“Y-y-you!” Xole stammered. “H-h-how d-did y-you—”

  “I’ll be the one asking the questions,” She said. Her index finger pierced his cheek, making Xole’s face feel numb, then, enflamed.

  “AGH!” he cried, stumbling forward and falling over. His body felt cold, his limbs jolted uncontrollably. He forced himself to look over his shoulder where the woman stood, her gaze narrowed on him.

  “That was just one prick. Failure to comply will result in two, then three…do you understand?”

  Xole climbed to his feet, thrusting his jittery arm forward, one hand over the top of his palm, and held them at her. “Freeze!!” he shouted.

  The woman felt an odd sensation on her body, as if she were suddenly submerged under the depths of the ocean, ‘Similar to last time.’ She thought, forcing her fingers to twitch, ‘It appears he’s inherited Amesworth’s son’s Aculty.’

  “Stay there…stay back!” Xole yelled, stepping backwards. He watched her thumb clenched over her index and middle fingers, leaving her last two open. His eyes widened in horror as a flash of blue shot throughout the walkway

  ‘FWOOOOM!’

  “Gyuh!” he cried as the blast threw him off his feet and knocked him hard on his stomach, leaving him gasping. He pried his face from the ground, his eyes darting up to see her boots calmly stepping towards him. He yelped, his legs kicking themselves backwards while his hands smacked the rock floor until he found his footing, stumbling backwards until twisting around to a full on run.

  ‘If I go back to Zone 2, the people will be in trouble!’ he thought darting deeper down the hall. He franticly yanked his Green Pass out—nearly dropping it—and mashed the front, ‘C’mon, c’mon! I just need to buy time! Okay, if I can lead her up one of the paths—’

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Directly in front of Xole was the upside-down face of a young woman with a pink bubble poking from her lips. Before he could react, it burst.

  ‘POP!’

  His vision went black.

  “GAH! Ugh!” he cried, stumbling back, his arms thrashing and grabbing for the sticky residue on his face. But it wasn’t coming off, in fact when he pulled at it, he felt his own skin stretch, making it hurt even more until he couldn’t pull any longer because of how weak he was beginning to feel.

  “Ta! Get a look at that! It’s like he’s lost his mind!” her voice taunted.

  Xole twisted his body away from the voice, dragging himself against the cave wall, leaning forward to gain momentum and trying to break into a run—only to come into contact with a metal-filled fist.

  ‘SHUCK!’

  Xole gagged, stumbling, his back hitting the wall hard. The same hand slammed into his chest, keeping him propped up against it.

  “Goofy ass kid,” a male voice spoke before throwing him to the ground. “Wollfe, take this stuff off before you kill him.”

  “Just let me have a little more,” The mocking-sounding female replied, “His flavor’s just so addicting! Do you know how rare this taste is?”

  “Ugh, really Jackie, he’s our only lead.”

  Xole groaned, still trying to crawl away, his quivering arms struggling to pull his body away. Seeing that from the corner of his eye, Andre took a step, kneeling beside him—and slamming his face into the ground.

  “Take me word for it and knock it off,” he said, “I’m much nicer than my friend over there.”

  “Really?” Jacklyn said, walking to the other side of them. She stepped on the boy’s back, twisting her heel, “Cause I’m not the one who sucker punched him.”

  “That’ll be enough.” Anastasia’s voice said, her clicking heels trailing behind, “You two go and find where their keeping the source of their Strip-Lash. This one’s mine.”

  With a groan, the younger woman sucked the gum from Xole’s face. Tossing him a look as her and the younger man wandered into the darkness. Xole’s vison slowly began to come back, his eyes blurry and his head pounded. He watched the departing two Collars fade from his sight.

  ‘That hall…are they going up?’ Xole thought weakly, ‘I’ve got to…stop them…’

  “The one that got away,” Anastasia said, crouching next to him, “You and I have a lot to discuss.”

  His teeth grit, “You...you came to…finish me off?!”

  The woman let out a surprising sound of amusement, “Don’t flatter yourself, you aren’t very hard to kill. For now…” she traced a nail along his cheek, drawing blood, “you’re going to tell me all about that man you’re traveling with.”

  “I don’t know—”

  She slashed his face, causing him to howl in pain. She kicked him to the wall in a heap, “You’re body will weaken and deteriorate, but the pain should be enough to keep you conscious enough to engage in a conversation.” She stepped over to the terrified boy, her nails raised, “Now, tell me all about your friend. The Black Collar.”

  “M-Mr. Holdover?!! W-what do you want with him?!”

  The woman paused and for a moment, it sounded as if she stifled some sort of laughter. “So that’s what he’s going by now?”

  ‘M-Mr. Holdover?!!’ Xole shook his head, “I-I—”

  She twitched her fingers.

  “He’s just some guy!” Xole exclaimed, “I don’t know why you care so much! He’s just some conspiracy theorist who runs from the government and likes to hit people!!”

  For the slightest moment, her eyes lit up, quickly returning to her normal calm state. “Sounds about right.”

  'Xole shuddered, feeling his body grow weak from the cut, “A-about right?!”

  Xole shuddered, feeling his body grow weak from the cut. “W-what do you want with Mr. Holdover?!”

  The woman’s gaze suddenly changed and for the briefest of moments, it sounded as if she stifled some sort of chuckle. “So…that’s what he’s going by now.”

  His eyes bulged. ‘What in the world is she…?’

  “Xole,” she said, his name sounded unrecognizable from her tongue, “Are you are you aware of the CSA’s Blacklist?”

  The older boy breathed hard, “I-it’s like…F.B.I’s most wanted, r-right?”

  “Correct,” She said, “Now, consider the F.B.I’s number one—of any given year since its inception—and apply it to the bottom of the list.”

  Xole trembled, “W-what are you…?”

  “What you would then have,” she continued, “are a ninety-nine more individuals who pose a greater danger to us both nation and worldwide. Individuals whose names and history need to be kept secret from the public or would result in nationwide panic—not even the President knows. Your Mr. Holdover is in the top five of that list. One of the most wanted souls on the planet.”

  “No…” Xole said weakly. He coughed, shaking his head, “No, you’re—”

  She took out a glossy black card with a gold line at the upper middle. Flipping it to the back, she held it to Xole’s face where he saw the older man, still scowling, but younger and clean shaven with much shorter hair. He saw everything, first degree murder, cybersecurity, domestic and international terrorism, and hundreds upon hundreds of assaults. But one caught his eye the most:

  The exploitation of Talent users.

  “Stop it!” he said, reeling his head away, “Get that away from me!

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “He’s a criminal who uses and kills people, Xole,” her head dipped slightly, casting a shadow over the small sneer on her face, “And it seems you’re no different than the rest of his victims.”

  ‘The Talent…the notebook…everything…did I ever have anyone?’

  “But…” he panted, feeling his body grow weaker, “you still killed my best friend...”

  Her head cocked, to the side, “And do you wish to die as well? For that man’s sake of all people?”

  “…”

  “As I thought.” Putting her card away, she took his chin into her fingers, “Xole, this can all be over if you tell me where he is now. And when you do, I promise not to kill your friends down here.”

  “Why should…I believe you?”

  “I have no a reason to legally…yet.”

  “I…I don’t know…”

  ‘POW!’

  The woman’s fingers balled to a fist, upper cutting the boy so hard he hit the ceiling head first, falling down back to her waiting open-clawed hand. “A shame, truly.” She said.

  “S-stop!” he grunted, “I swear I really don’t know—he…he left one day!”

  “Then you’re of no use to me any longer.” She said and traced her further hand up his stomach to his chest, her nails beginning to dig, causing him to shout.

  “A-ACK! Please, stop—!!”

  “We can salvage your organs,” she continued as he cried, “We don’t need your lungs, but your heart and pancreas will be invaluable to us—”

  ‘Skint!’ ‘Skint!’

  The woman’s hand flew to her head to deflect two sharp flying objects. Her eyes shot downwards to see the ground beginning to glow and dropped Xole, leaping back herself to evade the explosion, but just as she did the hall front of her glowed yellow, orange, then became engulfed by a fiery red.

  ‘WHOOOOSH!’

  Xole watched the wall of fire engulf the entire corridor hall, burning everything there if someone hadn’t shielded him. Looking up he saw Trix’s face smile at him, “I hope you didn’t get too hot from that.”

  “Young one,” Abbas said running in with Spit-Take, Salamander, and Patchwork. “Are you alright?”

  “You guys…” he said. He shook his head, “Sunshine and the others, their—!”

  “They’re safe!” Spit-Take said, slapping his shoulder and running ahead, “Skinner had them moved up but we need to talk later! I have a feeling that thing’s still kicking!”

  Abbas threw Xole under his arm and bolted down the hall with the rest of the Groundhogs, “Spit-Take! Has Snap cleared out Zone 2 yet?”

  “Just about!” he replied, “Says the people was raring to fight, so we had to lock them all inside Zone 3!”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Abbas said.

  “H-how did she find us?!” Xole said. “This place’s like a maze! It should’ve been impossible!”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Maybe someone from the precinct could’ve snitched!” Spit-Take suggested.

  Abbas pressed his lips together.

  “What about Zone 1?” Trix asked.

  “I can’t get ahold of our guy inside!” Spit-Take replied, “Damn it! We’ve still got people in there!”

  “Then we’ll split,” Abbas said as the group arrived to the entryway of Zone two. Dropping Xole, he pointed to the farthest wall, “I’ll need a group of you to assis—”

  It was then when the large man’s stomach exploded into a bloody mess.

  ‘SPLUUURSH!’

  Anastasia shot though Abbas’s body, feet first like a drill, landing in front of the rest of the shocked Groundhogs, however only looking at Xole’s terrified face. “One,” she counted.

  “ABBAS!!!” Xole shouted.

  Everyone could only watch as the woman slowly straightened up, her gaze fixed on them as if nothing even happened.

  “The rest of you,” she continued, flicking some blood off her nails, “By the time I count to seven—”

  “Now hold on there…little lady.”

  The shorter woman’s eyes widened as she felt the man’s large hand wrap around her entire body from the back and pulling her our through the hole she’d made.

  “This battle’s…” Abbas grunted, stepping and, hurling her into the walkways of the Zone, “only just begun!!”

  She shot through the air, tumbling and smashing through each one in rapid succession. From the corner of her eye, she saw the poncho wearing woman’s bladed arm fling to her neck in a blur, but Anastasia was quicker, catching the weapon on her nails. It was then when she felt her back grow hot with an enormous blast of fire engulfing everything on its way to her. She curled her knees and kicked off Trix as the blast shot between the two. She landed on another walkway only to feel the Gi around her spike.

  ‘BOOM!’ ‘B-B-BOOM!’ ‘B-B-B-B-BOOOOOOM!’

  Xole watched the entire upper left to the corner collapse, crashing to the ground and rumbling all of Haven.

  Snap snapped his fingers, “Did I get her?”

  “I don’t think so,” Trix said, landing next to him along with Salamander. She inspected her fractured hands, “And with just one clash.”

  From Xole’s sides, he saw Patchwork and Skinner run in. The doctor threw an unraveling trail of bandages, wrapping around his limbs and neck as well as Abbas’s stomach. He threw a few needles into Xole’s arms, “Leave those for five minutes, Xole. Abbas, I gave you ointment but we’ll need to fall back. This enemy is…” he shook his head, “unlike anything we’ve dealt with.”

  “Fall back?” Abbas said. He glanced to Xole, who was shivering and moving behind him. The boy’s eyes stuck on the area where the woman had been blown up.

  “He’s right Abbas!” Xole said, “We…we can’t beat her! She’ll kill us—heck she almost killed you!”

  “…I see.” The large man said. “You may leave, young one, but the rest of us shall stay so that you can escape.”

  Xole blinked hard, “Huh, what?”

  “But understand this, she will fall.” Abbas said, “And for your sake, you must understand that in this world, there is no wall that cannot be crossed, no matter the risk.” He narrowed his gaze up, “This is something you must know.”

  Xole looked at Abbas from behind. For a moment, he was back in Amesworth, watching Gus use his Talent against the woman without a second thought. Shaking his head he gritted his teeth and stepped to Abbas’s side, the aching in his body subsiding with every step.

  Noticing that, the large man grinned a little and looked forward again, “M.I.R.S has made a grave mistake coming down here.”

  Patchwork’s eyes drooped even more, “Fine, fine! But we still need a plan. She’s not like the Red Collar from Red Wednesday.”

  “We don’t have time,” he replied, “And we aren’t the same people from that day either…” He reached behind him and took out a sparkly green crystal. He swallowed it, his body tensing with a sickly yellow, red aura, and the bandages flying off, revealing his fully intact stomach once again. The doctor’s face turned to worry.

  “Abbas, are we really gonna do that?”

  “Yes,” He said, “Everyone, now!”

  “Well shit!” Salamander said, taking a crystal out from behind him and crunching it. Spit-take, Patchwork, Snap, and even Trix all did the same, their bodies sharing similar violent jolts and twitches before calming with release of sickly Gi from their backs. Skinner looked around with a sad expression, “What about me?”

  Trix shook her head, “Not you. You’re far too rowdy when you use enhancers. Not to mention you’re already too addicted in the first place.”

  Abbas eyed her but looked back at the man and nodded. Slumping his shoulders, the red-haired man dropped his head while the rest of the Groundhogs surrounded Xole, all sharing similar looking auras.

  “Xole,” Snap said, “You need some too?”

  “I—”

  “If you don’t want it I’ll take it!” Skinner chirped.

  “Don’t start, Skinner,” Trix hissed.

  “Let’s hold off for now,” Patchwork said. “We don’t know how his body will react in the state it’s in.” His eyes went to their upper right, “And we can’t afford to be sloppy right now.”

  From high above they saw Anastasia standing on the edge of the destroyed walkway, her curious glare stuck to all of them. She removed her coat, letting it fall next to her. She craned her own neck, flexing her fingers.

  “That’s seven, Haven.”

  After what felt like an eternity of mindless wandering, Mr. Holdover found himself tuning the same corner in one of the tunnels, making his way forward though the familiar cold, narrow and jagged path.

  “Damn thing!” he cursed. The sight looked all too familiar to when they first entered the underground. “Did these dumbasses ever think that these fucking mazes can be used against them too?!”

  Then he heard moaning from inside the wall.

  “Huh?” he leaned on the wall, only for it to give to a door, swinging open and greeting him to the sight of pink trails along the walls. He carefully stepped inside, looking over his shoulder to the entry way, before stepping ahead.

  The strands grew thicker, turning to gobs, accompanied with blood splatters. Moving closer, his brow shifted, seeing numerous limbs and even an opened mouthed head sticking out from the substance. He placed the back of his finger on the person’s pale face and shook his head.

  “Damnit,” he said. He looked around at the sticky, bloody mess, “And this stench…is this pink shit gum?”

  “Ta, ha! Pink ‘shit’?” a female voice said. From the distance Mr. Holdover saw two figures approach from the dark of the hall; a young man and woman. The man wore braids and chains on his neck and wrist, and a woman dressed more simply with a trail of gum hanging from her mouth.

  ‘Even the ponytails, so it is them…’ Mr. Holdover thought, eyeing their matching Dark Blue Collars. ‘Those uniforms. It’s just like what the files at the banks said,’ He moved to the side and yanked the face from the gum. Their body fell to the ground.

  “Don’t bother,” the woman chuckled, “he’s already been chewed. Just like the rest of them.”

  ‘So these are people,’ he continued, looking at the masses of gum around them, ‘and it looks like she sapped their Gi with that damn gum.’

  “And for the record it’s bubble gum!” she exclaimed, “Homeless fuck!”

  Mr. Holdover’s eyebrow twitched, “Who’re you calling a ‘homeless fuck’, bitch?”

  “Oh?” she said, her face changed to false concern. “I’m sorry, did that offend you?”

  “Yes, motherfucker, it did! That’s why their OFFENSIVE words!”

  The man squeezed his temples, shaking his head. “Quit wasting your time, Wollfe, we’re still looking for that gray haired punk’s buddies.”

  ‘What?’ Mr. Holdover’s brow furrowed.

  “Fine, fine,” She rolled her eyes, “we’ll pack him up and—”

  “Hey, the hell are you two on about?!” Mr. Holdover demanded, “What ‘gray haired punk’?!”

  The young man was about to say something but the woman put her hand before him, smirking, “Oh-ho you missed a show! We beat the living crap outta that kid! Tahaha! He also kept screaming like a little bitch, oh you should’ve seen it!” she laughed

  His teeth grit, “Is he dead?!!”

  “…Heh, I see,” the young man grinned to his partner, “You slick, Wollfe.”

  The older man’s face fell. ‘…Shit.’

  “Aw, thanks, A9,” she replied. She then leaned forward, to the older man, “Say, how did you enjoy your trip to Amesworth, or was it Haven?”

  Mr. Holdover grimaced, ‘The jig is up. Might as well go along for now,’ He put his hands up, “Ok, Blue shits, you got me. How did you know I was going after the President?”

  The two exchanged confused glances. Mr. Holdover’s expression changed.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ He thought. ‘If it’s not them then…’

  “Hey,” the young man said, “you gonna come quietly or no? Last chance!”

  Mr. Holdover didn’t say anything.

  “Think this one’s already broke,” the woman snickered, snapping her gum, “I think we’ve got our—”

  Before she could finish, the sight of the man’s fist overtook her sight, inches from her surprised face—which was already trying to blow a bubble.

  ‘CRACK!’

  The woman’s head violently recoiled back, sending her body flying down the pathway, her feet skidding along the ground towards the end near a steep drop. A chain shot around her waist, catching her before she could fall.

  “Jackie!!” the man yelled.

  “Its fine…” she slowly raised her head, the side of her gum-covered face with the indent of his fist. She grinned, tracing her tongue along her bleeding lips, her excited eyes fixed on the man, “I haven’t tasted something this good in a long time.”