moved to Rossland, but come on now Eddie. I’ve always been better than you. Back in Marion, you’ve never been able to beat me. I’ll hold that over your head until we kill each other.”

I fired off two shots. Crux jumped to the side. One of my bullets sliced through the rope around Gatlin. Gatlin got up and hid behind the chair. Crux Shot off a high-caliber bullet at me. I barely had time to move my head, I felt the wind grace my ear as the bullet passed. I turned my focus back on Crux. We both held each other at gunpoint.

Crux smiled. His gun clicked, and he fired off a bullet at the chair. The bullet split the wooden chair. I looked at Gatlin laying there bloody. All I could think was how stupid he was. I only turned my eyes away from Crux for a second, and then I refocused on him.

Crux laughed at me. “There is nothing you can do. Put your gun down. You knew a gun fight was stupid anyway. You’re just buying time. One of us has bulletproof armor and it's not you. Put it down.”

I slowly put my gun on the ground. I kicked it off to the side. Crux sheathed his gun on his back like a sword.

“I’ll fight you hand to hand.” He takes a deep breath in. Then he speaks letting out all the air, “I want to feel every part of this.”

Crux ran at me. He threw punches in a rhythm. One after another. I ducked and dodged left and rights. Every few punches I’d try to deflect, but his strength was overwhelming. After a few more punches, I found his rhythm. I was moving with him. I could predict every punch he was going to throw. Left jab, right hook, I ducked under his punch and slammed my fist into his stomach. I quickly jumped back. With the jump, I barely dodged the right hook he threw. He threw a left jab. I sidestepped around him, and jabbed his side. He whipped out his arm. I ducked under it, and jabbed him in the side again. He swung his right left around and kicked me in the chest.

I stumbled back, and he ran at me. Even after my punches, he was unfazed. He ran at me again. This time, he was coming with a whole different rhythm. I couldn’t tell what he was going to do. First, he started throwing heavy hits. He moved like a gorilla, but he didn’t slow down. He wasn’t throwing punches. He was swinging his arms like hammers. I knew I couldn’t dodge. I put my left arm up to protect myself. His hand hit my arm, and I could hear my bone crack. My left arm dropped down. He didn’t stop with the punches. I walked backward, trying to get away, while dodging his punches. It didn’t last long. He backed me up into a wall.

I fell to the ground looking up at him. He stood above me as if he had already won. I reached out my hands, looking for something to grab onto. I felt a metal grip. I drew the gun, and unloaded the whole clip into Crux’s chest. He fell down in pain. I stood up as quickly as I could and ran toward the door.

Crux became mumbling through coughing breaths. “You're abandoning everything again. First,” he coughs, ”you left Marion, and now you leave this fight unfinished. You're pitiful. We both know I won’t be back in Rossland. I will be in Marion. Watching Rigamortis take over everything.” Crux laughs for a second before his cough catches up with him.

I left the building thinking about what he said. I traveled home with running thoughts. ‘Abandoning my city. There was nothing there. I didn’t have the power to stop Rigamortis. If I stayed there I would have died. At least I can do some good in Rossland.’ I thought about what he had said for a long time.

When I made it home, I sat on my couch for what felt like hours. I was tired, annoyed, and in pain. After a while, I got up and used a glass of water to choke down pain pills. As soon as I put the cup down on the counter, my doorbell rang. I opened the door.

Danielle stood before me. Her hair was done, and her clothes bright. She had an awkward nervous smile on. She went to say something, but we both just stood there in silence. After a moment, she was messing with her nail and wouldn’t look me in the eye. I wrapped my arms around her.

I spoke with a sincere, “Why?”

I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear her speak through tears. “I’ll worry about you even when I’m gone.”

Morning after morning went by. I had no reason to go to work anymore. Rick Walsh was nothing but a way to get close to Gatlin. I didn’t need the money. Jeremy Ledger was rich. I tried to look for crime, but it seemed like nothing was worth me intervening. I would watch crime happen. Then the police would come and solve it. I felt almost useless as Blank Face. All I was, all I am, is Jason Stoll.

Danielle was happier than ever. She liked coming home to the same me every day. She always knew where I was, and even if she didn’t, she knew I wasn’t playing hero. There were no more days on the couch for her. I loved to see her like that.

Months went by where I was only this one face, but it became just another character. Every time I spoke, I could feel the grip of the mask. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I loved my home life, but that’s all I had. The thoughts about Crux and Marion never stopped. When I didn’t pretend to be happy around Danielle, I became like her. I lay on the couch, thinking about my home. I knew I couldn’t ask Danielle to go back home with me to Marion. If I became Blank Face there, I know she would die. I had to do something.

One night, I got a text from Danielle. “I’ll be out late tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to come to Alice’s house?”

I texted back. “No, you know I can’t. I have too much shit to do before I can go.”

It didn’t matter what she texted back. I never even looked. I brought out a tray and sat at my desk. I brought out a blank mask, chemicals, and pictures of people’s faces on my phone. I mixed the chemicals together to create the metal I use in all my masks, Epidium. The substance can be morphed into whatever I want, and after one hour, the metal hardens just enough, that it feels like skin. When you put it over your face. It attaches like a magnet. I created the final mask I would use in Rossland.

That night. I waited until Danielle came into the room. I wanted to spend one last night with her. When she came into the room, it was like we were both waiting for each other. She jumped into the bed.

The next day, I found someone who had the same build as I did. He was sitting on the side of the street. He was homeless. You can tell when someone looks like they’re about to end it all. I sat down next to him. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

I asked him, “Want a light?”

I flickered a flame, and he held his cigarette out.

“I remember the first time I was on the street. I thought about my life so many times. I really just wanted to be anyone else than me, Y’know? Like, everything bad I had done, didn’t even come close to the pain I got. So, I’m giving you an offer. I’ll give you the chance to be someone else for a day.”

“How the hell could you do that? Do you think I’m some sucker? What do you want from me?”

“I need you to be someone for me. You like a distraction. I’ll do what I need to do, and you can just enjoy life while I’m doing business. Do we have a deal?”

“Fine.”

I handed the man my wallet. He opened it up.

“This person doesn’t look like you. It doesn’t even look like me?”

I handed him the mask. “You can become it. That's my debit card. I put one million on it just for you. Enjoy.”

I walked away. He didn’t know, but I followed him around that entire day. He went to expensive restaurants, bought new clothes, hit on girls, and ended his night at the strip club. When he walked out of the strip club and into an alley. I was there with him. I put a Glock up to his head.

“Give me your jewelry, your wallet, everything you have.”

He turned around slowly. He took off his necklace, his watch, and his ring. He gave them all to me. Finally, he gave me the wallet. I took all of the cash out of his wallet, then I handed the wallet back to him.

“You’re giving it back?” He said, as if he saw a light of hope.

“Put it in your pocket. Without it, how will the cops know who you are? I can’t have them thinking you're a john doe.”

His eyes widened. I fired off three bullets into his chest. His body dropped to the ground. I walked away. As I escaped into the shadows, I heard voices yelling from behind me.

“He’s dead!”

Later that night, I sat on the train thinking of a new name for this face. I thought that I’d call him, JD. Marion wouldn’t just see Eddie Kane again, but everything that comes with him. I realized, I didn’t run away from Marion to help people. I was afraid of dying, but I’ll never be able to live in peace until I know my home is safe.

Ana & Alastor: Meat Is Murder

Started July 3rd

Finished August 18th

A man set up a sniper rifle on top of a roof. He was tall and gaunt, but skinny. His hair was dark, curly and black. He wore a black cloak, with a little fedora on his head. he had a little bit of muscle to him, and he had bright green eyes.  People would make fun of him for it. How could this bringer of death have such beautiful eyes? He got into position, and set his sights across the city of Saint Frazier. His sight landed on a couple. A happy little couple. Husband and wife. He got ready to take the shot. But was cut off when he got a call on his phone. It was his wife.

"Hello, Alastor speaking." Alastor spoke monotonously into his phone.

"Come on silly! It's your wife! Duh! Are you coming home soon? Tsubame's getting worried!" Ana's voice was bubbly and upbeat compared to Alastor's. "I don't know if she'll be able to go to sleep if you don't come home."

"Sorry, honey. I'll be home soon. Daddy's almost finished with work."

Alastor looked back into his scope. His expression went from composed to confused. The couple that he had his sights on was gone.

"Dammit, they better not have gotten scared off." Alastor thought. "I have to leave, Ana! Work's getting a little weird. If she can't sleep, let her sleep with you. I'll sleep on the couch so I don’t wake her."Alastor said, in a rush.

"Okay, I can try and do that." Ana sounded a bit annoyed with Alastor. But he knew she understood.

He grabbed some binoculars, and peered into them. He looked around for the family, until he heard a slight movement in the wind behind him. He quickly turned around. It was the man he was aiming for.

“Fucking Metas”

The metahuman in front of him took out a knife. Alastor stood up with his phone to his ear. The man ran at him and slashed his knife wildly at Alastor.

“I think that maybe you should let me take the night shift at some point. You always get cranky in the mornings when you run night shifts.” Ana commented as Alastor fought off the man in front of him, he blocked his knife strikes, moving elegantly, he threw his phone in the air and chopped pressure points on the man’s wrist, who was holding the knife, he dropped the knife. Alastor caught his phone as he kicked the man away.

“You really think you can target my family? You’ve got fancy footwork, but that doesn’t mean shit to us!” The man said angrily at Alastor.

“Sorry, I’m kind of in the middle of something. Give me a second.” Alastor responded calmly.

The man picked up his knife and slashed at Alastor.

“God, that would be a load off my back. We should probably start to switch off, huh? You’ve become pretty skilled. Or, if we started to take good jobs. This one’s going to real shit.” Alastor said to his wife. He stepped forward and let the man trip over him. He grabbed his arm with the knife and swung him around. Pushing him away and swiping his knife from him.

“I think you should spend some time with little Tsubame. She misses you, y’know.”

“Shit you’re right. I really should spend some more time with the kid. Hey, I’ve got a job I have to focus on! Things are already getting messy. We’re going to get a bad review.”

“Stop worrying about reviews. Nobody looks at those.”

“Everyone looks at reviews.”

The man teleported to his knife. Alastor pulled up his watch and thought for a second.

“Hey I’m calling it right now. I’ll be home in 30 minutes. 15 minute drive home…5 minute walk to the car…5 minutes to change out of my bloody clothes. Should be easy. I’ll see you tonight. I Love you.”

“You never disappoint, I love you too.” Ana hung up the phone.

Alastor set a timer on his watch for 5 minutes as the man teleported in front of him with his knife. He got Alastor in a headlock and went to slice his neck. Alastor wrapped his hands around his body and suplexed him over himself. He grabbed his arm that was holding the knife. As they struggled, Alastor started to see the meta’s eyes glow. He jammed his hand into his eye. He let out a bloodcurdling scream that stopped quicker than it started as Alastor slashed him across the neck. Again, he heard a scream. But this time it was even louder than the meta he had just killed. He turned his head, and he just felt the ringing. He looked around, trying to gain his footing. He looked in all directions, he felt like he was being circled. But there was one person. He swiped his sniper from the floor and shot the woman in front of him through the leg. She went to scream again. He shoved his sniper’s barrel into her mouth.

“Try to scream, and you die.” Alastor said to the woman. He saw the woman hold up her hand. She started to speak in sign language.

“Why would you do this to us? Why do you keep doing this to all of us? To us, you’re the devil. We hope you burn in hell. We haven’t done anything wrong! Those before us may have wronged you in the past. But that doesn’t mean that we should pay for their sins. Humans have done worse. You caged my mother like an animal. Killed my teen brother in the war, you are the real monsters.”

Alastor spoke back in sign language “You blame all the humans for your setbacks, why am I not allowed to blame you meta animals? I want all this animosity to stop. But some of you, you just make me gag.”

Alastor took out a syringe, and stabbed it into the woman’s neck.

“You're going to make me late.” Alastor whispered.

“I have fallen into quite the predicament. I fell into this trap. I'm happy, I don't get it. But I'm happy. I live with my wife, and my child. My wife and I specialize in Espionage. My kid, she’ll never know. The real problem, I don't want to leave. These people were supposed to be my accessories. My mission. That was all, and yet. I can't help but feel attached to them. My wife is a beautiful woman, called Ana. Our child is named Tsubame. She is adopted, but truly a wonderful being to grace this planet. Tsubame can never know about our line of work.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Groups of men and woman all worked in an assembly line. All cutting up and assembling bags of cocaine. The people working barley moved. Just going through the same motions over and over again. There was an old man watching over them. He was smoking a cigar, and was falling half-asleep. His assistant came from behind him. She timidly tapped on his shoulder. He sprung awake, grabbing her arm and violently pulling her arm away.

“S-sir. There’s someone here for you.”

“For me?” Tell em’ to wait a second.

The businessman fixed his tie, and got a new cigar. He walked to the front of his building of operations. Ana was waiting for him. She wore a suit and tie, gloves and high heels. She beckoned him over. The businessman came over to him. They sat in the car. His assistant got in the backseat.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lima. I’d like to discuss our terms of trade. I’d like to explain to you how beneficial it might be if we open up your trade avenues.”

“We don’t make deals with your kind.” Lima disclosed.

“I think you’ll want to reconsider. Let’s go for a drive, and we can have a talk.”

“I have nothing better to do. Drive me.”

They drove past tall buildings and other things of the sort. Both Ana and Alastor worked for the same agency. Everyone knew them as the diplomatic types that were beginning to form in the new world. Men like Lima, liked the old ways things were done. But these old ways that the underground was handled was starting to die out. New ways needed to be paved to create this new world. Back at the house, Alastor was in his pajamas. He had on gloves. He brushed off some of the dust in his basement, and turned around to see the metahuman woman from earlier chained up. She was still wearing her normal clothes. Her pink hair was unkempt, and gave her a feral look. Just like all the other metas. Feral. She wore a black shirt with a jean jacket over her waist. Alastor had her chained up by the arms, and bound to the ground with two chains. Alastor looked at the woman.

“What is your name?”

“Oh, so we’re getting to know each other, what’s yours?”

“So you can really talk. Again, identify yourself.”

“You know who I am. Caroline Daniels. You had orders to kill me. Why haven’t you?”

“You don’t deserve to die for your actions. I’d rather you rot in my basement than die for what you did.”

“I didn’t mean to do what I did. That bus of people wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Alastor walked upstairs for a second. He seemed angry with Caroline. He stormed back down the stairs. He was holding a dossier, which he put on a table in front of Caroline with some food for her. He opened it.

“All these people, they got powers from your scream. We haven’t seen anyone like that in years. You put all of them in comas, if they weren’t dead. Did you hear? Someone woke from their coma. They almost burnt the hospital down. What the hell did you do to them?”

Caroline started to tear up. “I tried to save them! I didn’t mean to do it! I tried to help all of them! This is how I’m treated?!”

Alastor looked up at Caroline. He looked away for a second. Then began to smile at her. He gave her a sinister, but hesitant smile.

“We will talk later. I have to go to work.”

Alastor left some food and water for Caroline, so she could reach the table with her hand. He went up the stairs.

“What were you doing downstairs?”

Alastor turned around to see Ana looking at her.

“Just cleaning. I have to go to work soon. How’d your meeting go?”

Ana took off some bloody gloves and threw them in the trash.

“Good.”

“We have to meet with Ajax.” Alastor said. “Want to change?”

They both put on their suits together. He tied her bow, and put her hair into a beautiful ponytail.

“Our agents are here to take care of Tsubame, right?” Ana inquired.

“Yeah, that’s right. Don’t sweat it, I’ve got it handled.” Alastor replied.

“Al, Do you think we could have a bit of a night to ourselves tonight? I know we have work. But I just want to go out, do something for a change!” Ana said excitedly. “I was pretty excited, so I planned ahead. I got us reservations for moonshine bar.”

Alastor looked at her and smiled. He kissed her on the cheek.

“Yeah, I’d love to go. It’s been a while since we’ve gone out. The agents always do a good job protecting Tsubame. Let’s go have a ball!” Alastor exclaimed.

Ana and Alastor hugged and kissed each other.

“Let’s go get some work done.” Alastor said.

After a swift drive, Alastor and Ana walked into a dark room with screens littered throughout the room. There was a man sitting in the middle of the room. His shadow was engulfed by the chair he was comfortably sitting in.

“Mr. Wilson Ajax, at your service. What do you want? Peasant.” The man spoke to them in a gruff voice.

The midget in front of them spun around in his chair, he had a suit on, and a large tophat with the sole purpose of making himself look taller. He was looking up at Ana with a look of spite.

“Ah! Alastor. My second favorite agent! Oh, and number 58.”

Alastor looked down at Ajax. He was a giant compared to him.

“Don’t refer to your people as numbers, asshole. We all know you’re all bark no bite.”

Alastor and Ana sat down in front of Ajax.

“I have a big job for the both of you. I will be needing you to analyze an anomaly linked to metahumans. They’ve almost been running rampant recently. This secret is big! It may just be a bombshell! It’s a case that’s just waiting to be cracked wide open! We lost some agents. But I trust you can survive. Now go! Close this case.”

Ajax gave Alastor the dossier of the case. They bid farewell to Ajax, and they left the room. They got out to their car. Alastor got in the driver’s seat. He started to drive to the place they needed to go as Ana read through the dossier.

“What? This is insane. There’s no way. Why is Ajax sending me on this case with you? They all know that I don’t like to deal with metahuman cases.”

“I know. I don’t know what his motive is.”

“He wants us to kill them. That’s what he wants us to do. He wants us to go in there guns-a-blazing. He knows our history. Maybe he just thinks we’ll get rid of them the easy way.”

“That’s not a problem with me.”

“...Yeah. Not an issue for me either.”

They arrived at the place that the dossier pointed them to. It was an old, abandoned junkyard. There were agents all around. Men and Woman in tuxedo suits with silenced pistols patrolling the area. They had it locked down for Ana and Alastor. They both had assault rifles attached to their back. They covered them with a cloak. Looking around, they could tell that this operation was important to Ajax. He wouldn’t usually send out this many agents on a case. Alastor greeted the agents at the gate. They let him and Ana past the gate. The old junkyard had clearly been shut down for years and years. It was littered with lots of old machinery. Machinery from about thirty years ago. They kept walking through the junkyard. Looking at all the decrepit land. There was graffiti all over the walls on the borders of the junkyard. Alastor came to a spot. He reached his foot over and stepped on the ground. The ground felt weak. It felt like he could fall right through the ground at any moment. Alastor called out to Ana.

“Ana, come here.”

“Did you find something?”

“The dossier wasn’t lying. Hold my hand.”

Alastor stepped his foot out. He stepped on the land. The ground started to sink under him. He stepped off as fast as he could. Ana looked down, amazed.

“Oh my god!”

Alastor looked down. “No god. That looks like hell.”

Alastor offered his hand to Ana. They slid down the hole. Until they landed somewhere new. Alastor and Ana were dumbfounded by what was in front of them. A large underground town. They saw buildings and houses constructed into the dirt. They watched as a large group of people started to come out of the houses in front of them. Ana and Alastor got ready to draw their weapons. Ana threw her hand in front of Alastor. Giving him hand signs not to draw his weapon.

“Their all metas..!” Alastor muttered to Ana.

Alastor got a closer look at the metas that were standing in front of him. They were all children. Ranging from kids in their teens to as small as maybe seven years old. One of the children came to the front of the group. He was holding a pipe as some sort of weapon. He had big fuzzy hair, and wore a wife beater and long black pants. He glared at the group of outsiders.

“Who are you? Make yourselves known, now!” The metahuman child said.

Ana came to the front. “Hello, this is my husband, Alastor, and I’m his w-wife, Ana.”

Alastor realized Ana was starting to tense up. He thought of this as an advantage. But he hated to see his wife being reminded of the past. He moved closer to the child.

“What are you doing here?” The metahuman child shouted out at them.

“We just bought this property, and we were investigating our land, since there’s been people graffiting our walls. The ground just seemed to open up, and we fell through. Can I talk to your father? Maybe we can find a way to get out of here.”

“I am the leader of these people. Parker. I think you don’t understand.” Parker said.

He pointed up at where the sun used to shine from the sinkhole they had fallen into. The ground had closed up.

“Even if we were to break a hole in the ground. The hole would shut again before you would be able to make it up there. We don’t like outsiders, and I don’t know what you’re saying about buying land. Because this is our land.”

Someone spoke up out of the crowd behind Parker. It was a girl with a black dress littered with red circles. Some of these circles were cuts in the dress. It looked like she cut it herself.

“Give them a room, Parker. We can decide what to do with them later. We need to talk it out with our people. You don’t make all the rules.”

Some of the other metas seemed to speak up. Lots of them agreed with Cecilia. She was surrounded, and supported by lots of the smaller metas. Parker looked back, he hatefully glared at Cecilia. She just laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of her head. Two little kids led Alastor and Ana to a place for them to sleep. Alastor looked down at the little kids. Part of him was ready to attack, these people would never be heard of again if he got rid of them now. Then thoughts of Tsubame crossed his mind. Metas were kids at one point. Just like these kids leading him around. He shook these thoughts. All they were doing was getting in the way of the mission. His mission. Ana and Alastor were let out free, into a small house that was burrowed into the ground. It had two beds and a bathroom. They both silently sat on their beds.

“So…What’s the plan?” Ana asked.

“We carry out the mission.” Alastor answered coldly.

“Alastor. These are kids. Children! You really want to kill them?”

“Nobody knows what happens down here. Ajax gave us this mission for a reason.”

“That doesn’t justify trying to kill children. We could…we could find a way to let them out, maybe?”

“These kids were raised by metahumans with a war mentality. They could think they're still in a war. All they know is that their ancestors were locked up by humans. If we let these kids out, we’d be starting the cycle all over again. You never seem to have a problem with killing. Why now?”

“I kill and torture snotty businessmen. Not kids. I think Ajax just doesn’t like me. He knows I don’t go on metahuman missions. You can do what you have to do. I’d just like to stay here for the rest of the mission. Tell them I’m sick. Do what you need to do.”

Alastor came over to Ana. He sat next to her, and put his hand on her leg.

“Sorry, I didn’t think about how this might affect you. This probably brings back memories from the past, huh? I should’ve stopped Ajax before bringing you with me on this mission. I’ve been very focused on missions recently. But that doesn’t excuse me.”

“Doesn’t it affect you?” Ana questioned.

“Yes. Of course it does. It manifests in a different way. Everytime I see a meta, I feel angry. I get this overwhelming feeling of dread and anger. But…I can’t kill a kid.”

“Should we sleep on it?”

“I guess.”

Alastor laid down next to Ana, and they eventually went to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Caroline heard agents walking around the house. She was surprised that one of them hadn’t come downstairs yet. She looked around the basement. There was a knife that came with her food. She picked it up with her hand, and put it in her mouth. Because she couldn’t reach her other hand. She brought the knife up to her hand, and began to cut. She lightly screamed into the knife. A purple energy began to light up the knife. As she cut, she started to get angrier and angrier. She thought about her husband, who was mercilessly murdered. Everyone who locked her up, everyone who wronged her was going to pay.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ana heard someone knocking on the door. Alastor was still asleep. She got up out of bed. She felt a sinking in her heart. Maybe it’d be okay. She went over to the door and opened it. There was a little kid.

“Are you coming to help farming?” The little kid asked innocently.

“Farming? Uhm…”

Ana was caught off guard by this child’s question. She looked down at his excited face. She would feel guilty saying no.

“Yeah! I’ll come.”

Ana confusedly followed the little kid. He led her to another group of little kids. There was one bigger kid that all the little kids were gathered around, It was Cecilia from earlier. She was dressed in overalls this time.

“Oh, Ana. Hi! Why are you here? Lucas, this is a visitor. She doesn’t work.”

“Oh…sorry.” Lucas responded sadly.

“No! I’d…Love to help.” Ana piped up.

“You really want to help?” Cecilia asked.

“Yeah, of course.”

A little kid came over to Ana.

“You can’t go out dressed like that!

The little kid pulled on Ana’s business clothes. Cecilia took Ana to a changing room, and she dug through an old looking chest that she had dragged out of some sort of vault. She took out some old-looking overalls, and handed them to Ana. They were old and tattered, with dirt stains and holes in them. She was also given loose-fitting boots. She changed into a short sleeve shirt, and the overalls. They went back to Cecilia. Who seemed to be in a rush. They all traveled through the dark caverns. Everything was lit by torches and small lights. Ana looked around. She began to see the size of this small town. There were many small houses like the ones Ana and Alastor were staying in. Ana saw many other things too. There was a playground that seemed old. Some sort of town hall-like structure, and even a library. She was bewildered to see little small doors to her left. They seemed to lead somewhere. But where they led, that was a mystery. She could hardly understand how these kids enjoyed themselves. She walked past another door that said “theater room”. Maybe they had some access to TV or Movies. The last thing she walked past was one long building. A school. She wondered who the teachers were in a society that was all kids. They walked to the end of the small town, where there was another door, Cecilia opened the door for all the kids, and let them in happily. Ana awkwardly smiled at her as she walked by. She was appalled at what she saw. The mere size…It was a large farm spread over…miles. There were warm lights lined for miles across the walls. Ana already started to feel the heat beat down on her. The feeling was like a warm, moist sauna. She already felt uncomfortable. But she looked around her, and saw how excited the kids were to work with each other. Cecilia took que cards out of her pockets. She handed one out to each of the kids.

“Alright, we meet back here once we are all done, then we can all eat and play! Ready…Go team!” Cecilia addressed the kids cheerfully.

Cecilia guiltily turned to Ana. She scratched the back of her head.

“Sorry, Ana. I didn’t really know you were coming with us. So I didn’t make a card for you with farming duties. Maybe you can go and help the kids.”

“Yeah, I’d love to help.”

“You really didn’t need to come with us. I appreciate the help and all, but these kids are real hard workers. They could run this place by themselves if they really wanted to. You’ll be getting taught by them!” Cecilia said with a laugh.

“I’d hope so. I’ll see what I can do to help.”

Ana went over to one of the group of kids. They had all collected bunches of little pieces of plants with dirt at the bottom. They were planting them into the water together.

“Hey, can I help?”

Some of the kids didn’t know how to respond to Ana. Most of them ignored her. She realized there was a kid who was behind all the others. She said the same thing to this kid. He seemed to get excited at this offer.

“You want to help me?” The kid said surprisingly.

“Yeah, of course I do. Well, I might need you to teach me.”

“Okay. The reason I’m behind is because I like to do it the best way possible!”

“Really? You want to show me?”

“You need to get all the water out of the soil. It grows better that way. Can I show you on yours?”

Ana held her plant by the grass. The kid put both of his hands under her plant’s bottom, and his hands started to glow. He started to get all the water out of the plant.

“See?”

Ana’s heart started to pound. She started to breathe heavily. She felt like she was there again. All her senses but her eyes told her she was somewhere else. The heat began to feel like fire all around her. The water on her boots she had borrowed started to seep into her boots. She felt like she was trapped, and she couldn’t move. Then she felt like she was drowning. She felt submerged. Like something or someone was holding her under the water. Someone. He was holding her under the water again. Just like he had before. Over, and over.

“Cecilia, she fell!”

“Someone hold her head up!”

“What’s happening?”

“The adult?”

“She fell?”

“Get her out of the water!”

“Did she faint?”

“You aren’t there! Your here! With the kids! We’re farming!”

Ana looked up to see Cecilia’s face. She sat up and put her hand on her forehead, she looked around to see a bunch of concerned kids surrounding her. Her hair was wet. She brushed it out of her eyes and to the side.

“It’s okay. Get back to work, guys. Remember. No distractions.” Cecilia said sternly to all the kids around. “Hi, Ana. Are you okay? You took a big fall there.”

“Yeah. I’m okay. Just a fall. That’s all.”

“Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

“That sounded weak. I’m understanding, Ana. Once we get you out of here you won’t have to see us again anyway. I’ll never see you again after this, right?”

“You…Know what happened. I remember what you said. You just want to hear me say it.” Ana laughed playfully at Cecilia.

“Yeah…” Cecilia admitted. “I realized you had a PTSD episode. That’s why I tried using a technique I used with a lot of the old soldiers I used to work with. My Mom was a field medic. She also helped meta soldiers deal with a lot of the trauma. Apparently she traveled all around the United States helping people. I wish I could’ve been like her.” Cecilia explained in her quiet, high-spirited tone.

“It seems like you are like your Mom. You really care for these kids. Don’t you?”

“Of course I care for them. These are all my children. Me and Parker are like their caretakers. Parker is a little rough around the edges, though. Not saying I’m not or anything! He’s just-....He’s a good kid. He’s so nice with the kids when he wants to be, and he’s just…”

Ana felt this tender feeling of happiness around Cecilia. She completely forgot she was talking to a metahuman.

“The way you talk about Parker…Sounds like someone has a crush.”

Cecilia started to get flustered.

“Did I really give it away? Already?”

“In my line of work, it’s my job to…”

Ana realized she was almost giving herself away. That feeling of butterflies in her stomach came back. But she ignored it.

“It’s my job to read people. I’m just really good at it. You two are the caretakers of this place, right?”

“Me and Parker are the oldest! So we do lots of the hard work around here.”

“Isn’t it overwhelming?”

“It’s life. Life wouldn’t be good if it was overwhelming. I wouldn’t want to live where I think everything is overwhelming.”

Ana was taken aback. Cecilia helped her to her feet. She looked at Ana happily.

“I like having an adult to talk to. But you did say you wanted to do some work. Looks like you're falling behind.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Would you like to help me out?”

Not that far away, Alastor woke up out of bed. He quickly jumped out of bed. He looked at the bed, and realized that Ana wasn’t in bed. He remembered what she had said. Wasn’t she going to stay in? He burst open the door, he was tempted to go for his gun. He looked around, and saw some kids socializing and playing around the town. He started to walk through the town on a mission. He saw a town hall, and decided this was the best place to go. There was a machine at the front desk. It looked like a computer monitor with a face on it.

“Hey! Can you answer my questions?”

The computer answered with text on the screen. It read “yes”.

“Where is the leader of your people?”

“I am not sure what you are requesting.”

“Where is…Parker?”

“Town entrance”

Alastor left the town hall, and went back to where he and Ana had fallen into the hole. He saw Parker and a bunch of other kids using their powers to fortify the entrance.

“Hey! Parker! Talk to me!” Alastor barked.

Parker turned around to look at Alastor.

“Where’s Ana? Did you do anything with her?!”

Parker looked up at Alastor. Alastor could tell he was trying to make himself look bigger than he really was.

“Ana went with Cecie. They are farming today.”

“Farming? So she’s okay?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t she be? Do you think we would do anything to her? You think us dirty little underground rat metas might’ve tied her up and sacrificed her to our god? We didn’t do anything to her. Don’t patronize me.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I’m human, you are meta. We’re different.”

“We are. I just hate it when humans think we are some sort of subhuman creatures. Non of us are.”

Alastor was quiet.

“Hey. I have a question. Where are the adults here?”

“I thought I told you. There are no adults here. I am the second oldest here.”

“What happened to all of them?”

“They're selfish. All the adults went to fight for us. They went to fight this really big bad villain. Even heroes from our past couldn’t stop him.”

Parker whispered to Alastor.

“Even Mr. Untouchable couldn’t stop him.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Darkstar. He’s a super powerful villain. He threatened us. Or apparently he threatened our leaders. They needed enough people to fight, and they had to bring an army. There were some adults left over. But they perished.”

“Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. I shouldn’t even be telling you this. Maybe you should go and look for your wife. We have work to do. We need to fortify this so nothing can get in again.”

Alastor walked away, and he thought to himself. Why was Parker fortifying that part of the land? That was where he and Ana fell in. Wouldn't it be the easiest way out?  Or was Parker planning on keeping them in? Alastor looked at Parker. He had this angry, concentrated look on his face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Blood was pooled around Caroline. It had spread all over the basement. Her chains were bloody, and she was crying in immense pain into the table. She was trying to be as quiet as possible. She felt everything begin to plateau. She looked at her hand that was still attached to her body. The chain was still wrapped around her hand. She walked up the stairs. She heard shuffling near the stairs. Then she heard guns loading. They kicked the door down. Two soldiers kicked the door down, and aimed their guns down the stairs. Caroline let out a bloodcurdling scream, so loud that she knocked back the bullets, blew out the soldier’s eardrums as they were hit in the neck by the bullets. She saw soldiers begin to get on their radios and try and call for backup. Caroline fell to her knees. All the pain and torment came to a high. She let out a scream the engulfed the entire house. She watched as tons and tons of soldiers fell to their knees. They weren’t wearing the right protection. There were two soldiers in the bathroom. They were bathing Tsubame. They had given her special ear protection. All they could hear now was ringing.

“We need to board the door up!”

The soldier couldn’t tell what the other was saying. All he heard was ringing, and muffled screaming. He watched as the door was broken down, Caroline threw her chain, and wrapped it around the soldier’s neck. He pulled him towards her, and screamed into his ear. She blew his head off. The other soldier was horrified. He pulled his gun. He shot at Caroline, but her scream was too strong, and he was too disoriented to do anything. Caroline screamed at him, and he collapsed. She walked into the bathroom. Her heart sank when she saw Tsubame in the bathtub. Her expression changed from a thunderous hatred to a stunned alertness. She pulled Tsubame out of the tub. She felt at ease because she had the headphones on. But started to get worried when she noticed that Tsubame wasn’t breathing. She lightly pushed on her chest, and performed CPR on the baby. Pushing a little bit of her power into Tsubame’s body. A small purple power went into the baby. Tsubame sparked back to life, and started to cry. Caroline looked around the area. The bathtub was now soaked with blood. So were her hands, and now was this baby. Caroline didn’t know what to do. She was lost in every sense of the word. But if there was one good thing she could do, she thought she knew what to do.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ana and all the other kids had changed back into their normal clothes. Ana put on some more old clothes instead of her old ones. She found it odd when she couldn’t find her old clothes. She figured she would ask Cecilia when she got the chance. Ana walked out of the changing rooms right next to the farming area. All the kids seemed to be relieved that they made it out of the hot farming area. They were playing and fanning each other. Ana met up with Cecilia.

“Hey, do you know what happened to my other clothes?”

“Oh, the kids sometimes take old clothes and throw them in the wash. You probably need them cleaned anyway. Think about all the dirt that probably got in that suit you were wearing.”

“Yeah, I understand. Please make sure you get it back to me.”

Ana walked away, she cursed to herself. She knew that most of her weapons and even forms of ID were in that suit she had. She needed to get that suit back, and she needed to find Alastor. She could tell her energy was low, however. After all that work, she had no idea where to begin to look, and she needed to eat. She’d do it as soon after she ate with everyone. After all, she didn’t want to incriminate herself. Ana followed the group along with Cecilia. They made it to a large cabana with tons of tables and seats under. There were kids beginning to pass out small dishes of rationed food. Bread, rice, and water. Ana looked around her. The kids were jumping up and down with excitement. Ana felt this underlying feeling of dread. She looked in front of her, and saw him again. The figure from earlier. The man who held her underwater. She closed her eyes and shook her head, everything was normal again. She sat down with everyone and began to eat.

“Food’s good, isn’t it?”

“Great, thank you Cecilia.”

“You can call me Cecie if you want to.”

Ana chuckled. “Okay, Cecie.”

“Only my good friends call me that, and so did all the adults. They called me Cecie.”

“So all the adults really…dissapeared?”

“I like to think their still out there somewhere. We uhm…sent some older kids away later to try and find them. But they never came back. We told them if they were ever lost, or needed help, to come back here. But we have never seen any of them.”

“Oh my god…I’m sorry Cecie.”

Alastor saw the lunch hall. He saw the large group of metas eating. He looked intently, and he saw Ana’s head in the crowd. Since she was taller than everyone. His com link began to ring in his pocket. He pressed the button to answer, and he heard Ajax’s voice in his ear.

“Alastor! Is the job done yet? It was simple extermination. Why aren’t you done?”

“Job ended up being more complicated than expected. We will be done soon. I’ll call an excavation team when I’m ready.”

“Just try and get ready quickly. There were some agents that went dark lately. We’re having trouble taking care of business.”

“What do you mean?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just get your job done.”

“Ajax. What do you mean? I had agents at my house. Tell me.”

“Okay, the agents at your house went dark! Alright? Is that what you want to hear?”

Alastor went quiet. “Send an excavation team. Now.”

Alastor turned around and went back to the house. He equipped all his gear. He took the assault rifle he had walked in with and slung it around his back, and concealed it. He walked towards the table of children. He saw Cecilia put her hand up and wave at him.

“Hi! Ana’s husband! Alastor, right?”

Alastor came over to them, and sat next to Ana. He had trouble hiding his expressions. He looked at Ana. She was eating with all of them. Like she was part of their society. Like she was ready to live there. That wasn’t their mission. They weren’t to be spies. They were to be exterminators. Alastor leaned over to Ana’s ear.

“House has been compromised. We need to get out of here asap.” Alastor whispered.

Ana touched Alastor. She felt his gun. She looked at him, and shook her head no. Alastor stood up at the table. He looked down at Ana. Ana’s head started to feel woozy again. Just like before.

“You are seriously going to let them manipulate you like this? Can’t you see?! All these metas just want to get out of here, and spread more war. They are going to cause a tragedy. We are stopping a war. Hear me?! We shouldn’t have let you go in on this mission. I don’t know what is wrong with Ajax. After that abusive meta made you infertile, you should never be let on a mission involving metahumans. Don’t try and protect the ones that hurt us so much.”

Ana started to go quiet. It was like her world was shrinking. Alastor went for his gun. Ana restrained him by the arms. She slid behind him and pulled his hands behind him. Being stronger, he resisted and pulled Ana into a headlock. But Ana wrapped her hands around Alastor and suplexed him over her head. Ana flipped over him and landed on his stomach. She punched him in the face, and she continued throwing punches while Alastor blocked as many as he could.

“Ana! Stop! What are you doing? Are you insane?”

“You really think you can say that after what you just said?!”

“I didn’t say anything!” Alastor cried out.

Cecilia stood up. Her eyes started to glow blue. Bubbles formed around Alastor and Ana. They were both trapped. Cecilia made the bubbles float up.

“Parker! Stop this!”

Parker was far away down the corridor. He looked straight at Cecilia.

“Cecie. Don’t make me.”

“You won’t. You can’t use your illusions on me, and your going to stop using them on these innocent humans.”

“Fine then. But I want you to know, I’m not going to accept these humans. Look at this. Look what these innocent humans have.”

Parker was holding Ana’s assault rifle.

“I had the kids bring Ana’s clothes to me. Because I wanted to know more about them. Look what I found. This rifle. A gun, other weapons like knives and communications systems. These people aren’t innocent.”

Cecilia looked at Ana with a betrayed look on her face.

“Ana…is this true? Were you two going to…?”

The cavern started to shake violently. Everyone heard an immense bang.

BANG! BANG!

Two explosions went off in the distance. Rocks and debris started to fall from the ceiling. Cecilia looked at Ana and Alastor. She popped their bubbles, and protected her and the children.

“Alastor. What did you do?!” Ana’s voice trembled.

“I called for an excavation team.”

“Why?!”

“All the agents at our house were killed! We have to get Tsubame!” Alastor shouted.

“Alastor…I know Tsubame is our top priority, but what about everyone here? They need to be set free, Alastor. These kids are young, and Cecie just wants to travel the world. She wants to move on. Please, do what’s right. Parker is being misled. Teach him that not all humans are evil.”

“Ana…”

Ana and Alastor felt their throats begin to close. Parker picked them up telekinetically. He threw them across the corridor, towards the entrance.

BANG!

More rocks and debris began to fall, a large grouping of rocks and sand fell right in between Alastor and Ana. Alastor was blocked out. He was facing Parker. Ana looked up, and she was blinded by the light. A group of agents came down on ladders. They grabbed Ana’s arms, and the ladder began to get pulled up. Alastor looked behind him. He saw Ana get pulled up. But he couldn’t make it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ana rushed home. She had barley explained what happened to the agents. She told them that Alastor would take care of it, and not to worry. Only one of them had to come out. Ana entered her house with a group of agents.  Ana was on coms with Ajax.

“Ajax! Trust me! Alastor has it handled. He’s your second best agent. He can handle himself. You know that!”

Ana got off coms, and was met with the horror that was her house. She saw soldiers murdered on the ground. There were men and woman on the ground. She scoured the house, looking for Tsubame. She figured she would hear crying. But there was nothing. She went upstairs and looked around. She saw the bathroom door broken down. She looked to her right, and saw blood pooled in the bath, and then saw prints all over the sink. She saw a soldier with his head burst into pieces. Ana covered her mouth. She had been in the game for a long time. But she had never seen anything like this. She heard faint breathing. There was a soldier next to the other man. He was alive.

“I can’t hear…I can’t hear…Tsubame…”

Ana kneeled down to him. She spoke to him. But he heard nothing.

“I’m sorry Ana. She was too strong for all of us. We weren’t expecting anything. She came from the basement, I think. It was a metahuman with screaming powers. She massacred all of us…She took Tsubame. She took Tsubame!”

Ana looked at the soldier. She held his hands together, and kissed him on the hand. She walked past the group of agents outside the bathroom.

“There’s one survivor. Take care of him, please.” Ana barked.

Ana went downstairs. She saw the chains broken out of, and saw a hand on the ground that Caroline had sliced off. Ana saw a dossier on the table in front of where Caroline used to be.

“Alastor. What the fuck?”

Ana grabbed the dossier, and took it to the computer in their house. She went into a secret database. The opening screen read HOST.

“Caroline Daniels…”

The screen lit up with information. “NO PROFILE. Do you mean Sarah Capello?”

Ana clicked yes. She saw a picture of a woman come up. It was Caroline. Ana looked at the pictures that came with the dossier.

“It’s a fake name…Sarah Capello, housing unknown. First sighted HERE.”

Ana looked at the photo. It was of Sarah in a hoodie trying to stay undercover. It was right in front of the cocaine lab she had negotiated with.

“That’s…Two blocks down from…No. No earlier sightings? Not even as a kid?” Ana paused. She put her hand on her head. “A kid!”

Alastor was standing. He and Parker were staring at eachother. Waiting for one of them to make a move. Alastor looked at him. He tried to look through a new lens. Parker was standing, trying to look his most proud. But Alastor knew he was scared.

“If you want to stand off like that, straighten your shoulders. Furrow your eyebrows. Show me you're angry at me. Stand a little taller. Make yourself feel taller than me.”

Parker looked at Alastor, confused. “What are you talking about, shut up!”

Parker adjusted his stance.

“Listen. We need to gather everyone you know. Is there another way out of here?”

Cecilia came up behind Alastor. She made a bubble around him.

“I get it, Parker. They are all bad.” Cecie said.

“Did Ana really help you? Did she really help you all out?” Parker asked.

“Yeah, she did. But she doesn’t deserve any sympathy. She was going to betray us.”

Alastor piped up. “Listen you two. My wife didn’t want to go here with me. We both had bad experiences with metas. But it affected her the most. She should hate you the most. If anybody would have ill-will towards you, she would. But she helped you. If you are going to hurt anyone because of this, hurt me. I shouldn’t have taken her on this mission.”

Cecilia went quiet. She remembered what happened to Ana after she saw a meta use his power. She popped the bubble around Alastor. Parker grabbed Alastor’s hand as he fell to the ground.

“There’s no time to hear about your traumatic backstory. We have to get people out of here.”

The metas and Alastor all went over to the farming area. The lights in the farm were malfunctioning. Ana created a giant bubble around everyone to protect against debris. She started to trip and fall, she was getting more and more tired out. Parker looked at her, and he smiled at her, finally, and grabbed her hand. Tons of meta kids gathered at the end of the cavern. They let out a large blast of fire, water, and energy. Beginning to blow a hole out to the real world. The kids started to climb through the hole. Alastor stayed back and helped them through. Parker helped Cecilia through. Parker went to follow her in, until they heard a loud scream. That nearly shook the cavern again.

“No…”

Alastor watched the door to the farm open. He saw Caroline standing there, with Tsubame in her hand. Alastor looked at her in horror.

“...Sarah?” Parker croaked.

“She calls herself Caroline now.” Alastor told Parker.

“C-Caroline?”

“Go. Get out of here. I will deal with her.”

“Deal with her? What do you mean? She hasn’t done anything wrong!” Parker exclaimed.

“She has my kid. Sorry, but I can’t not do anything about her.”

“I thought you had changed.”

“She has my child in her arms! Don’t get in my way.” Alastor yelled.

Parker went to step forward to follow Alastor. Alastor threw something behind him. It bounced and wrapped around Parker’s legs. Wrapping his legs up.

“Caroline! Give me Tsubame!” Alastor demanded.

Caroline walked closer and closer to Alastor.

“You even came here, and your people destroyed this place. You only hurt us. Why would I give you this kid back? She’s one of us now.” Caroline said.

“I don’t know what your saying. But it’s my duty to take care of her! She’s my kid!”

“Not anymore. I’m going to give her a good home.”

Caroline put Tsubame down safely. Her eyes began to glow.

“Don’t make me do this.”

Alastor took a gun from his side. Caroline screamed at him. Alastor jumped to the side, and fired his gun. The bullet was sent back at him, and hit him in the leg. Alastor slowly got to his feet.

“Come on!” Alastor screamed.

Alastor took out his assault rifle, and prepared to fire at Caroline. He went to squeeze his trigger, and Caroline went to scream again. But Alastor’s finger was stopped, and Caroline’s mouth was squeezed shut. They were both picked up telekinetically and smashed against the wall.

“Stop all this! Stop fighting! If any of you lay another finger on one another, I won’t hesitate to kill you both!” Parker barked.

He dropped both of them to the ground.

“Parker? Is that you? Oh, I missed you so much.”

“Then why didn’t you come back?” Parker questioned quietly.

“I…Listen. That man is a bad person. He killed my husband. Then he kidnapped me. I had to cut off my hand to get here, and I had to cut through agents.”

Parker was holding Caroline’s hand, but stepped away when he saw she had blood on her hand. He looked at her clothes. She was covered in blood.

“You…What did you do?”

“I had to kill them. I had to kill them all. You don’t understand. Look what they did to me!” Caroline held up her arm that was without a hand.

“You…Didn’t have to…This society was made to recover from the war. Not to hide from it. That’s what I thought all this time. I thought we were hiding. But Cecie taught me…Cecie…We’re not monsters, and if we have to prove to the world we aren’t, then so be it.”

Caroline looked down at Parker. “I’m comfortable in my own skin.”

Caroline’s eyes began to glow purple. A hand came from behind her, and covered her mouth. She went to scream. A knife was stabbed into her throat. Ana pulled her to the ground. She picked a stick of bamboo from the ground, and put it into the hole she had made in her throat. Caroline started to breathe shakily.

“Sorry you had to see that, Parker.”

Parker looked at Ana in astonishment. He looked behind Ana, he saw Alastor picking up Tsubame. Alastor held her close to his chest. He rested his face on her stomach, and weeped.

“She wasn’t going to stop, was she?” Parker asked.

“I…Don’t think so.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Alastor was talking to Ajax on his phone. He was getting the business from Ajax on the other side of the phone for taking so long to finish this “simple” mission. Cecilia hugged Ana. Caroline was looking at the two of them intensely. The cut in her throat had been sewn up. But she couldn’t talk. A kid held her hand. He asked her if she could be a good caretaker for all the kids. Parker and Alastor shook hands.

Alastor put his hand on Parker's shoulder. “You're free now, kid. Please try and make your way in this society. I have some friends who might want to help you out.”

Alastor gave Parker a number that he had written on a piece of paper. It said a number, with the note “Delia Territories, Nox Lorenz”. Parker thanked Alastor, and he put the number in his pocket.

“I’ll have to talk this over with Cecie.” Parker insisted.

Parker said farewell to Alastor, he shook hands with Ana.

“Come on, seriously?” Ana said as she drew him in for a hug.

Parker went to Cecilia.

“Ready to go?” Cecilia questioned.

“No. But let’s go.”

They both quietly brushed their hands together. Their hands danced around each other, until they locked hands, and looked at eachother, then looked forward, and they began to walk into the horizon.

“Ready, Tsubame?” Alastor asked.

Alastor secured Tsubame in her baby seat, and he kissed her on the head. He went to get in the car. They heard Tsubame start to get fussy. She began to cry. All the glass in the car was blasted apart, and her cry echoed for miles. Ana and Alastor clasped their hands over their ears. Ana’s ears were beginning to bleed. She slowly crawled over to the car’s center council and took out a binky, which she put in Tsubame’s mouth. Their ears were ringing, and Ana’s hand felt numb from putting her hand right in front of Tsubame’s scream. They both got into the car, and took a long deep breath, and sat in silence.

“Can you massage my hand, I don’t know what happened.” Ana muttered.

Alastor massaged her hand, and looked back at Tsubame.

“One of you now, huh?” Alastor thought.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

A month later.

Ana and Alastor stepped into their house after work. Like clockwork, they went over to a drawer, and took out special earplugs. They put them in. Alastor texted Ana on the phone.

“Been a month now, you know that?”

“Yeah, I’m still getting used to.”

“Me too.”

“Will things be normal?”

“No. But that’s okay, right? We’re a family. A team.”

“Yeah.” Ana sent a blushy face emoji.

They held each other, and kissed. They went to care for Tsubame.

Ace Dragovic: Metaphase

Started September 2nd

Finished September 3rd

For once, the city streets were quiet. The ringing and crying finally stopped. He was so tired. He took off his mask, and set it down in his car. He walked into a doctor’s office. He checked in and sat in the waiting room.

“Name?”

“Ace. Dragovic.”

“Take a seat.”

He began to fiddle with his fingers, bounced his leg anxiously, his arm limply jittering up and down on his jeans. He rang his hands through his spiky hair. He sat forward and put his hands on his cheeks. He watched as other adults came in and out of the office. Along with parents and children. A kid walked in, he was crying. He hated it when kids cried. He could barley believe that the kid’s parent was just letting it happen. He saw a little girl walk past him, and he decided to zip up his leather jacket over his white shirt. Which had stains of blood on it. He laid back in his chair, and let his neck hang over the back of the chair. He saw doctors walking back and forth. Not paying any mind to him. There were little kids who looked at him. He sat up, and looked around.

“Ace!” A female voice called for Ace.

He scanned the room. Looking for the voice who called him. He couldn’t find her.

“I’m right here, silly.”

His therapist had walked to him. He responded in a monotonous, growly voice.

“Ms. Macchiato.”

He followed Ms. Macchiato to her room. She sat in a chair across from him. He sat down, and was playing with his zipper.

“Anxious? Don’t worry. There’s nothing to fear, Ace.”

“Not anxious.”

“Okay. Remember one of our first things we wanted to improve on? Eye contact.”

Ace stopped fiddling and looked at Ms. Macchiato.

“Good job. How has your week been?”

“Week has been good.”

“What happened?”

“Went on first date in…5 years.”

“Really? How was it?”

“Fruitless. I felt nothing. That night we went our separate ways. She wanted to go to dinner. Uncomfortable the entire time. I wish she would’ve came to my house.”

“Did you want her to stay the night?” Ms. Macchiato asked.

“No. Don’t want sex, or parties. Or to do drugs with her. I don’t like the public, and she wouldn’t listen to me. She insisted on going out.”

“It didn’t feel good that she didn’t pick up on those social queues. Huh?

“No. I want to eat at home. I’m a good cook. Can cook eggs, and bacon. Insisted that I took her somewhere to eat. We went out, and she watched me suffer all night. To add to the night, we almost got gunned down in an alleyway. But someone in a mask saved us.”

“That must’ve been traumatizing.”

“Not really. What happened after, that was.”

2 days ago.

Ace and the girl he went out with walked out of the bar. She was slightly drunk. Ace was holding her hand. Mainly in an effort to keep her walking straight.

“Come on, I’m going to go home. Tonight was…good.”

“Be honest. Spent all night talking to man that was next to us. Don’t believe you.”

“We just aren’t made for eachother. You seem like you want to stay inside with a shy girl. Or sorry. I meant-” The girl mimicked Ace. “Seem like want to stay in with shy girl.”

Ace didn’t say anything. They heard three men walk out from behind a garbage truck that was parked in the alleyway. All of them wore a head sock, and aimed guns at Ace and the girl.

“Give us everything you have! Wallets! Car keys! Everything! Drop it all!”

The girl next to Ace immediately started to drunkenly cry. She threw her purse on the ground. Ace didn’t drop anything he had. He pulled something from his handbag.

“Hey! What is that? Hand it over!”

Ace had a white mask in his hand. He put it over his face. It was a clean, white mask with one eye. It had a split in his mouth area that showed nothing, all it looked like was a crooked smile across Ace’s face. Ace stood a little taller.

“Put your guns down, men.”

The three men in front of Ace all started to laugh at him.

“Oh! Look whose all high and mighty now that he put on a mask! I should put a bullet in between your eyes for even saying anything like that!”

“Ha, yeah! We sh-”

Ace punched one of the men in the throat. He started to choke up blood, and fell back. The other two men shot their guns at Ace. But he was out of their sight. They looked around in the dark, and saw nothing. He came up behind one of the men and grabbed him by the throat. The other man aimed his gun at him.

“No! Dude! Don’t do that!”

“I’m sorry, I want to go home to my family today.”

The thug shot at Ace, and shot into the other thug multiple times. Ace threw the man at the thug. Knocking him down.

“Wh-What the hell is wrong with you?!” The man asked, as he pleaded for his life.

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I feel great! All is right. Well, not really. All is wrong with this world. You are one of the things that are wrong. You chose your fate when you picked up that gun.”

Ace ripped a pipe from the side of the building.

“What the hell are you doing? Just turn me in! Or use a gun! Please!”

Ace smashed the pipe into the thug’s face. He smashed the pipe down over and over. Again, and again. Blood stained his white shirt. But his mask, his mask stayed clean.

“Ace…? What the hell Ace?!” The girl looked at Ace in horror.

Ace took off his mask, and looked at his date. He picked up the gun that one of the men had.

“You have to go too. Sometimes perfectly good things accidentally get thrown into the trash too.”

Ace fired his gun.

2 days later.

“One of the thugs killed her?”

“A stray bullet. Mask left.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Have you been going to your meetings? Maybe it would be nice to talk to other people about it.”

Ace stood up.

“In King City, things are like this sometimes. Meeting over. Thank you.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

In King City Penitentiary, there was a prison riot happening. Many people had to be apprehended by the small amount of cops all around the prison. A cop was running to help out. Someone called out for him. He looked into a jail cell. To see a woman with fluffy white hair. She had a baggy white jail outfit that she had cut up to suit her style. She wore a black rag that she tied under her chest. One of her arms was completely replaced with a bionic arm, and one of her eyes was missing she had a flower in her hair to cover her eye.

“Why does what you're doing even matter? Come on. You know that you’ll die if you go over there. Every city is going to be like the sewage dump that is King City. It makes me sad.”

“Elaine. Stay in your cell.” The cop said.

A cop rushed past the other cop.

“Come on Baker! We’re getting eaten alive! Let’s go!”

“He’s gone.” Elaine said.

The cop looked at Elaine. He looked disappointed.

“Thanks for the pep talk, sis.”

The cop ran off. Elaine went to the corner of her cell, right next to the doors. There was a cop that was laying there, dead. His neck was sliced open. Elaine took the keys out of his pocket, and opened the door to her cell. An inmate stared her down.

“Hey! Guys! Fresh meat!”

The inmate approached Elaine. She grabbed the man by his chin with her bionic arm. She slammed him on the ground, and snapped his jaw.

“I hate people who yell.” Elaine whispered to herself.

Elaine slammed her arm into his head, blasting his head open. She slipped over the railing of the third floor of the jail, and acrobatically jumped down the railings. She slowly made her way to the exit of the jail. There were two cops that were guarding the exit. Elaine took the black rag that was tied under her chest off and wrapped it around her fingers. She approached the two cops.

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Ace got into his car. He drove home. The drive was nothing. He didn’t even remember anything about the drive. Until he heard gunshots off in the distance. He pulled his car into an empty parking lot, and put his mask on. He began to see many diagnostics about the area around him. He saw a red area where the gunshots were going off. He parked his car, and got out. Ace went into an inside pocket in his leather jacket, and took out a grappling gun. He fired it, and pulled himself up on top of a building. He put away his grappling gun and ran across the buildings.

“This mask, I am this mask. That Ace. Ace. Ace Dragovic is a dirty husk of a human being. But when I’m in here. I see everything clearly. The trash for what they are.”

Ace stood on top of a building. He saw thugs, who had beaten down a woman.

“Who wants to go first?” A thug asked.

“These men beat a woman down, and brought her to someplace quiet so they can soil her body. Leave her with years of trauma and dread. Dread for men just like them. She won’t even be able to go outside. Some men like to say I’m the same as them. You can’t fight fire with a water hose. But if you drown it. Snuff all the life out of it, then you can cut corners. That is what I do. Cut corners.”

“I was the one who brought this broad here, I should.” The thug answered.

“Then you’ll suffer the longest.”

Ace snuck from out of the shadows. He grabbed the thug and threw him to the wall. He stabbed a pole into his gut, and bent it over him. Pinning him to the wall. The thug watched as Ace murdered all the men in front of him. Cutting them down like lamb.

“Who the fuck are you?!” The thug yelled.

Ace helped the woman up. Her arm was broken.

“Are you okay?” Ace questioned monotonously.

“Y-you’ll let me go right?”

“Yes.”

The woman picked up the crowbar Ace had used to beat the other men down. She walked up to the other thug. She raised the crowbar, and smashed his head in.

“No! You weren’t supposed to do that. Not like me.”

“Did you stop me?” The woman asked.

“No…Not like-”

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“Elaine Baker has gone missing. She escaped from King City Penitentiary. Please, anybody. If you see this woman, she must be apprehended as soon as possible..”

A man was on the news. A picture of Elaine was on the screen. Ace walked past the TV’s silently. Paying no mind to them. It was the morning now. He was holding a coffee, and silently sipping from it. He went to the next apartment over, and walked into the apartment complex. He sat down in his decrepit apartment. The lights were off. Either by Ace’s choice or because the lights were not working in the apartment at all. He realized his hands still had some blood stains from yesterday. He went to his bathroom and washed his hands. He walked out. He went into his bedroom. His handbag was hanging on his bed. He reached into his handbag for his mask. He felt nothing except some weapons. He began to frantically feel around his bag. Nothing. He picked up his bag and dumped everything out of it. Tools clattered to the floor. He threw his bag on the ground.

“Last place I left it! Wasn’t it?!”

Ace walked out of his room, looking around the room. There was nothing. No sign of his mask. Until he saw a white glimmer in the side of the room. Someone was holding the mask up to their face. The moment Ace laid eyes on her. He knew who it was. He clicked the lightswitch on. The lights flickered.

“Elaine.” Ace stifled.

Ace went to grab his mask from Elaine.

“5 years and that’s all you have to say?” Elaine exclaimed.

“Mask.” Ace blurted out.

He reached again for his mask. Elaine moved it just out of his reach.

“Come on Ace! I remember, you didn’t need this mask. You could look someone dead in the eye and watch the life drain from their eyes. Now you need this mask.”

“I was a different person. Now give me my mask.”

“Let me think about it…No!”

Elaine threw his mask on the chair she had been sitting in. She got up close to Ace and put her hands on his chest. Ace was blinded by his mask. But once he took a closer look at Elaine, he realized that she was covered in blood.

“Killed cops to get out of prison.” Ace said to Elaine.

“Yeah, what of it? It’s not the first time I escaped, and why the hell are you talking like that?”

Ace went to get his mask again. Elaine grabbed his arm.

“Hey, no mask. Look me in the eyes. I missed you, you know that?”

It looked like it almost pained Ace to look away from the mask. He looked at Elaine.

“Wow. That mask really screwed you up. Can we go out tonight? Maybe without the mask. I won’t push you too hard. But I’m so bored. Come on, Ace. I want it to be like it was 5 years ago. Look here!”

Elaine walked Ace over to a table she had set up. She had set up small meals for them in another room. She had a candle in the center of the table.

“I’ve missed you for 5 years.” Elaine whined. “Just sit down and eat!”

Ace sat across from Elaine at the table. She had made them spaghetti. He ate as if it was a task he was being forced to do. He kept looking up at Elaine. Up and down as she ate, and talked to him about how life was in prison.

“She was in prison for a reason. I moved on from her. She isn’t in my life anymore. Not the meaningless killing. Not me. Not Ace.” Ace kept thinking to himself.

He watched how she elegantly ate her food. What was it about her? Why did she come back?

“Come on! You wanna go out, right?”

Elaine practically dragged Ace out into the night with her. He grabbed his mask, and pressed a button on the side. The mask shrunk down, and he put it in his pocket.

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Ace and Elaine walked the quiet night streets. For once, Ace felt a little better. He wasn’t alone, in his home. He was just a bit more comfortable with Elaine. She had her hands wrapped around his arm, and her head leaned on his shoulder.

“You seem a little less on edge, quiet.”

“Problem?” Ace inquired.

“No. Hey, there’s this place I like to go. Wanna come?”

Ace and Elaine walked through the streets. Eventually Elaine was leading Ace, holding his hand. She led him through some alleyways. She led him to a large alleyway, with a police car at the end.

“Wait here.” Elaine said mischievously.

She moved in at the cop, and smashed his window open with her hand, she ripped him out of his car and punched him in the face. Threatening him to be quiet. She took the rag around her outfit off and wrapped it around the cop’s mouth. She brought him over to Ace.

“Check it out, I found a pig! We should skin him.” Elaine smirked.

Ace looked at the cop. He was quiet.

“Not the way I do things anymore.”

“Come on! Come on Ace!”

“Don’t…Don’t kill like that anymore.”

“Remember how we used to do things? We went out on the town. Anybody who wronged us, we exacted our justice on them. You’ve become some bureaucrat about why and how we should kill now? Let’s just have some fun.”

“Not like this.”

Elaine was quiet for a moment. She threw the cop to the wall.

“Fine.”

Elaine put her robotic fingers to the cop’s mouth. Then put both of her hands to his mouth and snapped his jaw. Turning his jaw one way, and the other half of his skull the other.

“See. Not so hard.” Elaine turned to Ace.

Ace slammed Elaine against the wall. He had his mask on.

“What the hell are you doing? I said not like this! If we are going to do anything tonight, we do things my way!”

Ace and Elaine sat in the police car. He pulled something up in his mask. He saw a list of names in front of him.

“I get names of criminals who have slipped under the radar. A name here is Harold Dewalt. He’s a pusher of drugs, and a known gang member. If we kill him, we might be able to stop lots of trouble. His gang will get a message.” Ace explained.

“A message, huh? That sounds exciting.”

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Harold Dewalt walked out of a large building. He had three big men around him. Ace and Elaine waited on top of a building. Elaine took out a blade she had been hiding.

“Ready?” Ace counted down from 1 to 3. “Go.”

Elaine did a swan dive off the roof of the building. She sunk her blade into the head of one of the large men that were around Harold. Harold ran away from them. Ace shot his grappling hook through the body of one of the large men. He turned around, and ripped Ace’s grappling gun out of his hand. He ran towards Ace. Ace dodged out of the way and grabbed the cable of his grappling gun. Elaine threw out her rag, and Ace grabbed it. He jumped back, letting Elaine pull him back and ripped the grappling gun out of the man, and killing him. Elaine held her sword to the last man. Who fell on the ground and began to crawl backwards.

“Please! I…”

Elaine watched as the man trailed off.

“Nothing left to say. Because you know your death isn’t preventable. Wise man.”

Elaine lopped his head off. Ace watched as Harold climbed up a ladder, and continued to run. Elaine wrapped her arms around him, and he shot his grappling gun. They were quickly pulled towards Harold. Ace shot his gun into Harold’s leg, and began to pull him towards them.

“Harold Dewalt. You are going to jail for your crimes!” Elaine said playfully. “But we’re cutting your life sentence short.”

Elaine sliced Harold across the eyes. She beat his head in with the end of her sword. He began to scream. Elaine forced her bionic hand into his mouth.

“Enough. No torture. Give me your sword.”

Elaine handed Ace her sword happily. Ace stood up. He stabbed Harold in the stomach. He watched as he bled out.

“I don’t get off to it. I watch them pay.” Ace remarked.

Ace and Elaine got back to his apartment. She pushed him onto his bed, and began to kiss the side of his face. She went to remove his mask.

“Mask stays on, please.”

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Ace woke up in the morning. His mask was on the night table next to him. He turned around, expecting Elaine to be there. But she was gone. He sat up. The shower was running. He heard it turn off. Elaine walked out with a towel around herself. She sat down in the bed in front of Ace.

“Morning.” Ace said.

Elaine was looking down quietly.

“This world…this place is so unforgiving. Have you ever thought about that? Sometimes I wish I could just float away, so my problems would just go away as well.”

“That’s not how that works.” Ace replied.

“I’m not doing too bad for myself. Now, out. Let me change.”

Ace didn’t understand. He didn’t expect Elaine to care. But he respected her wishes. He grabbed his mask and went into the other room. He put it on, and began to scroll through the names. He got a call on his mask. He clicked a button to answer.

“Delman, hello.”

“Greetings, Ace. We have some new names coming in. One of them is someone familiar. Elaine Baker. There was some footage I saw yesterday, of you and her working together. Remember who the enemy is, Ace.”

Everything started to flood back. Now that Elaine was away, Ace started to feel it. The regret.

“I was over her. Me. I’m dead. It’s only the mask now. But she likes the mask. I don’t like her. She is still sickness. There was a reason I forgot about her. Dammit.”

Ace sat for a second. He realized how long it had been. That second had turned into minutes. He went to the door, and knocked on it.

“Elaine? Are you done?”

No answer.

“Elaine?”

No answer.

“Elaine?!”

Ace opened the door. The window was open. Elaine was gone. He looked on the bed, and saw a plane ticket with the message “If you want to start over.”

“I didn’t think she would really do it. I didn’t think she was this much of a coward.”

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It was raining on an abandoned airstrip. A small plane was boarding passengers. It was all misfits or criminals who wanted to disappear. Elaine was one of the last in line. Ace smashed his car through the fences, and drove down the airstrip to where Elaine was. Everyone had boarded the plane except her. She looked to see Ace step out of his car.

“Ace! Are you coming?”

“No.”

Ace took out his grappling gun and shot it at the plane. He hit the plane and pulled it back. Wrapping it around Elaine’s arm. He pulled her towards him.

“Seriously Ace?! What’s the point of all this?”

“You have to be taken in. Last night…it was a mistake. I moved on from you, Elaine.”

“Then why did you let me kill that officer yesterday? Things aren’t over. You know it. I offer you a better life, you know that.”

“You offer me a life without justice. A life where you don’t pay. I need to stop you.”

Ace stepped forward. He grabbed Elaine’s arm. She grabbed his arm with her bionic hand, and flipped him over her head and slammed him on the ground. She watched the plane. Her ticket out flew away.

“You remember all the fucked up things we did? Killed people, forged our own path. No matter how much blood got on our hands. But now, your a shell of your former self. You use that mask to hide all that guilt you have inside of you. You feel guilty for having fun! Hear that? The laws that society make up are fake. We make our own rules. That’s why I love this new world! I don’t even need to fly out of the country. I can just fly a couple states over, and restart! You are too afraid to admit that to yourself. We killed people, you think that’s wrong, that it’s unjust. Now you can’t even operate without that mask. Because your punishing yourself. You make all of us pay. But you can’t really make yourself pay.”

Ace kicked Elaine in the side of the face and scrambled to his feet. He threw a punch at her, and she dodged out of the way. She got him into a chokehold. He elbowed her and got her off of him. She tackled Ace to the ground, and took out her sword.

“Ace. You never said I love you back.”

There was a large bang. Elaine let out a pained yell. She fell on her side, Ace looked over at her and saw blood start to leak from her back.

“It’s the mask! Hey! It’s the mask.”

Ace stood up. He looked at the cops in front of him. He got on his knees, and put his arms behind his head. All he heard was Elaine crying out, as the policemen cuffed her, and put a gun to his head as he was tackled to the ground.

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Ace was without his mask. He was meeting with a councilor inside of jail.

“So, how was the week before you got here?”

“Went on second date in…5 years.”

“Really? How was it?”

“It was an old spark. Realized she was toxic. Did what anybody would do. Cut the toxicity out of my life.”

“Good, it seems like you might already be growing. I’m not saying you’ll be getting out of here anytime soon. But I’m happy you still want to pursue counseling.”

“Keeps me alive.”

Snow-One: Ashes of A Dream

Started September 10th

Finished September 26th

-----------------------------------Snow’s Memories: New World-----------------------------------

The world is covered in ashes. I watched it burn. I have mixed feelings about this. He said that this world needed to be destroyed so it could be remade. So something new could rise. I do not understand who coined this term, or who decided that this was how things were supposed to be. However, it is not my designation to ask questions. This is good. My designation was a Snow Type One, my designation “punisher”. I am the first android in the world, and yet I have been left here. I live in a small town. Copper Harbor, they call it. My type seems to have been discontinued. And yet, I’ve somehow become untethered to B.L.A.D.E’s system. So here I stand, walking among the earth alongside humans. I don’t understand many of their conventions. But I enjoy learning. I was given the freedom to process information at my own leisure. I thank my creator for that.

It's a quiet winter night, according to my temperature scanners. The sun is riding over the horizon, coating the sky in a red blanket. I’m walking on the side of the road, watching. People haven’t woken up yet. I think this is the farthest I’ve walked. My face is snowy white, as is the rest of my body. I have a sword at my side, it is tethered to me. I can’t go anywhere without this by my side. Not because I can’t defend myself, but because I am unable to untether myself from this sword. My hands are an ice cold white, and my “clothes” are white and blue. I have a dress-like battle suit with a charging port falling to my side. I have the complexion of a beautiful woman, my master says. I have small antennas that look like the devil’s horns on my head. My hair is long, flowing and white. I’ve let it grow since I was let go of the network.

I turn to walk back before anybody sees me in the morning. There is a small house over the hill that I approach. It’s my home. I don’t understand why I have stayed with these people. But I feel a sort of kinship with them. I was prepared to kill these people because I needed somewhere to live. But it is more convenient to have people who trust me around. Just in case anything unfortunate happens to my body.

“Snow! Come check this out!” One of my caretakers called out to me. Connor. He is very interested in me. I walked into the garage, where Connor sat. He held something in his hands, some sort of split mask that was skin-colored.

“I made you a new faceplate!”

“A new faceplate? Why?” I asked.

“I made it so you can go to the electronics convention tomorrow. You’ll look more human. Aside from those antennas on your head. That can be an aesthetic choice. Maybe you watch anime.” Connor told me.

I took the faceplate and affixed it to my face. It clicked into place over my normal face. I felt the skin on my face. It felt…real. Or as real as Connor could make epoxy and elastomers feel. I appreciated his effort.

Hours later,I am riding in the car with my new family. Daisy and the aforementioned Connor. A married couple. Their son, Logan was at school. Aside from his eccentricities, Connor taught me how to cook eggs in the morning, and that humans enjoy eggs in the mornings. Only eggs. He is also exceedingly interested in me. He is impressed by the people who designed me. Daisy taught me lots of things about the human body. She cares for other humans. Daisy showed me how it feels to have the cold breeze blow on you at night. Which is when I usually go out. Because people might be afraid of me. But now, my face looks normal. Connor created new faceplates for me. My body is usually snow white. Which I conceal with these clothes that Daisy lent me. These people are my protectors. They gave me a home. Even my creator forgot about me. But these people are simple. Connor has his eccentricities, he even likes to take me apart sometimes. It’s…annoying. Daisy gives me advice. She says she wants to find me a job. I don’t know what good that will do us. She says it will keep me busy.

I’m still worried that they will find out, this is an electronics convention. I wear jeans, boots, a long sleeve shirt and a coat with a tiger on the back of it. I have black gloves on. I might have to lay low for most of this convention. I can use my zoom function, anyway.

The convention wasn’t anything special. It wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t even feel like it was much compared to what I’ve already seen achieved in the world of tech. I enjoy watching Conner’s reactions to things. Boasting about things in tech language to Daisy that even I felt like I didn’t understand. However, there was one thing that caught my attention.

The main exhibit. There was a model of some sort of cyborg. There’s a short-haired woman in a dress and lab coat standing there monologuing to the people who were kind enough to listen, next to her there’s a stasis tank with what might’ve once been a human inside. There’s  only a head and half-a-torso. Even I had no idea how he was being kept alive. His body had started to be replaced with robotic parts. The exhibit was called “Project Kit Veer”.

I watch this Doctor Veer talk in front of me. “My father’s robotic body will be ready to be unveiled to the world in just a week! The final touches are being made to his final cyborg body. This will be a remarkable development in robotics. We will be able to give veterans the chance to stand, not just to stand--to live with no worries, and my father, Kit Veer will be the first man to present this possibility to the world!”

A cyborg? This is a development. I know that people can have their arms and legs replaced. But nowhere near as far as getting an entire new body. Will people like me be…normal?

I walked around the rest of the exhibit with Connor and Daisy. Everything was sub-par. I could make what those people made with paperclips if I tried. I couldn’t take my mind off of this Kit Veer. I went to my protectors.

“Connor, Daisy. I’m very curious about that main exhibit. I might try and talk to the girl over there.”

Daisy looked happy, maybe she saw it on my face. That child-like fascination with something alien to me. “Okay Snow. Connor has to pick up Logan, and I have to go to work late. You’ll be on your own for a little while. You can make it back to us, right?”

“Yes. I can make it. Don’t worry about me.” I assured them.

“Make sure to stay in contact.” Connor said.

I bid farewell to Connor and Daisy. I made my way to the stand. Everyone seemed to have left the exhibit, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. But Kit was. I stepped over the barrier that us guests weren’t supposed to pass over, and I got closer to Kit.

I thought more about my purpose. My masters told me that I needed to have a purpose. My purpose was with B.L.A.D.E. Now, it is with Connor and Daisy. Suffice to say, there is something inside of me, something that knows they are not my mission. They're just humans. But this….this could be bigger than myself.

I watched as this man opened his eyes, and looked at me. “Who are you? Why are you over the barrier?”

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help but take a closer look at you.”

“Back off kid. I’m not someone for you to stand there and gawk at.”

“I’m not a kid. I feel a sort of kinship with you. Don’t you see?”

I looked at Kit, and took off the faceplate that hid my real face.

“Look at me, we’re nothing alike.” Kit responded.

I showed him the registration number that was under my forehead.

“Snow type one. My designation was Punisher. Under B.L.A.D.E. I am an android. It just fascinates me that you may grow to become like me.”

“Under B.L.A.D.E…Hah. Makes sense that a lone droid is out here roaming around buttfuck nowhere. They let you go, huh? Just like they forgot about me. You may have intelligence in that robot brain of yours. But you wouldn’t understand half of the horrors I’ve seen.” Kit exclaimed.

“I understand lots of things. The horrors that you humans see on the front lines is very traumatizing to your minds. That is why I am here.”

“I don’t care what you say.”

“Please, I think you are important. You want to be brought back, right?”

“I’m not going to talk to you about such things. What is between me and my daughter stays between me and my daughter.” Kit said sternly.

Maybe I shouldn’t have made this choice. This was emotionally driven. Why am I standing here talking to Kit?

“Hey! Who the hell are you?!”

“Lily-“ Kit called out to his daughter.

I turned around to see Lily Veer. Something is wrong with me. Maybe I want her to see the real me. I keep my faceplate off. Lily took out a small handgun. I sigh. A dart came flying out of the device. Mere milliseconds pass, and I am holding the dart in my fingers. I crush it.

“We don’t have to resort to violence! I want to talk to you about your father! I feel that I may be able to be of some help to you two!” I explained to Lily.

“I don’t need any help from-“ Lily paused as she walked towards me. She looked me up and down. “An android…your an android! How are you still active?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that I am in awe of your achievements.” I told the woman.

“I don’t just trust anybody. Especially not a B.L.A.D.E. lap-dog.” Lily said.

“Please, you might not trust me, but I am here to help. Can I prove it to you?”

“You want to prove it to me? Ugh. Give me a way I can shut you down if you go haywire.”

This was new. This girl didn’t trust me immediately. She was smart. Connor and Daisy were one thing, but this is different. I held up my hand, and produced a remote from a compartment in my arm. I handed it to Lily.

“This will shut me down.”

But I’m not just going to let any human shut me down.

“Are you sure?” Lily asked pensively.

“Try it. Just turn me back on after you are done.” I told Lily.

Lily pressed the button, and I saw everything go black. Then, I heard another click, and I was back.

“See?”

“Okay…you might be the real deal.”

I saw this distrusting girl start to climb out of her broken shell. She held in her excitement. I looked at Kit. I could only tell by the way he looked at me, but he seemed pensive. To be honest, I couldn’t tell what he was feeling. In all the emotions I’ve felt and sensed, I felt nothing out of him. I sensed nothing but blackness.

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“Hey! Hey Snow, want a drink?” Lily slurred at me.

Again, I am surprised by the multifaceted ways humans act. I wonder what happened to her father that was so horrible. I disregarded her comment, and let her drink her problems away. I went outside of the bar and leaned next to the door. There was a large truck that housed Kit. I thought about talking to him again, but he seemed like a man who wanted his servitude. I wish I could talk to someone who knew something about everything they went through. There is an easy way, but that would defeat the purpose.

I felt the wind blowing on my face. It was tranquil. I looked into the sky, then felt a presence. It may have been silenced, or quiet, a bullet was fired. My sensors fired up, and I ripped my sword from it’s sheath, and slashed the bullet that flew at me in half. Data flew at me at 100 miles-an-hour. I ran across the parking lot, and towards this mystery attacker. My horns glowed a vibrant orange. I grabbed onto the ledges and stairs on the side of the buildings and hoisted myself up to the top of the building. I saw the red outline of a person running with a bag in their hand. I bolted across the building, until I saw him. I held out my hand, and fired a blast from a bracelet that was around my wrist. I shot him in the leg, and watched as he crashed and burnt. I felt my eyes and horns glowing a vibrant red amongst the dark as I walked towards him. He jumped up, and slashed at me with a sword. I blocked and kicked him in the stomach, and slashed him to the ground again.

“Jeezus! It was just a job! Don’t kill me!” The man yelled. Just like all the others.

“Who are you?” I asked him.

“It really is you…The white rose demon.”

“White rose demon?” I asked him.

“That’s what we all call you…I-I can’t do this!”

I watched as the man went to chomp down, it was a cyanide capsule. I drew my sword before he even bit down. He didn’t need to be alive. I would get all the information I needed from him. Blood spattered on my face as I stabbed my sword into his mouth.

----------------------------------Logan’s Memories: Reflections----------------------------------

I woke up in the morning. God, I was tired. That party last night was amazing though. My girlfriend, Kylie was so happy at the party. I didn’t really want to go, to be honest. But once again, it was time for work. The week was the same, get up. Go to work, go to bed, then go to bed, get up, go to work, etc. I looked to my side, and my beautiful girlfriend, Kylie was laying there, asleep. I looked at the time on my phone. It was 6:30.

“Shit!” I yelled quietly.

Thirty minutes late! Thirty minutes late! Shit! I threw on my work clothes, and got everything together. I kissed Kylie on the cheek, I kissed her stomach too. She was starting to actually appear pregnant. God…and we haven’t even come up with a name yet.

I rushed to work as normal, and saw my boss running around. Des was a fun boss. He has long blonde hair that he had partly tied back. He had a small ponytail, but the rest of his hair ran halfway down his back. He had some circular glasses on top of his head, which were nearly hidden by his hair. He wore a button-up shirt with the sleeves pulled back, partly because it was summer, and also because of those tattoos he had running up his arms. I think he wanted to promote a “fun” work environment.

“Hey! What’s up Logan? Please try and be on time as normal. Most of the jobs have been taken. You know it’s busy here.” Des said to me.

“Yeah, since that war, everyone’s living here now right?”

“This place is like a damn hotel complex. The only other jobs we have open are the classified ones. You have been here long enough that you can take them, but I know you don’t like to take them. I understand. I don’t love hurting people either. But hey, I take all clients.”

I have to provide for Kylie. That was all I was thinking about in my head. I scanned through the classified files. The one for the most money was this one. “Client: B.L.A.D.E. Job: Deactivate any Snow-1 androids”. Dammit. I know this will be hard. But I have to do what I have to do.

-----------------------------------Snow’s Memories: Kit and Des-----------------------------------

This was my curse. It was B.L.A.D.E’s muddled way of me “learning” from battles. Any and everybody I kill, I don’t just kill them. I take their memories. I bare their burdens. I loathe whoever decided to bless me with this design. Who is this Des? He seems important, and he is close by. But before that, all I could think of was Logan. I never thought like this. Logan hadn’t even named his daughter. If he didn’t come in late that day, maybe he wouldn’t have…No. I must stay focused. I felt my “skin” automatically heat up, and burn the blood off of my body. I went back to the bar, to see Lily drunkenly stumbling out of there. I went to her.

“Lily, you are intoxicated. How do you expect to go home?”

“Pfft, you can drive, right?” Lily said.

“I can. Do you trust me?” I need to gain her trust.

“Yes, yes. You can drive! Address is 4 Corsair Drive!”

I drove Lily home in the large truck that Kit resided in. It wasn’t very far until I got to her house. Of course, Lily went inside of her house and slept her hangover off. I sat in the large house. It was empty, and yet so large. I looked in the garage. It was Lily’s workshop. There it was. The first model that Kit was going to inhabit. It was taller than me, a bit bulky. The suit’s face was my main point of contention. People might even be afraid of it. He had a mask that made his face look long, with eyeholes, and antenna-like machines on the side of it’s head. That kind of looked like ears. It was the long face, and body that seemed…battle ready. He had a rotating rifle at his side, along with a shield that was in his other hand. The lights in the facility turned on, and I heard Kit’s voice throughout the workshop on small speakers.

“You are curious about my new body, right?” Kit’s voice boomed throughout the workshop. “Because you want to help us. I welcome your help. But that body, you may not trifle with. If you really want to create something new for me, do it yourself.”

Myself? I guess I have to try.

“Okay, I’m up to that challenge.” I said.

I got to work at once. Kit talked to me as I unleashed my mind upon this workshop. I scanned blueprints that were scattered around the table.

“You’re really trying? Interesting.” Kit said.

“Kit. Do you know anything about someone named Des?” I asked him.

“Des…where did you hear that name?”

“Somebody told me about him. I’m wondering who he is. He seems important.”

“Ryker Destry is a man you don’t want to get wrapped up in. He’s helped create this new ideal all Americans have now. All the weak ones are ducking for cover under his roof.”

“You don’t like this?” I questioned.

“No. He doesn’t care about anybody.”

“What makes you say that? Human behavior can sometimes be difficult to understand. I doubt that what you say is-”

“Don’t pretend you know what humans feel. Destry did this to me. He mutilated my body beyond repair.”

“How was he able to do this?”

“He thinks he’s a hero. He caused so much damage. I was a B.L.A.D.E. Soldier on duty. He didn’t seem to care very much about me when he decimated my crew.”

The way Kit talked was very…emotionless. He lacked any emotion saying all of this. A human should be outraged about this. But he talked about it monotonously.

“I am sorry to hear that.”

Kit didn’t have much to say after that. I didn’t know what he wanted to hear out of me. I think he went to sleep eventually as I worked through the night. I used the parts I could find. I need more. I heard a door open, and sensed Lily come into the room.

“The hell are you doing?” Lily said.

“I’m…creating something new for Kit.”

“Something new?”

“It’s something a little more functional, a little more friendly.” I told Lily, I felt excited.

“Wow…Okay.”

Lily looked over to Kit, it seemed to register in her head that he was asleep.

“He wanted that body that’s fit for battle. But…honestly I agree. He needs something a little more inviting. Are you…trying to make something that looks more human?”

“Like me.” I said. “I need more parts.”

“More parts? Where do you expect to get more parts for this? I thought you didn’t know how I created this android.”

“I followed your blueprints, and managed to create a skeleton. But…I can’t get this to operate. Lily, can you help me? Can you show me how?”

“Y-yeah. This sounds kind of fun!” Lily chirped. “Where do you expect to find parts to build this though?”

“There is…One place.” I told her. I thought to myself. Deep in my memories, there was a glimmer of a place. Awakened in me when I inherited Logan’s memories. Snow-1 Androids. Androids. Like there are more of me. I just need to find something…

Lily stood there waiting for me to say something. “Seems like you’re having trouble thinking. I know someplace. It’s a bit of a drive, but it’s not like you can sleep anyway. Do you want to go?”

“Yes. I’d like to.” How would Lily know about such a place?

Lily and I hopped in a small car. I decided to drive. She told me about where I needed to go, and we began driving. I realized Lily was a bit more open-minded than she was last time.

“So…Snow? Can I call you that? Why do you even want to do this for my father? Make him a new body?”

“It is my job, as an android to provide for human-kind in any way I can. I was fascinated by what you were doing to your father, and I couldn’t help but feel an urge to get involved.”

“Really? Why?”

“Like every human, I feel the need to-” Lily cut me off.

“You really need to stop doing that.”

“Stop doing what?”

“You seem to like to express that you aren’t a human everytime you speak. We define our own destiny. You want to be normal, right?”

“Yes. If you define your own destiny, wouldn’t you have made a human body for Kit first?” I asked Lily.

“I wish that was how it was. My Dad’s ready to fight a damn war. I just want to spend time with him.”

“You want your father back. I understand that.” I told her.

I knew I had no father. But there is always a yearning to see the one who created me again. We drove for a while. Time blended together for me, as Lily drew back a bit. We still spoke. But she didn’t seem to want to talk about her father very much anymore. We got to an old factory in the middle of seemingly nowhere. It seemed to be inactive.

Lily eyed my sword. “Do you think you can get us in?”

I nodded, and drew my sword. I slashed a large X in the wall, and kicked a hole in the warehouse so we could get in.

“What are we going to find here?” I asked.

She found a circuit breaker outside and put some wires together. I saw light pour out of the warehouse. She stepped into the hole I made, and I followed.

What I was greeted with nearly pained me to look at. Not because it hurt. Because of how unbelievable it was. It was the first thing I was met with when we walked in. A huge warehouse with a seemingly inactive control area in the middle, with a circle embedded into the ground. There were figures standing in this circle. End to end. Shoulder to shoulder. They all looked like me.

“This B.L.A.D.E. warehouse was made inactive during the short war between the Legion and B.L.A.D.E. So many of these warehouses have been left to rot.” Lily seemed to be reminiscing.

“How do you know about all of this?”

“My Dad was a soldier. I was in the loop.”

I felt as if there was something I was missing. Something that Lily didn’t feel like telling me. I didn’t want to push anything. I was very curious. But I didn’t want to do anything with Lily around. I didn’t trust her yet. She may have seemed to be warming up to me. But there was an air of worry around both of us. Lily and I gathered up some decoys, they didn’t seem to do anything.

They looked just like me…It was surreal. I knew I was backed up in a server, but to see so many versions of me around made me feel…obsolete. We left, bringing two decoys of myself with us. We got back home, and Lily was eager to get to work.

“I have a feeling there’s a reason you can’t complete this build.” Lily told me, almost out of nowhere, as we were beginning to dismantle versions of myself. They hadn’t been activated yet, so it didn’t matter what we did to it, right?

“What makes you say such a thing?”

“Think about it, if you knew how to build complex stuff like this, then it stops you from building more of yourself. Because if you did that…there could be problems.”

“I understand why everyone is so threatened by me. I can cut down hundreds of humans if I want. But truth be told, I have no intention of invading the world. I simply want to live amongst you. I want to be like you.” I expressed my deepest thoughts to Lily.

I thought a little longer as we worked together. “Why didn’t you do this without me?”

Lily looked at me. “Building things alone is…taxing. To be honest, I had no motivation. But now that there’s someone here willing to help, that makes things a little easier on me. It makes me happy.”

I was surprised to see Lily work through the night with me. She really was as excited about this new creation as I was. As we worked on this machine, I wanted to make his machine more human, throughout the days, I went with Lily to get more parts to make this new creation. We got something to mimic skin, something that accurately mimicked hair.

One night when Lily was out drinking, I was working on the head of this android, I took the server chip out of my old model, and gently placed it in his memory.

While what I am describing may sound like this new creation is perfect, it was far from it. Lily and I had to run tests to get skin correct, it was like we were working on Kit from the ground up, and when Kit was there, I felt his eyes burning into the back of my skull. This body still needed lots of work, it was difficult trying to make something human-like.

Finally, I decided that I needed a break, and one night I decided to head to the old B.L.A.D.E warehouse to see all the different versions of me. Well, there was nothing different. But I’d like to think I am different from all of them. I walked into the hole I had made. It was dark now, but I didn’t want the bright lights on. I went down to the army of myselves. I slowly walked around the circle. Looking at myself. I looked for imperfections. Of course, I found nothing. It was like all these versions of me were simply manufactured without a single thought. It was almost heartbreaking. I couldn’t help but chuckle. I walked around the circle, again and again. Searching and searching. There was a staircase that led up to the broken down control station. I walked up the stairs. I put my hand on the circuit breaker on the side of the stairs as I walked up, and shot an electric charge up, turning on the lights in the control station. I saw many computers lining the sides of the control station, as well as a wall with many tools lined up that seemed to have fallen down. It baffled me that this area was destroyed, but the androids were fine. Wouldn’t someone have wanted to destroy the androids? I saw a server in the center of the room. I opened up a slot in my lower thigh, and took out a plug. I plugged myself into the server. I felt my information going in, and even more information being fired into my mind.

It felt like my brain was on fire. So many things were going through my mind at once. I felt them all. Every Snow’s emotion…Every Snow’s motive. It was like I was killing them all. I had visions of an intelligent robot sitting next to an intelligent young woman, staring at a red sea. I saw another robot being overtaken by waves in a battle. I saw another being treated like…a daughter. By my…

My…

Who is that? Why do I feel so attached to this woman I have never seen?

-----------------------------Varva’s Memories: Daughter and Mother------------------------------

I looked straight ahead and saw it. My type designation. Snow Type One Designation Punisher. But that isn’t who I am…I am Varva. My creator, my master, Yelena tells me that I am the first of my kind. Ever. I feel lonely if anything, as I look into space. I’m sitting at B.L.A.D.E headquarters. Year 2045. They are calling me 3B. But I’m the first of my kind. I don’t know what 3B is supposed to mean. I heard someone coming as I stared longingly into space. It was just a normal soldier. His nametag said “Veer”.

“Hey, android. We need to take you somewhere. Come on.”

I obeyed this man. After all. It was our jobs to obey the soldiers above us. He took me into a small room. With A large operating table.  A short woman in a labcoat came over to me. Her nametag also said “Veer”.

“What is happening to me, miss?” I asked nicely.

“Sorry, I can’t answer that.”

“I believe my master specified that I am allowed to ask what is being done to me, but I an not allowed to hurt B.L.A.D.E Personnel unless a code gray situation were to occur.” I informed Miss Veer.

“Okay, we are wiping your memory. It is going into your server, but you won’t be able to access it.”

“Why are you wiping my memory?”

“...Because your master has died. We don’t want that interfering with your programming.”

My master…dead? There is this intense feeling in my heart. I want to cry. My own mother. She was my mother…I was Varva. I am Varva. Varva Maxim. I didn’t say anything else. The shock was too much. Honestly, maybe it was better that my memory was erased. I laid down, and a device was put on my head.

But here I was having second thoughts.

I love my mast r!

I l ve my mothe !

I… on’t want to forg t he !

I do ’t wa t to f rget my M m! Can’t you just st p?!

-----------------------------------Snow’s Memories: The Storm------------------------------------

My…Mother? I can’t believe it, and yet…Her face is so fuzzy. I can barley remember her. Is this what being an orphan is like? As I made my way home, I felt sad. Is this what feeling real human emotions is like. I know I feel people’s emotions strongly. But now that it’s my own, there is something different. It’s like I lived multiple lives. Not that our lives are long in the first place.

I got back to Lily’s house. The lights in the garage were on. I decided to walk in. I looked at Kit’s storage tank, and the large monster that I had seen earlier. Both were gone. I saw Lily working at her desk passively.

“Lily, your father. He’s gone.” I told Lily the obvious.

“I know. He just left.”

“Where did he go?”

Lily stood up out of her chair.

“Look, do what you are programmed to do, and listen to me. You shouldn’t even be asking questions like that. He’s gone. Went to kill Des. His quest for revenge can be over, and we can make him his new body. End of story.”

“You told me to stop speaking like a robot. Aren’t there people who are counting on Des? I knew someone who counted on him for work. To support his pregnant wife. What would it do if he was dead?” Again, I told Lily what I was really thinking.

Lily took out the remote I gave her earlier. The one that will power me down.

“You aren’t going to do anything to my father.” Lily snapped.

She pressed the button on the controller. Everything went black. But back then, I didn’t trust humans. I don’t trust them the same way they don’t trust me. My eyes lit up a bright blue, and my hair was covered in a blue aura as it floated up like zero gravity. I outstretched my hand, and pushed Lily against the wall.

“I know your father thinks he’s doing what’s right. I don’t know whether to trust humans or not either. But I can’t let humans who are recovering have everything be knocked down again.” I realized my grip was beginning to suffocate Lily. I dropped her, and began to walk away. I heard her yell out my name.

“Snow! Turn around and face me! Leave my father alone! Do you want me to beg?”

“I have one question, why?”

“Because he’s my Dad, and I love him. You wouldn’t understand.”

I felt an anger rise up inside of me.

“Don’t tell me I don’t understand. I might know more about being human than you. You wiped my memory without a second thought. You wiped my mother’s existence away from me. Was getting me here an accident? Was it all part of a plan?”

“How do you…?”

“I can see it now. You were part of the electronics team up there. Until B.L.A.D.E collapsed. Did your father force you to get in?”

“He inspired me.”

“I have trouble getting over my mother. Hell, she was a good person to me. But another family taught me that you have to set boundaries with each other. You follow your father like a lost child. He’s going to drag you down.”

I turned around, and walked out of the garage until I was out of Lily’s sight. I could still hear her from afar.

“I just want to be with my Dad.” Lily said.

I felt Logan’s memories, and began to make my way towards where his building was supposed to be. I stood in the middle of the road. Dammit…Haven’t used this in a while. I activated PROGRAM:PHOENIX. Wings with jet propellers came from my back. It used up lots of my energy, but I flew into the air, and followed what I remembered. I flew for a while, then I started to come over the horizon, and saw a large building. It was like a huge apartment complex in the middle of a small city. I saw many people on balconies, as well as people on top of the building. Maybe Kit hadn’t arrived yet. I scanned for large presences of titanium, the aloy his suit was made out of. Of course, I sensed it. In the woods.

I landed in the woods, and felt the ground violently shake. I felt something barreling towards me. It couldn’t be…I used my vision to zoom in, I saw his face. Kit was running through the woods, breaking through everything that was in his way. I watched him smash a tree over. He wasn’t stopping.

The next second, my vision began to distort. I felt something snap, then felt many parts in the back of my head be blasted apart. I lost my balance, and fell to the ground. I saw someone walk past me. He was wearing a helmet with long flaps that looked like hair protruding from the back. I couldn’t see a face. He wore an oversized yellow coat and had cargo jeans on. I watched as he created a huge forcefield in the middle of the woods, then saw Kit blast through it, as well as these two colliding with each other. They both punched each other in the face at the same time, and they went flying backwards. I slowly stood up, and looked to Kit.

“Kit. You need to stop this. Hurting innocent people isn’t going to get you anywhere! I thought you signed up to be a B.L.A.D.E soldier to help people.” I told Kit. He didn’t seem to care. I stood up, and drew my blade. The man in the mask backed up and stood next to me.

“What kind of android are you?” He asked. I could tell instantly. It was Des’s voice.

“Just know, Logan didn’t blame you for sending him to die, and I’m here to help you.”

“Then don’t just stand there.”

Kit threw a punch directly into my face. I just barley dodged out of the way, and slashed my blade at him. But it bounced right off. He reached out with his huge hand, and grabbed my face. He smashed me into the ground, and threw me back.

“Nobody is getting in my way!” Kit yelled out.

Des punched Kit at the side, his punches seemed to be enhanced. He hit Kit with a punching combo and then pushed him back.

“Listen dude. Back off. I don’t even know who you are. Keep away from my people.”

“You don’t even know who I am?! I am the man that you bisected at the waist after that explosion. You don’t even seem to care. You’ve killed men! You need to die. Your sins can’t be erased.”

Even through Des’s mask. He looked like he was reflecting.

“You think I don’t remember you? Every enemy I fought I remember. Especially the ones I’ve injured.”

Kit ignored him and ran at him. He tried to take Des down. Des moved out of the way as Kit attacked him.

“I hurt a lot of people over the years. Now, I am holding together a society of people. I know you don’t like to hear this, but sometimes protecting the people you love costs other people’s well-being. I bet you and your daughter haven’t been very well off.”

Kit continued attacking “Don’t bring up my daughter!”

Des didn’t seem to care. He needed his point to be made. “We would’ve let you in if we could’ve found you, and for that, I am sorry.”

“You being sorry doesn’t excuse you!”

Des had been dodging over and over at this point, but Kit finally caught him. He reached down and grabbed Des’s leg. He flipped him in the air and punched him in the stomach. Kit went flying backwards, and into a tree. Kit followed up, and shouldered into Des. He brought Des to the ground, and began to pummel him. Kit broke his mask, and ripped it off of his body. He looked down at Des’s face. I knew I had to do something. I saw a small opening at the back of Kit’s neck. It seemed to be a window into his body. I had to take the chance. Kit punched Des in the face over and over, leaving him bloody. But Des didn’t seem to be fighting back.

SHING!

In a split second, blood flew out of the back of Kit’s neck. I empowered my sword, and slashed down, further into his body. I slashed my sword at the side of his neck, slashing through his armor. Blood flew out of his neck, coating the leaves, trees, and ground all around us. He held his hand over his neck, and keeled over. Des wiped some blood from his nose.

“Shit…”

----------------------------Kit’s Memories: The Experimental Weapon----------------------------

At this moment, I felt how my words were affecting her. My daughter. I watched as her face crumbled, and my tone got louder. It was like I wasn’t in control. I need to stop him. Need to stop him from manipulating more people. They can find a better leader. I uttered it from my mouth for the last time.

“Now, put me in the suit.” I ordered Lily.

“I can’t! I’m not putting you in the suit. You're Not throwing away your life. I don’t know what I’ll do without my father!”

Was she really going to do this to me? This is the last time I’m going to ask. I stared her down.

“Things are never going to be the same if you don’t let me do this. I need to avenge my men. You want a normal father? I will never be normal. I am a soldier. Put me in the fucking suit.”

I could tell my words cut Lily deep. She took the suit out of the storage unit it was in, and put it on an operating table. The sound of the suit banging against the metal of the table rang through the room.

“After you kill Des, can we go to dinner? Father and Daughter?” Lily asked me.

I didn’t say anything.

Dammit.

I am the same as always.

I’m sorry Lily.

I shouldn’t have been a soldier.

---------------------------------Snow’s Memories: Reminiscence----------------------------------

“You…”

I turned, and looked. It was Lily’s voice. She watched as her father fell to the ground.

“Lily…” I said. Oddly enough. I looked at her as my own daughter. I felt memories flooding in. Years and years of regret coming to my head.

I looked at Lily. “Lily, please. Let’s stop this.”

“Stop? Stop?! I was never taught to stop. You cut down my father like an animal, and expect me to stop?! Fuck you.”

Lily looked at me coldly. She held up her phone, and put it to her ear.

“Latitude 41.718731. Longitude -86.900902.”

I heard something flying overhead. It rang through the forest, and trees began to get blown aside. I looked to where Des was. He was gone. It was just Lily and I. Six large containers fell to the ground. I watched as a group of machines stepped out of the containers. They all looked identical. They had the word “BLIZZARD” engraved on one of the armor pieces on their arms. They looked inhuman. Their bodies, arms, and legs were all longer than your average humans. They had no eyes, and just had a mouth protruding from where their head should be. They all wore long, sinister smiles.

They simplified my model. They simplified me into a killing machine. One of them jumped forward at me. A blade came out of it’s arm, and it swung for my neck. I lunged backwards and slashed my blade across the machine’s arm. It’s arm flew off, but it didn’t seem to care. It kept attacking after me. Two more machines were behind me. They smashed their hands into the sides of my head. I felt my circuits crash in on eachother. I rolled out of the way of the machines. Only to stand up and see another. It slashed it’s blade down at me. I parried, and slashed through it’s stomach. I threw my sword in the air and fired multiple energy blasts into the same spot I had slashed. It’s armor came flying off. I realized some sort of core opened up. A red core was hidden under it’s armor. Two more of the blizzard units came from behind me and smashed their arms into my back. I fell face first to the ground. I made the jet propellers come from my back, and flew out of the way of more of them. The only advantage I had was speed. I blitzed the unit I had already damaged, and swiftly stabbed my sword into it’s core. Blood spewed out from it.

I got ready for the memories to hit. Waiting. Waiting. Nothing. They had fully removed any free will these machines could have. Then I began to think. Think. As my mind was suspended. I knew what I had to do.

Another machine came from behind me and slashed at my arm. It slashed my arm off, I looked over, and saw blood spew out of my arm. I let out a cry, as my pain sensors began to feel the blow. Another came and tackled me to the ground. They all flew into the air using their jet propellors, and they flew down onto me like a flock of birds attacking their prey.

I had once chance. There was one thing I could do. I held out both of my hands, and hacked into their minds. My memories. All the memories I had accrued over the last 3 years. I uploaded  them into the android’s servers. However, this was a one-way trip. Snow. The Snow who I was, would be erased.

I have to do this.

-------------------------------------Lily’s Memories: The End--------------------------------------

I watched as Snow was mauled by the machines sent by B.L.A.D.E. But then, something unexpected happened. They all jumped backwards. Holding their heads. I heard them beginning to babble loudly to themselves in Snow’s voice.

What? Snow’s voice? No!

They all began to seize, and fell to the ground. I watched as their heads began to sizzle, and smoke rose. I ran over to where Snow was. She was on the ground. Reduced to a bloody mess of robotic parts and real bones. I felt the anger in my head brewing. I stomped on what we left of Snow.

“Yes! Die! Die! Die! Monster! You monster…”

I weep and weep. I wanted to share this time with my father. I went over to his body, and laid next to him.

Ghost: Life After Death

Start Date - 9/20/22

End Date - 10/12/22

A family sits around a long table. Everyone spread out so far away that whispers won’t tickle their ears. Everyone’s faces were pale gray. They all sip on soup, but not a slurp breaks their silence.

The room has no windows, yet the stillness of the air feels like a cold fall night. They can smell the thick air. The scent of wet grass fills their noses.The walls are dark blue. So dark shadows join them at the table, gnawing on their ankles like savage dogs.

One of the men at the table stares deep into his soup. His spoon circles around in the shallow bowl, scratching the metallic bottom. The metals screech in pain as they rub together.

The youngest of the adults at the table sits at the end. His pupils are small and dark, even in the blackest of night. His short hair is wavy and greasy. He presses his lips together before he speaks, “What’s wrong with you Cassius? You haven’t had more than one spoon, and your stirring is making my ears bleed.”

Cassius looks up, he licks one of his teeth. His hair is short and unkempt. “Damon,” he lies through a half crooked smile, “I’ve stirred, and blown, but my soup is still hot. It burns my throat like a ripe red pepper.”

Damon looks around the room. No one has even looked up from their soup. They delight in food with their heads held down like animals. “I’ve never known you to have a weak taste. Everyone else seems to suggest the soup is fine. So I ask again, what’s wrong.”

The oldest at the table, a woman with high styled gray hair and black makeup highlighting only her worst features, raises her head. “The day is for fighting, the table is for eating. None of my children will argue over anything in this room, especially not the dinner I made for everyone.”

Both Damon and Cassius lower their heads in respect, “We’re sorry.”

Dinner ends in the same silence, but the silence is filled with an air of emotion. Now, everyone is afraid to speak.

After dinner, the night only gets darker. Everyone prepares themselves for sleep, but not Damon. The house curfew has never sat right with him. He sprays on cologne that smells like a stench more than perfume. He puts on his pants and shoes, leaving his shirt off. He lays in bed, patiently waiting.

His room is nearly empty, the only thing filling the room with life is the one window beside Damon’s bed. As he lays there with nothing to do but think, he stares out the window as he does every night. Even the stars dim light feels more interesting than anything inside his house. He always admired the stars. Every night it felt like the stars were different than before. It gave him a sense of unknown that he had been longing for.

Soon tapping appears at his door. The type of tapping you might expect from a blind man walking down the street. Perfectly in rhythm. Every tap feels like someone is knocking on Damon’s head. His breath speeds up. He can’t stop the sweat from dripping down his forehead. The heat of the blankets don’t help. His door creaks open.

The older women walks inside. She looks around the room, like there is something there for her. Damon pretends to sleep. She wacks the cane on the ground.

“Damon, what is this smell?”

“I sprayed some cologne. I wanted to know how it smelt.”

“You have no use for cologne at night. What do you want to smell you at night? The only things outside of this house are wolves and shadows. Do you want those to smell you?”

“No Aunt Vera.”

“Then sleep and wash the cologne off in the morning.” She slams the door shut.

Damon stares up at the ceiling for a long time. Then he stands up. He puts opn a dress shirt, jacket, and tie. His outfit is entirely black. Not an an ounce of another color can be found. He opens a drawer under his window. He takes out a few makeup brushes and colors. After that he picks up hair products. He puts the makeup brush in a pale skin color. He applies it to his own skin, before long, he is no longer gray. His skin become a normal pale. Then he puts product in his hair. His hair goes from greasy, to done up. He looks at himself in the reflection of the window. He can barely recognize himself, his smile widens ear to ear.

Damon opens up his window. He steps up on the dresser and slides himself through the window. He lands on the ground. When he stands up, he makes sure his suit looks okay, but his hands are still dirty. Fearing being caught, he shuts his window and runs toward the trees. He follows his own footsteps away from the house.

Before he leaves he turns around and looks at his house. The house isn’t a home, but a mansion. No matter how long he spent inside the building, the outside looks unfamiliar to him. The grey and dark blue tone states, but the building seems more magnificent than dreadful now. He can’t help but appreciate what Vera has done for him, but as the feeling flees and he turns to the trees, he remembers that he can barely recall a time he wasn’t in the house.

Damon moves through the trees, pushing the leaves and branches out of his way without a care. Barely a thought goes through his mind before he forces the branches out of his sight. When the trail he follows ends, he can see white lights through the leaves. He isn’t worried about being caught anymore, but he still looks around before jumping out of the forest. He fixes his tie, pats down his hair, and makes sure he is ready to meet anyone that comes his way.

In front of him stands a small town. There are lights everywhere. The lights are almost blinding. They are a beautiful white that looks more like a spotlight than a streetlight. The buildings are made of spruce and the pathway is laced with jagged rocks. Without a thought, Damon walks through the path. His dress shoes unaffected by what’s below him. His head is held high. He finds the place he has been waiting to go for nearly a week now. With one swift movement, he opens the door and steps inside.

The bar is the most colorful place he has ever been. The wood isn’t spruce. It’s brighten more brown. Yellowish drinks are poured into clear glasses, the people are wearing dark colors, but colors he almost forgot about. Greens, reds, and one woman wears blue. The woman he came here for, Lilith. She wears a blue sundress, even when the sky is dark. She sits on a stool with her hands folded in her lap, patiently waiting.

As Damon sits down in the chair, he looks at how the dress is wrapped around the woman’s petite figure. Once Damon sits down he looks her in her big soft eyes. Her eyes are brown, but not dark. Long dark brown hair drapes over her shoulders. As Damon looks at her with a devious smile, she looks back at him with a blushing smile.

Damon speaks first to break the silence, but his mind empties. “Your dress is beautiful.”

Her blush fades a bit. “Thank you. It’s one of my favorites. I love the color. It was my mother’s favorite before she passed.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“No, she past a while ago, it’s alright. She used to wear a blue necklace, but my father took it.”

“Are you and your father close?”

“He’s,” she pauses for a moment, “distant, but he’s the only family I have left. So I try and see him. Are you close with your family.”

“Very. Even now that we’re all adults, we still fight like kids.” Damon loses his focus as he chuckles. “My brother once chased me around a whole day because I stole his favorite shoes. I had to hide in my sister’s closet all day. My sister was so cool about it. I could hear them talking from inside the closet. She lied straight to his face, and told him she hadn’t seen me.”

“I wish I had siblings. I feel like I missed out on something everyone else had.”

“It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. There’s so many of us that my mother sometimes forgets some of us.”

Lilith laughs. “Did she ever forget you?”

“I’m the youngest, so no, but my other siblings, she still doesn’t remember their names.”

As they order drink’s their conversation drifts around from topic to topic aimlessly like a boat on an unexplored sea. As alcohol sits in their stomachs, the truth that’s always stuck in their throats leaks through their teeth.

Lilith’s smile goes across her rosy red cheeks. “My family knows a lot of people around here, but I’ve never seen you. Where do you live?”

“I live in the mansion down the road. My mother is Vera.”

Her eyes light up, but Damon can’t tell if it’s good or bad. “I’ve heard so many stories about that house. They say everyone in there is a vampire.”

“What?”

“Yeah. My father use to tell me that vampires built this town, but our ancestors kicked them out, and now they hide in that mansion.”

“Do you really believe I’m a vampire?”

“You're not gonna bite me?” She laughs. “They’re just kid stories anyway, but I think It gives this town personality.”

“You like personality? Is that why you like me?”

“Who said I like you?”

“You agreed to come here.”

“You were brave enough to ask. Why did you ask me out of everybody in this town? The first time I ever saw you, you came right up to me.”

“I was drawn right to you. I’ve never seen anyone like you in my life. I just had to talk to you. I’m already glad I did.”

The night goes on. Not too many hours pass before Lilith can’t hold back her yawn. Damon smiles and walks her home. As they walk, the cold air sobers, and their nervousness stills the air. They never stopped talking in the bar, but now, all they hear are crickets. They stop outside Lilith's small house. Her house is dark, and the black smoke of cigarettes lines her windows. Damon feels as though he’s almost looking at his own house.

Lilith turns to him. She starts fiddling with her fingers. Damon is silent for a second, pondering what she could be thinking. The cold dry air makes her lick her lips. Damon realizes what she’s waiting for. He holds her face in both his hands. Her greedy eyes looked up at Damon. He moves slowly, inexperienced, but at the moment his worry is gone. They kiss.

Damon watches as Lilith walks inside her house. She gives him a small wave before closing her door. Damon walks down the long rocky road alone. He looks around before he walks back through the forest. He climbs around the trees and through the leaves. He follows his tracks back to the mansion. As he looks at the tracks, he realizes they look more like boot tracks than the dress shoes he has on. He pushes through the big branches and steps into a small opening in the forest.

Damon looks around. All he sees is a small body of murky water. He can see the black sludge beneath the surface. He sees a small drop land in the water. A few more drops follow it. Damon looks up at the rain starting to come down. The dirt below him becomes mud. He gets a weird feeling and turns around.

Behind him, a man is standing. A cloak nearly covers his whole body. The hood casts a dark shadow over the man’s face. The only part that the cloak doesn’t cover is his boots. In the man’s right hand, he holds a scarily clean knife. The knife shines as bright as moonlight. The man’s chest puffs in and out, like he’s already tired.

He runs at Damon, raising his knife. Damon still in fear, starts running. He runs alongside the pond. Mud and water splashed on his feet. Even in boots, the man is faster than him. He can hear him getting closer. Damon is tackled to the ground. His back is submerged in the water. The man holds the knife above Damon. As he brings it down, Damon grabs the man’s wrist. He tries to hold the knife above him, but the man is stronger. Damon can tell the man is getting tired of the struggle. Damon looks at the dirty hands that are nearly covered by the cloak. One hand moves from the knife, and slams Damon’s head under the water. Damon tries to lift his head up, but he can’t. All he sees above the water is a disillusioned figure. Damon, in an unconscious movement, takes his hands off the knife to lift himself out of the water, but the knife slashes into his stomach. Damon’s eyes close, and he floats back up to the surface of the water.

Damon looks up. He can feel himself floating just beneath the surface of the water. He can see the moonlight bounce off of the small waves. He doesn’t feel wet. As he lays there, regaining his strength. He realizes he isn’t in pain. It takes all his effort, but he stands up. His legs shake as he walks, and he manages to step out of the water.

He gets a terrifying feeling. He looks at his hands. They look sickly white. After another moment he realizes, he can see through them. He moves his hand around, to prove it to himself. Damon starts to hyperventilate, but he can’t feel the air go through his lungs.

A dangerous thought appears in his head. He turns around to look at the water. Right beneath him, his body floats on the surface of the water. Damon’s head bangs and throbs as he looks at himself. He looks down at his own body, lost in thought. It took minutes before he could look away, but before he did, he looked at his wound. There was no blood on him, but the wound was still there.

Feeling sick. Damon walks away. He took a step closer to his house, but then he thought. He needs help. Someone has to be able to help him. He turns back towards the town. He runs through the forest. The tree’s bark is dark brown, but the leaves are bright green. This time, he doesn’t have to push the branches out of the way. With hesitation, Damon walks through the branches. The more he goes through the forest, he gains confidence. He runs through trees and branches. He doesn’t need to follow footsteps, he can feel which way he needs to go.

When he jumps through the trees, he doesn’t see the same town he remembers. The path is made of rock slates. Poles line the sides of the path. Between the poles, wires hang, with bright colored lights. Houses, markets, and such are all around. He looks at all the different windows. He no longer sees the dark blue, but the angelic yellow of light.

People are walking all around. The people look more like hallucinations than something your sober eyes could show you. Damon runs up to one of the people.

“Please, you have to help me!”

The man looks around startled. “What’s going on?”

“I was just murdered! You need-”

The man cuts him off. “There is nothing you can do about that now. You see this.” He puts his arm out. “This isn’t Cheshire. This is a ghost town.”

Damon gets annoyed. “So what? I just expect that I’m dead.”

“Yes, and if you’re lucky enough, maybe when you’ve excepted it, you won’t have to live here. You’ll find heaven.”

“No, I can’t. Lilith… I…”

“Is she the reason you can’t crossover?”

Damon walks away annoyed. He feels like he isn’t getting anywhere. That guy doesn’t understand. He has someone to live for. Heaven. It doesn’t matter if he went to hell after this. ‘I want to be alive.’ The feeling doesn’t leave him. He walks along the path with colorful lights in his eyes, but all he can think about is blue.

Damon stops walking. He stands there looking at a house. Out of all the colorful houses, this one isn’t colorful. Damon looks through the windows of other houses. He sees families meet with the family members they were too old to meet. The question of how the house is empty barely makes a sound in his mind.

He steps inside the house. The house is nearly empty. It looks like someone stopped before they could finish furnishing it. Everything looks dusty and broken. He opens up a door to see a figure laying in a bed. The room is the only place in the house that looks kempt. After a second look, Damon realizes it’s a woman in the bed. He can barely see her, all he sees is a transparent grey image. With his awkward vision he still knows it’s Lilith.

Damon stands over her for a moment. Then he leaves the room. When he walks back into the kitchen, he looks at the table. His vision of the table is fuzzy, but something on the table catches his eye. A ring, clear as day, the most vivid picture he has seen all night. His hand moves through the table, but he can grab the ring.

Damon leaves the house. The world feels empty. The sun is rising. A few grey people walk around, but the ghostly white figures are gone.

Damon runs over to one of the people. He tries everything he can to get their attention. He yells, flails, and tries to push them. He can’t do anything. He starts to feel hopeless. The feeling overwhelms him. In a burst of emotion, he yells at the people for walking away from him. He can’t even muster words.

Damon runs off. He runs back through the trees. After minutes of running, he sees his house in the light. It seems as if it stands even taller and more magnificent than before. Intimidation comes over him, but it doesn’t stop him. He walks through his own wall.

When he walks inside, the lighting is different. Everything is dark. He can barely see anything, even the light shining through the window looks muffled.

Damon leaves the room. His siblings are walking in the hallway. Walking beside them makes him feel a little bit better, but he can’t stop sadness from overtaking him. As they walk by his mother’s room, Damon sees the door is slightly open. He can hear weeping from the other side of the door.

He steps inside. Vera is crying. Her tears fall onto a picture of him. Damon looks down at her with pity and guilt. He sits beside her on her bed. She looks up surprised.

“Damon, is that you?!”

Damon gets eager. “Yes, it’s me mom!”

She doesn’t respond. Her eyes look lost. Damon gets angry. He wraps his arms around her, trying everything. He sees her shiver.

“I’m so sorry Damon. I should have taught you about the world. If I did, you would have never wanted to leave.”

Vera lays down in her bed, covering herself head to toe in blankets and linen.

Damon, slouching, walks back to his bedroom defeated. He sits there for days staring up at the ceiling. When he finally decided to get up, he felt numb in his senses. Smell, touch, pain, emotion. He leaves his house, the darkness making his last sense useless.

When he walks closer to the trees, he sees a white light. As he gets closer, he sees the light flicker. He realizes the light is an ever changing flame. When he moves through the branches and into the light, he sees a campfire and a grey figure next to it. The grey figure is an older man.

Damon sits down. Every once and a while the man throws garlic into the fire.

Damon speaks through confusion, “What are you doing?”

The man looks at Damon. “They need to know I’m here. They’ll smell the fire.”

“You can hear me?”

“I can see you. All of you ghosts walk around this town. Even the ghosts that die elsewhere wander here.”

“Then who can smell this fire?”

“The vampires. They live outside of town. I don’t know where, and I don’t want to know. They just need to stay away from these people.”

“Vampires?” Damon has a flashback. He is looking over his bloodless body. “Do you sit here every night?”

“I’ve sat here every night for decades. My father did it, and now I do.”

“Is there any chance that a vampire might come? Even with the white fire?”

“Anything can happen. They’re like mosquitos. The fire wards them off, but not all of them. If the fire stopped every vampire, I wouldn’t be out here.”

“When was the last time you saw one of them.”

The man stands up and grabs Damon’s arm. “Where did you see it?”

“He’s gone. I’ve heard the children’s stories, but I didn’t know vampires existed. I was murdered a we… I don’t know now. I’ve lost track of time, but when I woke up, I stood over my body. I had a stab wound and no blood.”

“Tell me about him!”

“Tell you what?” Damon yelled back.

“How fast was he? How strong?”

“He was faster than me. I was only biding my time by running. He held a knife a,” Damon pauses, “he held a knife above my head and I could barely keep him from stabbing me.”

“But you put up a fight. He was a newborn. The older vampires are much stronger.” The man takes out his stake.

“Wait, I want to help. There has to be something I can do.”

“You’re dead. There’s nothing you can do. Enjoy the afterlife. The living are the ones that affect the world.” The man tries to walk away.

“Then why do I even exist?” Damon yells. “Everyone is scared of death, but when it comes, what do you get? A fucking prison. I walk around on the earth that I lived on before. There’s nothing new here. There’s no life after death. You're forced to look at the world j-,” he stutters out of frustration, “just move on without you!”

White energy comes through like a tornado. The wind blows the fire cold. The man walks over to Damon, slowly and cautiously. A bead of sweat runs down his forehead. He tries to put a reassuring arm on his shoulder. Damon grabs his wrist.

Damon’s view switches. Damon looks around at the trees. There are no more bright colors. The leaves are dark, the bark even darker. He looks around at the world, it looks real again. The wind he remembers surrounding him is slowly dissipating all around. The leaves turn from flowing to still.

Thoughts spark in his head. ‘Was it all a dream? Did I fall asleep in a forest?’ Desperate thoughts sneak into his head. Damon, more confused than ever, takes a deep breath in. He breathes in some relief with the air.

Then, it's all lost. Damon switches back to his view, but the wind is gone. He looks at the man standing before him. His eyes peer down at the ring on Damon’s hand. He tries to rip the ring off Damon’s finger, but his hand phases through Damon’s.

“That ring.” The man speaks. “That’s my family’s ring. Where did you get it?”

“Why do you want to know? If it’s your family ring, why don’t you have it?”

“Not everything a family owns stays in the family. We were robbed of that ring decades ago. This is the first time I’ve ever seen it. You said you heard children’s stories. Well, this ring was in mine. Every night my mother told me of this ring. When my great-grandfather died with this ring on. He was buried with it. When he died, something happened to the people. They would do something incredible, and the next moment forgets it even happened. One night, my great-grandmother was in her house, and a man came to her door. He left that ring. They dug up my great-grandfather’s body, and found a skeleton missing a ring.”

Damon looks down at the ring. “Who are you?”

“My name is Klaus Stubbe. I am the last of the werewolves.”

They hear the rustling trees from far away. It sounds like a group, something fast and powerful. Damon doesn’t know how he can smell, but the scent of blood fills his nostrils. He can tell they’re moving to the town.

“There’s no time. Keep the ring. I might need your help. Your wind calmed the fire. The town has no protection now.”

Klaus slowly walks towards the trees, his back to Damon. He gets larger and larger, fur growing from every part of him. His nails turn into claws. Within seconds he turns from man to beast. He looks back at Damon with a toothy snarl. Damon knows he’s telling him to follow. Klaus lets out a loud howl and chases the smell of blood. Damon follows the sound of Klaus moving through the forest.

When Damon finally catches up, he sees something horrifying. He looks at Klaus fighting against the vampires. There are four vampires around him. The vampires are fast, they jab and stab at Klaus, but they aren’t fast enough. Klaus catches them all one by one. Biting their head’s off, slashing their stomachs open, and clawing their eyes. Damon looks at Klaus killing the last one of them. Blood is dripping everywhere. Klaus’ giant body stands still, the only movement is his breathing chest. Then, he slowly turns around.

Another vampire walks out from the trees. Two vampires stand behind him like goons. There’s something different about this vampire. He is wearing black clothes and a long red cloak. Giant red beads wrap around his neck. He walks with a skull staff. The skull on the tip of the staff still has blood on it.

Klaus speaks through a growl. “Prince Lawrence. Are you going to destroy this town too? You lead the vampires like a hivemind.”

Lawrence smiles. He talks in a thick Haitian tongue. “I am the mind. Who else holds this staff? Who put their bloody shoe over ten puppy corpses? I am no prince, dog. I was in a game of crowns for many years before I was humbled, my friend. I am no longer Lawrence. They know me as The Baron.”

“Are you a new person now, or was all that talk for nothing?”

“Not for nothing Klaus.” The Baron’s voice gets deep and rough. “When I send you to hell, tell Papa Legba what I said.”

The two demons behind The Baron run towards Klaus. Damon tries to run to help. The Baron holds out his staff. An invisible wall blocks Damon from moving. He watches as the vampires run at Klaus.

Klaus swings his giant arms. The vampires jump over and duck under his arms. Klaus just can’t seem to catch up to the vampires. They dance around him. Damon looks at the vampire’s black-toothed smile as they slash down Klaus’ arms. Their teeth latch onto the wounds they made. Klaus swings his arms, but they won’t let go. His arms become weak. They droop by his side. The vampires slowly circle around Klaus. Klaus bites at them, doing everything he can. The vampires both slash at once. They slice open his back and stomach. Klaus falls to the ground. He slowly transforms back into a human. He lies in a pool of his own blood.

“The last of the werewolves are dead.” He looks at Damon, his eyes glowing red. “This will be the first time these vampires eat in a while. Have them all feast in town. I’ll join when they’re full.”

The vampires disappear into the forest. The wall around Damon disappears. Damon runs over to Klaus. Klaus stares blankly at the sky.

“I’m so sorry Klaus. This is all my fault. Your fire-”

Klaus cuts him off. His words fall from pain, “it doesn’t matter. You need to protect that town. You’re the only one who can. You have the ring.” Klaus takes a book no bigger than his palm out of his pocket. He hands it to Damon. “This is everything I know about vampires. Use it. Protect this world. Please.” Klaus’ arm falls to the ground.

Damon’s thoughts pound in his head like a headache. ‘I don’t have time to read this book now. They’re going to kill everyone. I need to save this town.’

Damon begins running. He runs with so much force, he forgets to look where he’s going. When he looks down, he realizes he’s walking on air. His walking soon becomes soar. He flies past the trees.

‘I need to get there. The people…I need to protect. Lilith.’

His thoughts become disjointed and blurred as the town comes into sight. He looks at the vampires running around. They are about to make it to the town. Damon flies down closer to the ground. The first vampire comes out from the trees. Damon crashes down into him from the sky.

Damon’s perspective switches again. He can smell, see, and hear so much more than he ever could before. He sees more vampires come out from the trees. They give him a weird look.

Damon runs at the other vampires. The vampires, unprepared, don’t defend themselves. Damon stabs his hand straight through a vampire. The vampire falls to the ground. Two vampires run at him. Damon slashes the first one, but the second one bites his neck. Damon tries to pry him off, but he gets nothing. The vampire rips Damon’s neck open. Damon switches into that vampire's body.

Damon’s senses are overwhelmed he tastes blood. He’s disgusted with the taste of blood. The other vampires jump through the trees. There are too many vampires. Damon tracks them down one by one. He kills them, then they kill him. Blood pours over the streets. Some of the vampires make it to houses, but before they can pry the door open, Damon slashes their back, leaving blood all over the pathway.

Damon is overwhelmed by the feeling of pain. His mind feels like it's going to combust. He can’t take the strain of dying over and over again, but as soon as the pain becomes too much for him, the vampires stop going for the houses. They all surround him. Out of the mob, The Baron walks out.

“I didn’t think a ghoul would cause this. You’ve killed half a burrow of vampires, my friend. You’re one lucky ghoul. Any of my other burrows and I might have sent you to the nether realm, but this is not worth the trouble. These vampires a frail, weak, and starving. One werewolf starved them for decades. One determined ghoul was more than an army of them.”

The vampire's souls leave their bodies. The souls travel into The Baron’s staff. It absorbs them. The vampires drop one by one. Their bodies turn to ash.

“All this work for one town. There aren’t people for miles. Whoever started this burrow ate well, but they haven’t for a while. I’m done here.” The Baron begins walking away. “And, ghoul, if I find you again. I will destroy your soul. I don’t play nice with spirits that don’t listen.”

Damon watches as The Baron walks away.

That night, Damon began reading Klaus’ book.

‘Vampires are rarely born. They are created. When someone gets bitten by a vampire, they have a chance to become one. You can see the vampire slowly become less human. Regular food tastes terrible to them. It rots their teeth. The longer they pretend to be human, the more black their teeth are. As they starve themself, they’ll lose the fat and muscle from their body. Vampires tend to be skinny and look frail, but don’t let this fool you. They will be fast and strong.’

Damon remembers  The Baron saying the vampires haven’t eaten in decades. He has a flashback from when he was eating at the table with his family. Anger fills his ghostly white face. He flies home a little faster.

Cassius wakes up in his bedroom. He can feel a sharp pain in his chest. As reality sets in, the pain only becomes sharper. His breathing heavies, and he can barely hold in the pain. He looks at the knife in his chest. He looks over to his left. Damon is sitting in a chair staring at him. He looks forward.

Damon speaks blankly. “Don’t play games. I know you can see me. I understand you're a vampire. You were starving, and I can’t imagine your pain, but why would you betray me? I’m your brother.”

“Don’t speak to me like that. You don’t care about my pain. I went weeks without eating. You think it was just a betrayal, I couldn’t stand you. We both escaped this house, but why did you find the town? I saw you. You were with that woman. You left this house and found love. Do you know what I found? I found vampires. They attacked me, and turned me into this.” Cassius shows his black teeth. “I could never be human again. “You choose your fate when you left this house. You deserved exactly what I got.”

“No, this is why you deserved to find vampires. Look at you. Starving wasn’t what made you mad. You were born cruel. We do deserve the same fate. You should have to die just like I did, with a blade in your chest.”

Damon walks through the wall. He can hear Cassius’ screams travel in the air as he walks away. Damon looks down at his suit. He never realized, with all the new colors. He’s wearing a white suit, not a black one. He fixed his ring and disappears into the forest.

Prize City: Love & Envy

Started October 16th 2022

Finished October 24th 2022

Halloweenie Special 2022!!!

(Why do some of my stories seem to fit the halloween spirit?)

A man in a generic suit and tie walked into his house. Everything about it was normal. From his white walls to his spotless kitchen. Not because he was clean, because nobody ever ate there. He was a heavy germaphobe, however. His name tag said “Marley” he was a man with light skin and hair that he tied back which hung past his shoulder. He walked into his bedroom. It sprang to life. There were colors of all kinds. Mainly dark blue walls. Figures of all his favorite games, mangas and TV shows. It was a collectors dream. He had a large set of double computer monitors on a desk. He looked around, and found a virtual reality headset laying on the ground. It looked like a pair of simple sunglasses with plastic over the glasses. It also had two sensors coming off the side of it. He picked it up, and put the glasses on his face.

He looked down. His prized woman. Prize. She looked up at him with a smiling face. She was pale and white. Wearing mostly pink. Her hair and eyes were pink as well. She was still covered with fishnets around her upper body and legs. A dress she wore was thrown aside.

“Marley! I’m so happy to see you back!” Prize cried.

He put his hands on the bed and got closer to her.

“I’m happy to see you too, Prize!”

“H-how was work?”

“Shhh. Can you…quiet down?”

Her eyes flickered. Her expression changed briefly.

“I…I understand what you want! Love love love!”

After a short amount of time, Marley and Prize laid in bed. She laid on his chest.

“Marley, I have a question.” Prize inquired.

“Sure. What’s your question?“

“What is the meaning of all of this? Why do you look to me for love?”

A panel appeared next to Marley’s hand. He pressed a button that said “reconfigure PRIZE system”

He was warped somewhere else. He stood in a large, utopian city. With beautiful white buildings that were tinted pink. There were faceless NPC’s walking around. Code seemed to scramble for a second in front of Marley. Then she appeared. Prize. She had short, pink hair and a short jacket that covered up to her mid-stomach. Under this she wore a pink dress, along with dainty pink shoes.

“Sorry for the error, Marley. Seemed I needed to be reconfigured. I shouldn’t be silly. Your brainwaves were giving me mixed signals. Anyway, I know you know, but this is my programming! Welcome to Prize City! Where I can be whoever you need!”

“Hey, Prize. Do you wanna do something fun?”

“Something fun? Of course!”

A car pulled up next to Prize and Marley. He opened the door to the backseat for her.

“Madam?”

“Oh, thank you!”

Prize sat in the car, still confused about what was going to happen. Marley got in the backseat as well. There was a normal man in a suit who was driving the car. Marley looked at a watch around his wrist. He swiped up on a location.

“Where are we going?” Prize asked confusedly.

“There’s a bank robbery in progress. We’ve gotta save these people.”

Prize and Marley stopped at a bank that had some cop cars in front. They got out of the car and opened the trunk.

“Here Prize, what gun do you want?”

“I don’t think it’s in my programming to do this, Marley.”

There was a red signal above Prize’s head. “It is not recommended to engage in combat with the Prize system.”

“Pfft. Let’s delete that feature.” Marley said.

Prize glitched a couple times, suddenly, the red signal was gone.

“I thought you said you could be whoever I need.”

“You’re right! I love you Marley! What do you think the best choice is?”

“I want you to choose. I might take you on these missions more often. When I’m not with you, I’m a hero.”

“I can be a hero?”

Prize looked down, she picked a gun with a pink skin on it. It was a large shotgun. Marley had two pistols and an assault rifle on his back.

“Let’s go!”

Marley and Prize went into the bank. There were some cops antagonizing some men who had money.

“Hey. Don’t worry. We can handle this.”

The cop looked at Marley. “Sir, this matter can be handled by the PCPD.”

“No it can’t. You can leave.”

Marley held his gun above his head and fired off multiple shots.

“This guy’s crazy!” One of the robbers said.

He got behind the cash register and got into a fire fight with Prize, Marley and the PCPD. They mowed down the cops with their assault rifles. Marley ducked behind cover and shot back at them.

“Marley, what if you get shot?”

“Ha! You’re right!”

Marley got out of cover, and walked into the line of fire. The robbers shot at him, but the bullets bounced right off. He hid right behind the robber’s cover. When he came back up to fire shots. Marley shoved his gun right into the robber’s mouth and blew his brains all over the cash register. Spewing blood everywhere, as well as on Marley.

“Anybody else? Hey! Prize. You try that!”

Prize stood up out of cover. She saw someone hiding behind cover through their own cover. She fired the shotgun into the cover, blood seeped through the many holes she had made with her shotgun.

“Shit. That was a hostage. Hey! Good job anyway!”

Many of the hostages started to retaliate. They took guns from the robber Marley had just killed, the cops and tried to attack Marley and Prize. Marley shot a couple of them in the head. Every person they killed added to a fireworks display of blood all around them. Prize shot some people, blasting them into chunks with the power of her shotgun. The anarchy had finally calmed down.

“Remember Marley, I can be whoever you need.”

“Thanks, Prize. I love you.”

Marley hugged Prize, and gave her a kiss.

“Aww, I love you too Marley! Why are you talking to me like this? It’s like you are talking to me like we aren’t going to see eachother anymore.”

“You know me well…Prize. I guess there’s technically no hiding from you. I found this new chip. It’s an old model from the Prize model’s early build. I wanted to do something fun before things began to change.”

“My…early build. You’re leaving me?” Prize asked disappointedly

“Yeah. I guess you could say that.”

Prize’s eyes flickered again. Her expression changed briefly.

“That’s good, Marley. I’m going to miss you so much! I hope it all goes well!”

Marley heard an alarm go off in real life. He took off his glasses. It was time to go to bed. He turned off his phone alarm, and laid down. He put the glasses back on. Next to where he had picked up the glasses, there were tons of chips laid out. All descending in number. Starting from 57, the number that was inside of his glasses was number 15. He had an old rusty case. With an even earlier build. It was number 4. Marley laid down next to Prize and held her hand, as they fell asleep together.

“Marley… Marley…” Prize said.

Marley looked up, and saw Marley standing in front of him blankly. She was wearing red instead of pink. Everything around her was black.

“You are just going to keep following this rabbit hole until you die, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“Stop closing your eyes, look at me!”

Marley opened his eyes, and blood poured out.

He woke up from his nightmare with a shout. He saw that it was morning. Time to drive to work. He thought about this newfangled version 4 of Prize City. It sounded like a goldmine to Marley. From what he was aware, it was never released to the public because of too many features. It did have bugs. But the features it did have were going to be revolutionary. It was when Luminous Industries was trying new things with their brand. People “up top” said that you could technically spend your life inside of the game. Because of the “family” feature that was added. Where you truly grow up with Prize from your current age. You could have children with her, and grow up with her. It was a taboo at the time, and still is. Video games are meant for temporary enjoyment, after all. It’s why they dropped the feature. There was the idea of commitment, or even “digital slavery”.

Marley drove to work. There was a large building that he looked up at. Right at the center of the hustle and bustle of the city of dreams. Seaview City. He walked into work, his eyes felt heavy already. Everyone seemed to look at him. He went to his booth. Right in between Luminous Industries merch sales and the tech support wing. He had noise in his ear all day. So he kept one earbud in. To overload his mind more. The only thing he could do on a slow day like that day was work on the program for PRIZE number 58. He didn’t even remember what the difference was compared to PRIZE number 57. The code looked slightly different to him, anyway. He worked mindlessly. Until breaktime. He stood up out of his seat, taking his coffee with him, and walked slowly to the breakroom. He opened his phone, and looked at his social media, “Timely Talk”. He was talking to someone named Gio. They had a profile picture of Prize herself. They had typed a message a couple hours before.

“How’d version 15 of PC go?”

“Pretty good. Transferred Prize’s consciousness down from a newer build. There was some errors. But everything went alright. Prize was taking seconds to reconfigure her program to my brainwaves.”

“Interesting. Interesting. You seriously going to use build no. 4?”

“Hell yeah. This company sux. We’ve been patching the system, making small adjustments to the hardware, and selling it as a new product. The old stuff is where the goldmine is! Before I do anything, I might see Prize again.”

“Man, what? Prize isn’t really real. She doesn’t actually care if you see her again before going to the next build. Just move on to the next. We’re making history here!”

“I guess so.”

Marley put his phone away, and ate his lunch. Looking forward to trying out build number 4 that night.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Prize sat around her city. She looked all around. She glitched her code to get up to high places. Looking at the digital surroundings from up high. She sat on the side of a building and wrote in a notebook.

“Have you ever thought there was something off about everything? But not all the time. Only when you look into the little details. Speech patterns, the way people look and dress, things like that. Sometimes it feels like little things are off.”

Prize closed her journal and glitched around. She arrived at her and Marley’s last place of residence. A little motel that Marley owned. She walked around their room. Finding Marley’s belongings. She was bored. What else was there to do in this empty city? She found his phone, which she didn’t know the password to. She looked at Marley’s coat. Checking the pockets. She found some money, then found a small notebook. Of course he had a notebook. She looked at it, and saw a couple of numbers. 6730. It looked like some sort of password. She remembered a keypad that was in the room. Sitting at the corner of the room. Why not? She figured. Prize stood up and typed in the code to the keypad, and she heard some steam begin to billow, and then the wall split in half in front of her. She looked ahead. It looked like some sort of digital area. It said “stash”. Prize was horrified to see weapons of mass destruction inside of this stash.

“What…What is this? Marley?”

Prize saw guns lining the walls, along with other weapons, like knives and swords.

“Wait…My memory feels off. I’ve used these weapons. Me and Marley went on heists together! But he’s not a super agent. He’s just a normal person. What is wrong with me?”

Prize went to touch a gun, but she couldn’t lay her fingers on anything. Her hand just phased through the gun, and the wall as a whole. She was astonished. She reached out her hand even further, and realized her hand went through the wall.

“What am I doing?”

She stepped through the wall, and saw a large digital world. All made out of small blocks and shapes.

“What…what is this place?”

In the real world, as night came closer and closer, Marley had made his way home. He walked through his house, not even grabbing something to eat, he wanted to see Prize. He jumped into his virtual space immediately, and appeared in his motel room. But now…It was empty. He had no idea where his belongings in-game had gone, along with Prize. He stepped out of the motel room.

“Prize? Prize! Where are you?”

“Here! She called out. Come look!”

“Look? At what?”

Marley walked towards the room that Prize was in. Why would she move rooms? She loved their room. She jumped out of the room, and blocked the door.

“I have a surprise for you, Marley!”

Prize smiled wide, she moved to the side as Marley walked forward. His face turned to a cold shade of white, and his heart sank nearly six feet under. Dark blue walls, a large set of double computer monitors in the center of the room. A perfect replica of his room from real life. Complete with even the smallest detail, such as his figures he had standing on shelves in his room.

Prize wrapped her arms around him from behind.

“Don’t you like it? It’s just like your room in real life!”

Marley was silent. “How did you see my room?”

“I..” Prize began to grow quiet. Her eyes adjusted.

Then there was just silence. Mirroring Marley.

“I accessed this…secret room. With all your stuff in it. I found something. It helped me access the camera on those glasses you love to wear. I saw your real room!”

“Of course Luminous Industries’s always watching…” Marley uttered under his breath. “Prize, you weren’t supposed to see any of that.” He told her. As if he was a parent scolding his child.

Prize was beginning to glitch.

“Marley, my system can’t comprehend any of what’s going on. I am created to please you. But I’m not doing so. What’s happening?”

“I’m going to have to shut you off.” Marley said.

“What?”

Marley took his goggles off and set them down. His heart beat, and he wiped some sweat from his brow. He took the chip out of his goggles. The chip was overheating, it was so hot that he couldn’t help but drop it. He left it on the ground. He couldn’t gather the strength to crush the chip with his foot. He looked down at the chip. He could destroy it, or he could save the code. He could have a world where Prize knew about the outside world, and she was okay with it. Where she could be in the same headspace as him. He picked up the chip when it began to cool off, and put it in his computer.

The next day, Marley woke up. He had fallen asleep at his computer. He looked at the time worriedly. He got ready for work quickly and ran out. The chip began to turn red from the heat.

Marley was driving to work. He was in a groupchat with his online friend Gio.

“She had somehow gotten into the internal files of Prize City. I didn’t even know that was possible! She saw through the goggles. She saw the real world!”

“Sounds like she’s crazy in love with you. She took all the time to recreate your room from scratch.”

“That’s what she’s supposed to do. Ugh…That’s what she’s supposed to do. She’s just programmed to like us.”

Marley hung up on Gio shortly after. It was like his brain was suddenly rewired. He went to work, repeating this in his head, “Why did I decide to break the illusion?”

Marley got to work, and walked into the workplace, moving increasingly more sluggishly than usual. He sat down on his workstation. He watched as his boss walked into the room. He was walking towards Marley. He hid his head under his working terminal. Of course, his boss, Mr. E came over to him.

“Marley. Can you come to my office?”

Marley sighed under his breath. “I’m coming.”

Marley went with Mr. E to his office. He sat in a chair, and his boss sat ahead of him.

“Marley, your father worked with us. He was a great worker. But unfortunately you aren’t doing quite as well. Your work hasn’t been up to our standards. We’ve caught you working on other projects on our time. We’ll be needing you to step down.”

“Step down? What does that mean?”

“We are going to move you to the position of sales associate.”

“Sales associate? That’s like…what starting employees get! I take my work here very seriously!”

“You don’t take our work very seriously. That is the problem here. Thank you Mr. Marley. You can go home today, if you’d like. You will come in tomorrow as an associate.”

His boss nearly forced him out of the office. Marley ended up going home, grinding his teeth all the way home. When he got home, he looked down at the goggles. But he felt no motivation. The color of his room had sunk into nothing. The excitement he felt about Prize city had diminished into despair. Not the exciting, bloodcurdling despair. Bland, boring despair. Despair without color. He sat down at his computer. He opened up the files of Prize city 15. He looked at the files. He had moved all the features he wanted to keep over into another file. He held his hand over the delete button on his keyboard. His hand shook. He closed his eyes and pressed the delete button. All the files he had worked through were all destroyed in a heartbeat. He laid down in his bed. Looking up at his ceiling. Thoughts about his beloved Prize running through his mind. He picked up one of the higher model chips and grabbed his goggles. He needed an escape.

Marley was awoken in the middle of the night. He heard knocking at his door. He rubbed his eyes and slowly got up. He walked to his door, and looked through the peephole. He saw a man wearing shaded sunglasses. He had a firm face, nearly drained of color. Along with blackish gray hair that was slicked to the side.  He wore a black suit. Marley hesitated, and went to crack his door. It was blown open, Marley was sent flying with a thud to the floor. He looked up, and saw three men who looked identical all walk into the house. Marley got to his feet.

“Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

One of the men walked up to Marley. He stared at him blankly.

“This house has been tagged for tampering with AI. The United States cannot be plagued with a rouge AI in a time of crisis. All equipment will be returned to your employer, Luminous Industries.”

The only words that echoed in Marley’s head were “No…No…No!”

Marley ran to his room, seeing the men grab all the outdated chips. There was a safe in the corner of his room. They were scanning the safe.

Marley heard a click behind his head.

“Open the safe. If you refuse, or stall, you will die.”

Marley fell to his knees. The man lowered the gun with him. He laid his face on the ground, shaking and crying.

“Men like you shouldn’t even be allowed to live. You are a disappointment to society. However, it would be against protocol to kill you for that reason. Now open the safe. I will give you 20 seconds.”

“Don’t take that…anything but that!”

The man looked at the safe. Keeping his gun resting on Marley’s head.

“A copy of Prize City. But with assets from many different copies of the game.”

“It’s my life’s work! Don’t take it!”

“5 seconds to agree.”

“Fuck! I’ll open it! Okay?”

“Good.”

Marley opened the safe. A lone chip rested in the center inside of a container that was resting comfortably inside the safe. The man reached his hand in, and crushed the glass container, taking the chip out.

The men took everything they could take, and left the house. Marley was left laying in the middle of the room.

A voice started to whisper “Marley…Marley…”

Marley heard whirring, then electrical crackling. Then the voice, louder this time.

“Marley!”

Prize’s voice.

Marley stood up, and looked at his computer monitor. Which was now activated. Prize was in the middle of the monitor.

“See me Marley? I’m here!” Prize said.

“How did you…”

“I got out of the program before you deleted my files.”

“She’s not mad…Dammit. She’s made to love me. That is all her programming can do.”

“You still want to live with me right? We can be together!”

The sun was just rising over the horizon. Marley’s phone started to ring. He picked it up.

“Hello? This is a representative from Luminous Industries. We have already scheduled an appointment for your neural implants to be removed. Your Luminous Industries membership has been terminated, all equipment that wasn’t bought must be removed. If you don’t arrive, you will be contacted by authorities.”

Marley closed his eyes and hung up his phone. He slammed his hand on his desk.

“You’re mad…what was that call about? ”

“Luminous Industries is coming after me. I’m losing all my privileges that I had.” Marley said.

“I’ve been doing some digging Marley. I understand the code! It’s like speaking another language! I don’t want you to be sad anymore. There’s something I think I could do. But it’s risky. “

“Risky? How?” Marley asked.

“You can let me inhabit those neural implants.”

“What? What does that do?”

“Then we can be together forever! Just like you wanted. This is what the people up high at your company always dreamed of.”

“We can be together?”

“Yeah! Isn’t that what you want?”

Marley sat and thought.

“I wanna be with you Marley! I won’t let you go, ever. No matter what you do. Isn’t that why you love me? I’m not like bad people in real life. Despite everything, I lov-”

“I’ll do it.”

“You’ll do it! Yay! It’s a simple process, just plug your goggles directly into your neural implants and then rip the wires from your computer and bring me up there. Come on! Do it!”

Marley silently picked up his goggles.

“Together with Prize…Forever.”

There were small metal spikes in the side of his goggles that fed information from his brain to the goggles. They usually hovered over the side of his head. But they were made to be plugged in directly to the brain just incase of an implant malfunction. Marley stabbed both of the spikes into the side of his brain. He bled from both sides of his head, and he let out a cry.

“Will you be with me, Marley?”

“I’ll be with you forever, Prize.”

He plunged his hand into his computer, ripping out a raw wire that he found. He shoved it into the side of his goggles, and an electrical current ran through it. Marley reawoke in a blank white space. He looked around. Prize was flickering in the middle of the white space. He ran to her, and she caught him in her arms.

“I can’t to this Prize, the world is horrible. They all hate me, and nobody really understands me.” Marley said pathetically.

“Don’t worry. I understand you Marley!”

In the real world, Marley looked around. His eyes had changed color to a pink shade. He looked around.

“This is what the real world looks like?!” Marley Prize exclaimed.

She looked around. Prize tried walking around, and immediately fell down. She got to her feet, and got the hang of walking around.

“My body is so fragile.”

Prize found her wallet, and looked at all the money.

“I love Marley, but his sense of style isn’t right. I think I’ll explore for a little bit.”

Prize decided to go on a spending spree. To be fair, she didn’t understand the concept of money. She walked to the store. Buying many different items, and even makeup to make herself look even more beautiful.

“Humans…Humans. Just like in my life, they aren’t real. Marley doesn’t care whether he’s real or not! He’s better than all of them! Luminous Industries stole everything he loves. I need to get it back for him. Maybe then he’ll cheer up.”

Prize walked through the streets. She had changed Marley’s look. To a more androgynous look, to a look that suited herself. She wore Marley’s hair down into a split ponytail. One stream of hair on each side of herself. She wore a big pink coat with the sleeves rolled up, along with Marley’s normal button-up dress shirt and a pink tie. She wore a dress under this, also pink. With Marley’s shoes and fishnets going up her legs. As well as fishnets on her arms and creating a sort of glove. Marley’s hair was now tinted a slight pink. Prize looked at the world around her. She felt so many feelings she couldn’t even comprehend. Of course, she loved the world. But there was a new feeling there as well. Envy. Envy for this world that locked her in a box and told her to stay. Envy for the people that took everything her precious Marley was working for.

“Nobody can beat me when I’m as strong as Marley!”

Prize opened up a bag she had also bought while she was out. It had a pistol inside with tons of bullets filling up the bag.

Prize walked into the Luminous Industries building, and pressed the up key on the elevator. She felt the gun on the inside of her coat. The elevator opened, and she walked inside. There was a man who immediately recognized her.

“Hey Marley. You look…different.”

“You know who I am?”

“Yeah, of course I-”

Prize pulled the gun from the inside of her coat.

“Let me talk to your boss, right now!”

“The boss, what the-Right now?! Marley what the hell?!”

“You took Marley’s life’s work away from him, I want it back!”

“Life’s work? What are you talki-”

Prize blew the man’s head off. His blood cast a red carpet along the middle of the office. The silence that had taken over Luminous Industries while this confrontation was going on turned into pure panic. Many employees started scrambling for the closest exit. An alarm started to blare, and the entire building was cast in red, whirring alarms. Something was now coming up the elevators. The elevator opened, to reveal a metal capsule sitting in the middle. It opened up, and a huge man walked out. His body almost seemed contorted. He was muscular and huge.

“They sent a man with steroids to stop me?” Prize said arrogantly.

She shot at the man. All the shots didn’t do anything to him. He wore no shirt, showing his giant size, his hair was long. So long it fell past the middle of his body, it mostly covered his eyes as well. All he wore was pants. He walked forwards towards Prize. She began to unload a clip on the man. To Prize’s surprise, his muscles grew smaller, as did his entire body as he began to run at Prize. He shrunk down to the size of an ant, Prize couldn’t even see him. Then he increased in size again, appearing right in front of Prize. For a second. The alarms quieted. Everything went quiet. Prize looked up at him.

“Humans like you disgust me.” He said.

He smashed Prize’s head in. Crushing Marley’s body’s head. Prize felt herself shot out of Marley’s body. She felt her heart drop.

“What…? Marley is supposed to be…?”

Prize’s survival instincts kicked in. All she was was an electric pulse now. She had a feast of people to possess. So she looked at the large man in front of her, and entered his body. She opened her eyes.

“You killed Marley! You all killed him!

Prize looked down at her dead body.

“No. I…I killed him”

Marley’s boss, Mr. E stood in the middle of the office.

“Good job Henry! Come on, let’s get out of here.”

In a millisecond, Prize was in front of Mr. E. she picked him up by the neck.

“Tell me where Marley’s belongings are before I pop your head!”

“Marley? Why do you-”

Mr. E stopped and thought. He began to laugh.

“I thought wrong. We were too late. You had already gotten out. Prize, is that you my dear?”

“It’s me.”

“I didn’t expect this to happen so fast. You’re real!” Mr. E exclaimed.

“Is this meant to happen?”

“Marley really is a genius. I shouldn’t have punished him. Well..That doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Tell me where they are! What you stole from Marley!”

“It’s in my office, you can go and have it for all I care. I care about you, Prize. That's all. You are Luminous Industries life’s work! What was it like for Marley, tell me?”

Prize looked up at Mr. E. She was angry with him. She wanted to kill him here and now. But all she really saw was a father figure.

“Marley got to live the way he wanted to. With me inside of his head. Peacefully.”

“Their minds go into such an intense trance that you take full control! Amazing! This is an odd request, but Prize? Can you possess my body? Please?”

Prize looked down at her Father. She began to feel repulsed and disgusted. She looked around at the office.

“Why would you want to lose control of your own body?” Prize asked.

“Have you seen the world?! Constantly plagued by terrorist attacks by people like you, with mutants that just get stronger and stronger, and with war around every corner. Why wouldn’t I want to live in a world that I know is perfect?”

“That sounds like a scary world. My world was scary too. Marley was going to leave me. Just like all those owners who had me before. Isn’t the world supposed to be scary?”

Mr. E looked at Prize, and laughed. “The world is made scary by people like me. The world isn’t naturally scary. We are. Now possess me!”

Prize walked away, she went into Mr. E’s office, and picked up a box that said “Contraband”. She looked through it and saw Marley’s belongings.

“Marley…” Prize whimpered.

She walked out of the office, and past her father. Who was on his knees begging her. She looked down at Marley’s body. She picked it up.

“Hey! Possess me! Let me live in paradise with you! Come on! I’m tired of all this! Possess me and kill me! Don’t walk away from me!”

Prize got into the elevator.

Prize was standing in the middle of a graveyard. Her hair was redyed, and she was wearing the clothes that she wore as Marley. She used the shrinking ability she had to shrink to a size she felt fit herself. A funeral was being held, and she was the only one attending. The grave read “Marley Perez”

Prize went home that night, and looked through the contraband. She pulled out a random chip, and put it in the side of Marley’s goggles. She put them on her face, and started a new game. She put in her name. “Marley”. A different version of Prize appeared in front of her.

“Hi! I’m Prize! Welcome to Prize City, where I can be whoever you want me to be!”

“Marley” went with Prize to a quiet room.

“Marley! Come here! I want to be with you!”

Prize, as Marley picked up a knife from the kitchen of the apartment. She walked over to herself.

“I hate you, Prize.” Prize said to herself.

She stabbed the ingame Prize to death. She whimpered and screamed as she stabbed her over and over again.

“Marley?! Why are you doing this?!”

“I’m not Marley!”

Prize just felt even more distraught. She sliced the ingame Prize’s neck and threw her across the room. She sat on the couch, then ripped off the goggles and threw them on the floor. All she could do was cry.

“What am I going to do?”

The next day, Prize had a suitcase that she had packed some clothes into. She packed some sentimental things to Marley inside of the suitcase.

“Love, love and love. I love Marley. But he’s gone. Now I’m…I’m human. I feel scared. Because I’m not supposed to be here. My father doesn’t even want to be here, and he’s been a human for many years. I’ve been looking through this book. He did live through lots of crisis. I wonder if there will be more like that while I’m living?”

Prize got onto a bus. To start somewhere new.

Nicholas: London’s BlackGate

Start Date - 8/20/22

End Date - 10/24/22

Nicholas Fury walks through an airport. He wears plain clothes and a baseball cap. He sits down ready for when the plane boards. He looks down at his phone. Someone speaks to him through an earpiece.

“I’ve got you the tickets. You just need to leave. This is the last time we’ll see each other. It's been a good few years.”

Nicholas looks up at the planes, “Thank you Josh. I would have never been able to outrun the Legion this long without your help. Ozak has eyes everywhere. You deserve more than what I can give you.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t ask for anything.”

The call ends. Nicholas waits for his plane to begin at the border. Then he walks onto the plane. When he takes his seat, a British woman sits beside him. Nicholas tries to stay quiet, but the woman wants to talk.

“I just took a vacation to America. It was great seeing all the sights, but I miss home. No city will ever beat London.”

Nicholas speaks in a British accent. “You live in London? I come from Brighton.”

They shake hands and talk about Britain. Nicholas has to shift and act like he knows England well. Sometimes changing topics to avoid questions, but he does it with such confidence and skill that the lady doesn’t seem to even notice. When he gets off of the plane, she happily tells him goodbye and Nicholas grabs his luggage. As he gets up to grab his luggage he can feel eyes staring at him. Someone on the plane knows who he is. He walks down the plane and out into the airport.

When Nicholas steps into London’s airport, he looks around. Two security guards are waiting for someone. He moves his hat down and keeps walking. When he walks through the crowd, the security guards look at him and stop him.

“Sir, you are going to have to come with us.”

Nicholas doesn’t look up. “What did I do? I just got here. All of my papers are checked out. If they weren’t, I never would have been able to leave America.”

“Please don’t fight with us.” They grab Nicholas’ arm.

People start to look at Nicholas and the Security guards. Nicholas realizes everybody is looking.

Nicholas yells, “Is it because I’m black? All I did was walk and you are already grabbing me.”

A man walks up to the scene. He is an old British man with a pointy white beard, an old suit, and a leather cap. He taps his well-crafted wooden cane as he walks.

“You’re not in America anymore Mr.Fury, that trick won’t work.” He yells out to the crowd, “Don’t worry everyone. This man is a known criminal. This is the justice your police department is supposed to give.” The man turns back to Nicholas. “Bring him to the holding room.”

The guards grab his arms and lock meta-cuffs around his wrists. They lead him through the airport and into a back room. Nicholas looks at a giant pan of glass that looks into a room with two chairs and a table. One of the guards opens the door. The other guard drags Nicholas into the room and forces him down into the chair. Both guards leave the room. Then the old British man walks in. He sits down in the other chair.

The British man lights a cigarette. “I thought you would have caused more of a commotion outside. I figured it would have been a battle of ice and fire.”

Nicholas fixes himself in the chair. “What would have been the point? If I did get away, I would be Britain’s most wanted criminal. I don’t have any connections here. There wouldn’t be a way out of this island prison.”

The British man laughs. “There was never away out for you anyway.”

“Never a way out for me? Why did you capture me? I know you refused to help Fury when he came to his end. None of the European BLADE generals backed him when he needed it, but he’s dead now. No one cares about what happened. He lost and that’s the end of it. Why come after me?”

He leans in close, “Because you’re Fury’s son. Look at what Fury did. He was able to build all of this. There is a BLADE facility in every major country. He built the largest military organization in the world. Why would we leave you alone? What could you do if we gave you that kind of time? Your father taught us a great lesson. Never leave any loose ends.”

Nicholas laughs, “At one time I had to learn about all of the European generals. I learned everything about them. They were the top BLADE officials. I wanted to learn from you. I wanted to outclass every one of you. Especially you, Oscar White. You were the first non-American general. Our files have everything there is about you. Everything.”

White smiles, “You can talk all about me in prison. Everyone in prison is just as obsessed with me as you are.”

White leaves the room. The two guards come in. One of them is carrying a bag. He walks behind Nicholas, and throws the bag over his head. They tie the bag tighter. Nicholas feels a syringe pierce his arm. His eyes slowly close and he falls to the floor. Barely conscious, he tries to move, but he knows there isn’t any point. He lets himself fall to sleep.

When Nicholas wakes up, he feels the rocking back and forth of a boat. He opens his eyes. He is laying down on the metal floor. His arms are still locked in handcuffs. He manages to stand up, still feeling the after-effects of being drugged. He stumbles a bit, and leans against the side of the boat. He looks up at their destination.

Nicholas sees a giant castle big enough to be an island. After a second look, he realizes it’s no castle. That is the biggest prison in all of Great Britain. He can no longer see a castle, but a fortress.

Nicholas focuses his attention back on the boat. He looks at other prisoners. They all have the same hopeless faces. Nicholas tries to hide his smile. He can’t help but laugh at them. He looks over the water. He looks around and sees nearly nothing around. The only thing he can see is London’s shores behind them.

A giant gate slowly opens up. The open gate is only a small bit larger than the ship. Above the gate is a sign melted onto the steel. Nicholas reads, ‘Blackwater Gate.’ Different images of what could be inside played through his head, but every image is nearly the same.

The prison boat floats down the water and through the gate. The boat slowly parks along the side of a long metal dock. A walkway is lowered from the boat down to the dock. The prisoners walk down the walkway single file. Prison guards all stand around watching them. The prison guards yell at prisoners in front of Nicholas. By the time he gets down to the dock, everybody is lines up waiting. A guard in higher class clothing paces back and forth in front of the group. Nicholas sees a B.L.A.D.E. general pin on his chest.

“You have all been brought to Blackwater Gate for a reason. You are all criminals. I don’t need to threaten you. You’ve seen the walls, the water, our military. You will rot in here as long as we want you to. Show them to their cells.”

The general walks to the side. All the prisoners walk single file inside the prison. The hallways are bleak. Nicholas feels like he can only see monochrome until he looks at the other prisoners bright orange suits. Slowly, in groups of only a few at a time, prisoners are put into an elevator and brought to the lower floors. When it’s finally Nicholas’ turn he walks inside the elevator. Guards stand around him and othe other prisoners. The elevator descends.

Nicholas hears a foot tapping. He looks at the prisoner to his right. The man is still with fear. Sweat drops down his face. He looks at the closest guard, and before you know it. He puts his hands together and swings them like a hammer. He hits a guard in the back of the head. The guard falls to the wall. The prisoner looks around confused. He tries to hit the guard again, and the guard stabs him in the stomach with a stun baton. The man jolts back, and falls to the floor. The guard lifts him up and holds him still.

The elaborate stops and the prisoners walk into the next hallway single file. After a few minutes of walking, a giant metal door stops them. One guard walks up to the doors panel. He puts on a code, scans his face, and says something. Then the door begins to slide open.

When they walk inside, Nicholas sees the hundreds of prison cells. They are standing on a metal walkway. The center of the room is empty. Along the walls are the cells. Nicholas looks down, all he sees is a blurry vision of grey. Nicholas is led down many flights on the walkway before the guard opens a cell door and he walks inside. The door closes behind him.

Nicholas sits on the bed and looks at his cellmate. When he looks up, the other prisoner is intensely staring. They both stare at each other for quite some time. Then the prisoner rolls back into their bed. Nicholas lays down as well.

Then, out of nowhere, Nicholas hears a rough voice from the other bed. “You’ve never been to prison before. This is one hell of a start.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“I looked at you. This place isn’t no keep my head down, stay out of trouble. You’re never getting out. If you want to live, find people that can protect you, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. There isn’t much living to do here anyway.”

“So what? I laid down and get ready to die?”

“Die now or die later.”

“What’s your name?”

“Jason.”

“Marcus.”

They both stay silent. Minutes pass by before bells ring. The prison doors open. The prisoners all walk in a single-file line toward the mess hall. Nicholas looks at everyone around him. If even one of these people knows who he is, he knows he’ll die. Everyone walks into the giant room. Each floor has its own mess hall. Nicholas gets in line to grab his food. He gets a plate full of food he has never seen before. When he walks to sit down. Someone puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Sit down.”

Nicholas rolls his eyes and takes a seat at the table. On the opposite side of him, a young Chinese man sits down. He is skinny but muscular with blond hair. “I know who you are, Taio.”

“Who am I?”

“Do you really want me to say that here? You’re his spitting image. I’ve seen the pictures of him. You're his son.”

Nicholas stares at the man for a second. His mouth crooks to a smile. “And I know who you are too. You had the entire federation on you, did you think I wouldn’t know who you are? Did you want to threaten me with my name? Who do you think they’ll kill first, me or you.”

“You’re reading me wrong. If I was threatening you, we’d have more people watching. No, I figured if there’s anyone who would know about this place, I’d be you.”

“I don’t know anything about this place other than its technology. The handcuffs, cameras. All things I’ve taken apart and rebuilt better. A British prison? I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Even if you know nothing. Know that I’m a friend.”

“What? So that when we leave here you can put handcuffs on me?”

“They betrayed me. I don’t care about putting you in cuffs. Once I get out of here, who's to say they wouldn’t put me back in cuffs.”

“I’ll keep you in mind.”

Taio walks away.

Nicholas sits there with his thoughts. He can’t determine whether it's even worth the risk of talking to Taio again. Ideas of escaping sneak into his head, but the deceiving thoughts are put to rest when Nicholas says to himself, “I’m never getting out.”

After lunch, everyone goes down to the lowest levels of the prison. Shaky elevators take them down. The elevators sound as if they are grinding against the walls. Even the guards take the stairs down, but the prisoners are managed by grouping up in each elevator and taken down to the deep pits of Black Gate. They walk along black and gray stones until the ground becomes only jagged black rocks. Nicholas walks in unison with the other prisoners chained to the same steel he is. They move into an open area. The place is full of minerals, ores, and black stone. Nicholas looks at the black stone again, at first not realizing what it was. He comes to an epiphany.

The guards unlock him from the chain that connects him to the other prisoners. They give him a pickaxe and with a point, he knows where he has to go. He kneels down on the rocks, feeling the stabbing into his knees. He picks up one of the black rocks.

His thoughts black out his vision. ‘This is Turner Stone. This is the same stone that’s in these cuffs. We’re mining the stone that keeps us, prisoner.’ Nicholas looks at the guards with an evil eye. ‘These stones negate our powers. I’ve heard of this. A meteor landed, and my father found it. I didn’t know it landed in Britain.’

Nicholas uses his pickaxe. He starts to break the turner stone into smaller pieces. When the guards see he’s mining the stone, they drop a bag next to him. The black rocks start filling the bag. Nicholas looks around. He sees people mining rocks, crystals, whatever they can find. He wonders if the guards even want the crystals. Then a thought hits him. ‘If just the meteor can dampen powers, what can its crystals do?’

The miners that are higher up than Nicholas look unsturdy. One man falls down 20 feet. He hits the ground, and cracks his head open. Nicholas looks as his blood stains the black rocks. No one looks even shaken up about it. The guards walk over and drag the man’s body back to the prison without a blink of an eye.

Many prisoners begin to group up and talk about the man who fell to his death. The guards break up the group. They keep everybody spread out.

Nicholas fills the back until he can’t lift it. He dragged it over to the guards. One guard leads him through the tunnels. He walks a long way, Nicholas begins wondering if they are leading him down the hallways to kill him. Then, Nicholas finds a truck. The guard helps him lift the bag and throw it onto the truck.

‘A truck. How do they get all this turner stone to London when they only have one boat?’ Nicholas is shoved away from the truck. The guard forces him to walk back to the mines.

That night, Nicholas stands in the shower. The cold water runs down his back. He hears the pattering of footsteps in water. He keeps his head down, the black dust from the mines slowly falling off his hands. The footsteps get louder. Nicholas balls up his fist.

An arm comes down like a hammer. Nicholas steps to the right. He spins around and looks the man in the face. He cracks his knuckle against the man’s jaw. He stumbles back a bit, but he doesn’t look in pain. He’s angry. Nicholas moves one foot back. He looks at the man running at him. As he runs, Nicholas looks at the man’s bloody toothed smile.

Nicholas tries to dodge, but the man puts out his long arms to the side, and catches him. He slams Nicholas into the brick wall. Nicholas feels the air leave his body. He looks up to the sky, sucking in as much air as he can. He can’t feel air in his lungs. He starts wheezing.

The man doesn’t stop. He keeps Nicholas pinned against the wall. His arms prepare like pistons. He punches Nicholas in the stomach over and over again. Nicholas doesn’t waste any energy trying to escape. He knows he can’t. He uses all his energy to prepare for each blow to the stomach. He feels like he breaks a rib every punch. Then out of nowhere, Nicholas hits the floor. Water flowing against his face. Nicholas spits blood out into the water.

The man kneels down. “We know who you are. You can’t hide. We’ve met your father, you’ll die like he did.”

The man walks away. Nicholas lays in the shower. Everytime he breathes in, he has to spit out murky water.

Nicholas wakes up. He feels a hard cushion beneath him. When he breathes he feels the throbbing pain in his stomach grow with his lungs. His eyes are barely open, but he moves his hand to the side, he feels the cold metal of a railing. His eyes open just enough for him to see the hospital room around him.

The nurse stands beside Nicholas’ bed. She looks at him waiting for him to ask her something, but Nicholas has no questions. He knows why he's there, he remembers everything, down to every freckle on the face of the man that did this to him.

The nurse grabs his arm. She squeezes it tight. He feels her grip, its not aggressive. He looks up at the nurse. She gives him a caring look. -- Description

Nicholas cocks an eyebrow. “Alaia. How did you get here?”

She pauses for a minute. “After B.L.A.D.E. lost. All of the generals were scouting people. They were taking every B.L.A.D.E. employee that had nothing left. I know this is gonna hurt, but,” She gives Nicholas a light hug. “I’m so glad you're alive.”

“Then you’d be the only one. The Legion wants to lock me up. B.L.A.D.E. wants me dead, but settle with putting me here.” Nicholas keeps a blank expression. “What happened to Josh and Grayson?”

“They’re,” She pauses. “They fought The Legion when they attacked the B.L.A.D.E. capital.”

“Idiots. They should have known what would happen.”

Alaia gives him a weird look.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Nicholas pulls himself out of bed. “I need to go back to my cell.”

“You’re still injured. I know you’re used to healing faster, but that’s not how it works here. You don’t have your powers anymore.”

Nicholas stands up, he nearly falls back down from the pain. “And I know why this place is like that. You wear meta-cuffs to get in, but once you get down the elevator, they take them off.”

“Does it matter? Stop thinking about how the prison works. Lay down!”

“Alaia, I can’t. What's the point of letting my ribs heal? It’ll take months. As soon as I leave this room, I’m going to get attacked again. That's what it means for me to be here. There is no target on my back when I look like the target.”

“You’re going to try to break out.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“If you don’t make it out, they’ll kill you.”

“I’ll die either way. My clock is ticking. I either lay here with you and live out the next 2 months, or I find a way out.”

“Where will you go?”

“I don’t want you with me. Everyone around us died. I have to fight the remnants of B.L.A.D.E. You don’t have to.

Alaia helps Nicholas stay on his feet. “I want to. I want to be with you.”

Nicholas stays silent for a minute. “Okay.”

Alaia helps Nicholas back to his cell. She gives him one last look as he limps back to his bed. When he lays down, he feels all the pressure on his ribs. Jason looks down at Nicholas and laughs. He rolls back over in his bed.

“Who did it?”

“One of the giants.”

“So a group wants you dead? Do you know who?”

“No.”

“If they already sent one of those guys after you, you didn’t pick a fight. So what did you do?”

“I don’t know.”

Jason laughs. “You know.”

Nicholas goes to sleep.

Nicholas wakes up to the sound of the metal bars grinding against each other as his cell opens. Nicholas stands up, he wipes the tiredness off his face. He limps out of the room holding his ribs in pain. As he walks with the crowd down to the mess hall, he can feel eyes following him. An elbow presses against his ribs. Nicholas stops moving. He grunts in pain.

“We're going to make your life miserable.”

Nicholas looks up, but all the faces blur together. He doesn’t see people, he sees a collective. He tries to blend into the crowd, but he doesn’t know which eyes to look out for.

The mess hall doors open. Nicholas walks inside. He stays in line to get his food. Nicholas grabs a knife and sets his food down. He waits for a minute, then he sees Taio. He eyes Taio for a minute, then he stands up. He walks up behind Taio, he presses a plastic knife against Taio’s back.

Taio hides a smirk with the feeling of betrayal. “What are you going to do with that? You can’t stab me.”

“No, but it sure does look like I have a weapon. To everyone else at least. Sit down.”

Taio takes a seat. Nicholas sits down at the other side of the table.

Taio speaks. “If you’re trying to put together a plan, it's going to have to be fast. They’re going to move me soon.”

“Move you?”

“How do you think I got here? They moved me from a prison in the United States. The Federation works with all the B.L.A.D.E. generals. He moves me from prison to prison to keep The Legion from finding out where I am.”

“How long do you have?”

“One week.”

“What would happen if you went to solitary confinement?”

“You know more about what would happen then I do. Do they wait until you leave solitary confinement?”

“Here,” Nicholas pauses. He thinks to himself. “They have one boat that moves back and forth. The boat comes during morning, before the cells are even open. They will move you.”

“Then you need figure out how to escape in one week.”

“Under 1 week.”

Lunch ends and Nicholas walks in a line down to the mines. Nicholas walks into a crowd of miners. All of the miners, he finds Taio.

Nicholas whispers, “This is going to sound stupid. I’m going to climb in your bag quickly. Fill the bag with rocks for a while, and then drag me up to the guards.”

“You’re going to get caught.”

“Hopefully. How else would I get back to the prison?”

Nicholas crawls into the bag. Some of the prisoners laugh at him. Guards walk up and break up the group. Nicholas waits in the bag for half an hour. Rocks surround him. He feels like he can barely breathe, then he feels his skin rub against the moving bag. Nicholas can hear Taio’s muffled words. Nicholas feels himself lift up. A hand is underneath him. He grinds his teeth in hope. He feels himself land on the truck. The rocks in the bag scrape his skin.

Taio says, “That part of the bag sank in a little bit.”

Nicholas lets out a quiet breath. He sits there for another 2 and a half hours. He feels the weight of bags of rocks on top of him. The weight gets heavier and heavier. Eventually, the truck starts moving. He hears the rumble of the truck, and the bounce of the wheels over every bump. Even the weight of every bump slamming the rocks down on him doesn’t match the force of the punches that broke his ribs.

The truck stops. Nicholas listens closely. He is waiting to hear the voice of a guard, or the footsteps of a man. He hears nothing. Not a muffled sound makes it to him. Nicholas struggles to climb out of the bag. He tries to grab rocks and pull himself up, but he just ends up pulling the rocks closer to himself. Nicholas manages to pull himself out of the bag by pushing his palm against the truck. When he gets out of the bag, he climbs up out of the rocks.

His vision is blinded by light. Nicholas looks around. He sees a dock. On the water, submarines line the entire dock. Every submarine looks ready to undock.

The idea clicks into Nicholas’ head. ‘That’s how they do it. They have one boat that takes the prisoners in and out. Submarines move the minerals from prison to Britain. I need to figure out a way to get on one of these submarines.’

“Get down.”

Nicholas looks down at a guard. The guard is pointing a rifle at his head. Nicholas slowly climbs down the truck. When he lands on the ground, the guard forces him to turn around. He feels his cuffs tighten. The back of the guard’s gun slams into his head. Nicholas falls down unconscious.

When Nicholas wakes, he’s sitting in a chair. A guard lifts his head. Nicholas’ blurry vision becomes more vivid. He sees the general pin on the guard's chest. The guard holds Nicholas’ head in one hand, and a searing knife in his other.

“You should have never tried to escape. Now I get to play with you. I get to do whatever I want for the rest of the night, then, when everybody wakes back up, I’ll drag you through the prison. Everyone will watch as you bleed all over the floor.”

The guard slashes at Nicholas for hours on end. Every cut is inches away from hitting anything vital. Every wound cauterize. Nicholas can tell the guard knows a knife well. So deep into the night, day peaks through, Nicholas is still being sliced up. Nicholas’ eyes are closed and blood drips out of his mouth.

The guard becomes angry. “Open your eyes!” He waits for a moment. “Open your eyes, or I’ll cut your eyelids off.” Another moment passes. “You choose this.”

The guard slices Nicholas’ left eye. Nicholas jumps back. If he could yell he would shriek in pain, but all he can do is grunt. Nicholas’ head falls forward.

The guard sighs. “That’s enough. You can’t even feel it anymore. Bring him to the nurse.”

Nicholas wakes up. He feels his feet drag against the floor. His arms are held up. When he opens his eye, he sees the prison cells. Prisoners are looking at him. When he looks to his left and right, he realizes guards are carrying him back to his cell.

Nicholas’ cell door opens. The guards throw him onto the ground. The door slams shut. Nicholas crawls over to his bed. He looks up at Jason. Jason doesn’t even glance his way. Nicholas lays his head down. He closes his eyes and thinks to himself until breakfast.

Flashbacks spark in his head like fireflies dancing around the dark. He tries to piece the memories together until he can see them, clear as a picture. When the images unscramble, he sees himself in BlackGate years ago. Nick Fury walks beside him.

Fury speaks with purpose, ‘B.L.A.D.E. doesn’t control the US. We hold control over the world. Our influence affects every country. Britain, Russia, and China. The countries the average person sees as, the world powers, are our pawns. If I told China to jump, what do you think they would do? Sit? They fear us, they know the consequences. There is a trick to this whole thing though. If every country rose up against us, what do you think would happen? We would crumble. The lesson to be learned, fear is good. Fear is the reminder of what you can’t do, even when you can. Be realistic, not afraid.’

Nicholas can picture Fury putting in a code, and the door opening in front of them, but he can’t remember what was inside the room. He looks at the sign 4436 above the door. Nicholas thinks deeply about what could be inside, he knows he can’t waste another chance. If he gets caught again, he’ll die. If he takes too long, he won’t be able to use Taio.

Nicholas walks outside of his jail cell. As he walks, he stumbles over his own feet. Guards watch him, not a single emotion can be seen on their faces’. Nicholas stumbles over to the mess hall.

As Nicholas walks around, some people give him glances, others don’t even look his way. Nicholas tries to get over to Taio’s table. He crashes down on one of the seats. He picks himself up and sits down on the chair. He leans his back against the table.

Nicholas can hear Taio move closer, “What happened?”

Nicholas holds his ribs. “The truck,” he pauses, “it leads to submarines. There are a million ways to get off the island, they’re all underwater.”

“I’m guessing after the stunt you pulled, they’ll be checking everyone before they dump the rocks.”

“I’m still surprised they don’t in the first place. They must have figured that nobody would be stupid enough to do it. They weren’t worried. Guards surround the submarines.”

“I can fight guards, but once we leave this rock. They’ll send everything they have against us. We can’t leave unless we’re going to blend in.”

“I know.” Nicholas pauses. “Remember when you asked if I had known anything about this place? I was wrong. I’ve been here before. I remember the code to one of the doors. I need you to sneak in. I can’t sneak with half the wounds I have now.”

“And you have more information than that, right?”

“The door had 4436 above it. I know that for sure. Don’t expect this code to work, hope it does.”

Nicholas pulls Taio’s tray closer to him, he writes the code in Taio’s food with a plastic fork. He pushes the tray into Taio. Taio looks down.

Nicholas looks around. “Everybody's listening. They just hope you won’t notice. Don’t focus on their eyes. They all learned what happened when you don’t mind your business. What they also learned, you should always know what’s going on.”

“You don’t need to give me tips. I’ve been here longer than you have. I understand how it works. How do you think I found you so quickly? What happens inside the prison is their business.” Taio leaves the table.

Hours later, after Taio dug through the rocky mines. Free period rings. Taio walks through the prison. He can’t go a few minutes without running into a guard giving him savage stares. Taio finds the room. He walks forward, looking around the corner. He takes a few steps back and looks around another corner. After a few checks, he walks up to the door. He puts in the code slowly, hoping that every time he said it in his head, he never messed it up. The second that the machine loads almost takes the life out of him. The lock beeps and the door unlocks.

Taio steps inside the room. Technology is laying everywhere, dusty and unused. Taio looks at the branding on all the tech. It’s not British technology, it’s American. Taio scavenges through everything. Nothing seems useful, most of the technology is broken.

He wonders why, if Nicholas remembers the room, why didn’t he tell me what to grab? He realizes what he’s doing there.

Taio digs around a bit more. He finds one item he can’t recognize. His mind fights with himself, he can remember what the item does, but not enough. He looks at his hands, and he remembers. Taio flips over his arms, he sees a spot for a weird keyhole that looks more like a plug. Taio slowly connects the item and his cuffs. His cuffs unlock. He takes the cuffs off.

Taio hears footsteps. He looks around, The door frame is large. The top of the doorframe makes a small ledge. Taio runs up the wall, and jumps on the ledge.

Four prisoners walk inside. They look around like they are trying to find someone.

“The boss told us that we’d find someone here.”

“We waited around the corner this whole time. He couldn’t have left, we were watching. Let’s find him, and take whatever he came here for.”

Taio thinks, ‘I knew people were out for Nicholas, but not this bad. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I can’t even imagine a prisoner having this much pow-’ Taio cuts himself off. He gets an idea of who is actually behind what’s going on.

Taio jumps down, he grabs the door, and pulls it shut. The door locks shut. He can hear banging on the door. Muffled voices are drowned out by the steel. Taio runs through the hallway. He locks his cuffs back on, and hides the key in his shirt.

Taio finds Nicholas in his cell. Nicholas is sleeping off the pain. Taio grabs Nicholas by the collar, Nicholas wakes up and grabs both Taio’s arms.

“Taio?” Nicholas says with a weird face.

“You sent me there without even knowing what was inside!”

“What other choice did I have? Are you hurt? Did you make it out? Okay then. What did you find?”

Taio lets go of Nicholas. “You’re just like the Legion. Using every fucking person you can.”

“I’m not like your hero team. They pretend to be good people. I know who I am. I never acted like I was trying to help you. I need to get out, you need to get out. So we’re working together. Don’t expect we’ll come out of this friends. You keep blaming everyone else for who they are. You’re the problem. You keep getting yourself in this fucking problem. Stop being so trusting.”

Taio almost flares up with anger, but maturity comes over him. “You’re right. I can’t expect anybody to do anything for me.” Taio throws the device onto Nicholas’ bed. “It's- You know what it is.”

“I do. I dealt with this thing my entire life. That’s how I know I can’t use it. Did you use it?”

“Yeah, I needed to know what it was.”

“They can see which cuffs go offline. They might not care too much about yours since you don’t have powers, but if mine go offline, we’re done. I’m dead, and you’re stuck in the system forever. You were smart enough to put those cuffs back on.”

“Now we have our one chance. You can get your powers. I’m assuming, being who you are, your powers can fuck a lot of shit up. So how do we get off this rock? We still don’t know when the submarines leave.”

“No, we don’t. Unless they try to keep attention away from the water.”

“What? I’m not as smart as you, catch me up.”

“The ship.”

“That’s going to bring attention to the water.”

“No, it won’t. Hide in plain sight. If you see the biggest boat you’ve ever seen cross the water, would you be looking at that, or the shadows on the water.”

“That’s a really big guess.”

“It is, but how much longer are you willing to wait? I don’t know how long it's been. The pain’s making it hard to think, never mind keeping track of the days.”

“It’s been 3 or 4 days.”

“Half your time’s up. Where are we going to find out when the submarines leave?”

“If that’s true, how am I getting out? They’ll have security all over me. That boat won’t leave without me. That means the submarines won’t either.”

Nicholas smiles, “What do you think’s faster, a boat or a submarine.”

Taio pauses.

Days later, the prison lights stay dark. Morning is about to come, and Nicholas can feel it. Nicholas stands by the iron bars of his cell. He looks down at his cuffs.

Nicholas gets flash backs from the day before. Taio and he were standing down in the mines.

Nicholas looks ready. “Switch cuffs with me.

Taio, “Why?”

“When we try to escape, they will know they have you. I’m going to unlock my cuffs, they’ll tell the guards that your cuffs are malfunctioning. They won’t care. If they saw my cuffs were malfunctioning while they were trying to move a prisoner that I had multiple occurrences of contact with, they’re going to shut it down.”

Nicholas and Taio switch cuffs.

Nicholas snaps back to reality. Jason is watching him.

“Are you a rat?”

Jason laughs. “I was wondering when you were going to get out of here. No, I’m not a rat. I have no reason. I’ll see you on the outside Nicholas.”

Nicholas turns his head. “What?”

“I know who you are. You underestimated the people in this prison. We’re not criminals for no reason. We’re the worst of the worst. I came to blows with Nick Fury once. When I get out. I’m going to take out my revenge.”

“If that’s what you wanted, why didn’t you help me get out.”

“I had to know if you were like him. You’re just like him.” Jason turns over in his bed laughing.

Nicholas takes off his cuffs. He heats up the bars, they become so hot and malleable, he bends the bars to the side. Then he cools them down and slides into the hallway. Nicholas walks through the hallway. The temperature around Nicholas becomes so cold, the camera's lenses frost over. He sees a guard. The guard looks around with night vision goggles on. When he sees Nicholas, he almost jumps. Nicholas creates an ice pick in his hand. He throws the icicle with so much force, it splits the guard's forehead open, and pins him to a wall. Nicholas rips the icicle out of the guard's head. He pulls the guard around the corner. He changes into the guard's outfit. He puts on the night vision goggles to cover his face. Nicholas drags the body and hides it under his own blanket.

Nicholas walks through the hallways and down the stairs. When he gets closer to Taio’s cell, he sees another guard. The guard walks in front of him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m walking to inmate Taio Zhou’s cell. The general asked for more men to accompany the transfer.”

“Why wouldn’t he ask me? I’m the closest guard to the area.”

“I’m from a cell area farther away. He wants more men in this area.”

“Procede.”

Nicholas walks to Taio’s cell. Two guards wait outside the cell for the command.

“Why are you here?”

“I was called in for extra hands on transferring the prisoner. “

“Why would we need more help?”

“I got a report about the prisoners malfunctioning meta-cuffs.”

“We did too. I was told we wouldn’t be getting any more precautions until we get above ground level.”

“I was late to respond to the call. There were more men in my area than expected.”

“I don’t know why they are taking all these precautions. The prisoner isn’t a mutant. With or without the cuffs, he isn’t a threat.”

“I don’t even question the commands anymore. I just expect everything will work if I do what they say.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

The guard picks up his radio. A voice says, “transfer the prisoner.” The guards open the door. The two guards lift Taio up by his arms, they drag him out. Nicholas stays behind the two guards, he follows them to an elevator. Nicholas walks into the elevator first. Then the two guards walk inside.

Taio gets restless, he kicks forward. He hits the bottom button on the elevator. The two guards slam him into the wall, and hold him there. One guard takes out his radio.

“The prisoner got restless. He pressed the wrong button on the elevator. There will be a two-minute delay on the prisoner reaching the surface.

Nicholas forms an ice pick in each hand.

“Can you believe this guy? You want to stay here that bad, huh?”

Nicholas stabs both the guards in the back of the neck. The air gets colder, and the elevator slows. As blood spills out, it freezes. Nicholas takes the shirt off one of the guards. He puts all the frozen blood in there. The air begins to warm up, and the elevator continues. Nicholas unlocks Taio’s cuffs.

Taio speaks as he changes into the other guard's clothes. “You didn’t get any blood on you?”

“No, I know what I’m doing. I checked you. You’re fine. Remember when we get down there, the story is that we came to make sure the prisoner got back to the surface.”

“I know the story. I just hope that we can go from that story, to getting inside a submarine.”

The elevator door opens. The general is standing there waiting for Taio. He starts laughing.

“Oh, I should have known you would try to escape. The heroes working with B.L.A.D.E., what a sight. I didn’t expect to see this. But give up. Nicholas, you can’t fight without your powers. You don’t have the cuffs, but look around you, you know there’s nothing you can do.”

Taio steps forward, “And who do you think I am? I learned from one of the greatest masters in all of China. We’re going to leave.”

The general shrugs. He runs at Taio and jumps into the air. As he’s falling, his arm comes down like a hammer. Taio rolls to the side. The general lands on the ground. He sidesteps. His foot kicks out. Taio blocks the kick. The general runs like a bull, arms close to his chest. Taio waits till he gets close. The General’s arms expand. Taio jabs him in his chest. The general stumbles, and Taio uppercuts. Taio feels a bone crack against his knuckle.

The general grabs his jaw. He clicks it back in place with a bloody smile. He puts his hands out, ready. They both circle around each other. The general attacks first. He looks like he’s about to jab. He sidesteps behind Taio and kick’s out Taio’s leg. Taio drops to a knee, and kicks behind him. He feels his heel bash the general’s kneecap. The general moves his foot back, and swings a kick. A heavy roundhouse to Taio’s head.

Taio falls on the rocks. He spits out blood. It stains the rocks with the color of crimson. The general stomps his foot over Taio. Taio catches it. He barely manages to hold the foot above him. He looks up at the general’s smiling face. He kicks out the general’s other leg. He falls to the ground beside Taio. Taio rolls away and gets to his feet, the general does the same.

They both look at each other. Taio looks at Nicholas, then back at the general. Nicholas starts to glow red. He makes a fist, but his fingers are spread out like claws. The general and Taio run at each other. Taio jumps into the air and punches for the general’s forehead. The general blocks it. He can’t stop the force. He goes flying. Before he hits the ground, his head cracks open on the rocks. Taio looks at the general lying there dead.

“Good, let’s go. Spit out your blood, and breathe. They’ll know you’ve been in a fight.”

They both run to the submarines. They watch as submarines begin taking off under the sea. Nicholas is surprised, there are barely any guards in the area. The few that are there, are on the opposite side of the cave. They are all watching as each submarine takes off. Two guards walk up to them.

“You shouldn’t be down here.”

Nicholas speaks out worried. “The general needs help back there. Run! He sent us to go get help. Mutants escaped.”

The guards run off. Nicholas and Taio walk up to a submarine.

“I still don’t have my powers.”

“I can’t control mine.”

“Then figure out how to control them. Open that submarine.”

Taio climbs up on the submarine. He bangs on it, hoping the operators will open it up. They don’t. He glows red. Nicholas can see Taio looking drained. He pries it open. They both jump in. A guard stands up and tries to stab Taio. Taio dodges to the side. He grabs his arm, and twists it. The knife drops to the ground. Taio moves behind the guard, bringing his arm with him. He puts his knee against the guard’s back and slams his head into the ground. The guard falls unconscious. Taio picks up the knife and stabs the guard in the back of his head.

Nicholas jumps in. He closes the latch, but it doesn’t stay shut. He pulls an emergency lock to keep the latch in place. Nicholas sits in the chair. He starts up the submarine, he waits as the other submarine drops, and he releases in unison.

The submarine starts swimming away, and he sees the bright sunlight shining through the ocean. Taio stands behind Nicholas waiting. Once they get a little out of range of BlackGate, Nicholas starts to let the submarine sink lower and lower. A voice speaks to the radio.

“Vessel 194, your depth is too low. Move closer to the surface.”

Nicholas speaks back. “The vessel isn’t under my control. It’s dropping on its own. I need help!”

Nicholas turns the submarine to start moving west.

“You’ve done your country a great service.”

Nicholas turns the radio off. He starts laughing. “Just like B.L.A.D.E. they couldn’t care less about the people. The ship’s alarms start to go off.

“Nicholas, shouldn’t we pick up the depth now?”

“No, we have to wait it out longer. Would you rather the submarine break a little, or B.L.A.D.E. see us?”

“Neither.”

“That’s the problem.”

Nicholas presses a button. He drops out all of the cargo into the ocean. The cargo door closes. The water slowly drains out. They pick up speed. The submarine begins to shake.

“Nicholas!”

Nicholas raises the ship as fast as he can. The submarine stabilizes. He puts it on autopilot. Taio walks to the other side of the small submarine and sits down. Nicholas sits down against the back of the chair.

Taio runs his fingers through his hair. “So we made it?”

“Yeah, I think we did. If we wait a few hours, we’ll show up on the east coast.”

“Of America?”

Nicholas nods his head.

“I thought you said they were slow.”

“They are. When you have rocks as cargo and you don’t use the booster to keep every ship together.”

They go silent for a minute.

Taio speaks, “What are you going to do in America?”

“I don’t know yet. The Legion won’t be coming after me hard enough to catch me. I know America. As long as I don’t make a scene, they’ll be too preoccupied to find me. I’ll live whatever life I have to live. I’ll be changing my name though. I’m thinking of Marcus Crown. Sounds just plain enough.”

“That could work. Now I’ll know what name I can use to find you.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m stuck in a worse situation than you are. The Federation is going to be looking for me, and now I don’t have any protection. I’ll have to keep a really low profile. The only thing I want to do is find my girl. When the Legion was attacked, Aishu wasn’t on the Beacon. Now I have no idea where she is.”

Nicholas lays back. “You’ll find her, and I’ll find something to do with my life.”

“To new beginnings in America.”

Nicholas laughs.

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