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The engine of the early-nineties Ford Explorer revved up considerably as it picked up speed, zooming down the streets of the Big Apple’s suburbs. Evading traffic at the highest pace, and blasting past red lights, the SUV of four passengers was hauling ass. Zooming past cars, taxicabs and delivery trucks, the vehicle was quite an agile one for an old SUV featured on the first Jurassic Park film. At the helm was the ghetto vet Carmen, featuring Hugo and Silvia in the backseat, and guest starring her comrade-in-arms Liana in the cargo area. All of them were on the run, on the run from an enemy with unknown strength.

Twisting the steering wheel back into place after cutting a corner through the sidewalks and in between a few trees, Carmen kept the vehicle straight, speeding down the road. “What’s the closest safehouse on the way to Mayweather?” Carmen shouted to Liana, who was holding on in the rear cargo area.

“Safehouse Bravo!” Liana replied, aiming her suppressed Vector .45 through the closed back window. “It’s in between here and Mayweather, and if we get rid of these goons, we can stop there and rest before we head back to school!”

“Is it stocked?” Carmen asked, making another turn, getting right back on track.

“Yeah! Weapons, food, ammo, explosives, kush, you name it! Has its own vehicle too, so if you wanna blow this one up to leave the trail cold, you can!” Liana suggested. “Also keep the turns to a minimum! I don’t have your reflex powers to compensate my aim!”

“Do you wanna get fucking shot?! I’m trying to make it difficult for the assholes behind us!” Carmen shouted. “Also try avoiding any fatalities tonight! I don’t want this to come bite me in the ass if I have to negotiate!”

Liana nodded. “No promises!” She said, bringing her weapon to shoulder, aiming the EOTech holographic sight to any would-be attacker behind the vehicle.

Sylvia’s heart was pounding like the double bass in a death metal song. There she had been, awaiting a luxurious ride home at the side of the street, and now she was on a highway straight to hell, complete with corpses and all. “Who the fuck are you people?!” she screamed in desperation, demanding answers in the middle of a crisis. The Princess of Mayweather had no intention of dying with these maniacs, who had somehow pissed off someone powerful and their horde of undead servants. Her hands attempted to pry open the SUV’s door, but found that the child locks were enabled. There was no escape.

“Right now we’re all you got so you better keep your fucking head down if you wanna survive, princess!” Carmen replied as she maneuvered through traffic.

“They’re gaining on us!” Liana called out before aiming down the EOTech sights of her .45 ACP weapon, firing a few rounds from the back in an attempt to slow the pursuers down, aiming for their tires. However, the large bullets were only successful in hitting the pavement, the constant movement of both made it difficult for her to aim. “Shit!”

Hugo turned around in his seat to get a better view of what was going on behind them. Dozens of motorcycles were chasing after them, cars too, but what really caught his attention were the operators. The sight of decaying flesh was all he needed to see for terror to strike him, ”Mon Dieu, son une nuit des morts vivant.” The girl in the back was firing at them, but even as they were jostled around and her aim was off, he could see the bullets riddling the bodies. They were completely unperturbed at the sudden assault, pressing onward without so much as a flinch, and they were gaining on their car quickly.

The panicked angel didn’t know what to do in this situation, surrounded by homicidal strangers and hunted by… well, more homicidal strangers. The roar of what sounded like a hundred bikes’ engines flared up behind them and some grew nearer. Too close for comfort. Sylvia’s eyes reluctantly wandered to her window, spying the barrel of a submachine gun pointed straight at her. The wielder was a decayed middle aged man with no nose, a slit throat, and an eyeball hanging out. Another bloodcurdling scream pierced the atmosphere. Suddenly, a burst of radiant energy aimed outward shattered the window followed by a dazzling display of pale yellow light as Sylvia’s lengthy wings filled the SUV’s interior. One wing protruded out of the vehicle, while the other curled towards the driver’s seat, no doubt hindering their pilot’s vision.

The creature that had planned on ending the angel’s life crumpled into dust as the ray of light lanced through it. Just before its end, it shined with impeccable intensity, like a beacon for the damned. Apparently, even the weakest of Sylvia’s attacks were exceedingly effective against the undead. Sylvia paid no heed to the trouble her wings were causing the driver, honed in on eliminating the two cadavers that took the place of the first one. Again, two bursts, two piles of ashes, and two hurdling bikes. They were like lambs to the slaughter, easy targets for Radiance. If the dead had a Grim Reaper, its name was Sylvia Vargas.

The scream was his only warning as a bright light suddenly shot out from beside him, ”Merde!” Hugo was thrown back into his seat, catching a glimpse of a biker beside them suddenly vaporizing from the sudden light. At the same time Carmen was swerving like crazy on the road, one of the lights, a formed wing blocking her vision, ”Madame!” He lunged his arm out for the wing and pulled it back towards him, away from Carmen’s line of sight. At the same time he lunged for the other wing, pulling it back into the car and gripped onto the woman tightly beside him as she flailed and kicked about, ”Madame! You must calm yourself down, we are trying to save you, but you are making it very difficult for us with these outbursts!”

Carmen was desperately trying to keep the SUV on the road while simultaneously trying to lose their pursuers. However, hearing that scream, seeing that burst of light from the rearview mirror and the wings getting in her way, she gasped. “AH SHIT!!” She shouted, nearly crashing into a pole before turning the vehicle up towards the North, down the Hudson River, through the hood. The hood that belonged to her rival gang in the past, so if anyone fell of their bikes, well… they are in for a harsh beatdown!

Carmen sighed in relief once Hugo pulled the wing from her vision. “Fucking hell! I’m trying to drive here!” Carmen shouted. “Angel or not, I’m trying to get us out of here alive, so please stop acting like an obstructive bitch!”

Liana, on the other hand, saw all of that. Her eyes were wide with amazement… the hitwoman/assassin now mercenary couldn’t believe her eyes. “Holy shit, Carmen! I didn’t know you hung out with these kind of people! Shit!” Liana gasped, looking at the angel before her. “And the enemies are zombies too!”

“Then burn those motherfuckers!” Carmen shouted angrily. “Don’t let up!”

Eye twitch. Bianca Hart grasped tightly onto her piper flute as she bear witnessed to not one, but three of her babies instantly crumble to ashes, causing the now unoccupied bikes to tilt and crash into oncoming traffic. Her mouth went gaped and visible pain flushed over her face as if something had just been ripped from her heart. Her car wasn’t too far behind the rest of her horde. Urgently, her dark gaze scanned the main vehicle for the culprit. There was only one person who could have done this, the one with the blinding wings. Tilting her head at the mesmerizing, luminous sight, the necromancer examined the stranger. Gorgeous, red locks, fair skin, that would match wintery snow, thin figure, angelic aura, and… "Gregorio. I want her.”

“Another for your collection?” Beside Bianca, his mistress, was a man whose hat’s shadow obscured his eyes, who had a lit cigarette in between his lips, and who had various rings on his fingers. One single hand was on the steering wheel, as he nonchalantly swerved around traffic, not caring if he cut off vehicles which had a high possibility of causing accidents. With his free hand, he reached for the the volume knob and cranked up the meme song Hotline Bling by Drake because it amused him (also, maybe it could calm the woman to his right down?).

Tapping her flute against her left hand along with the slow beat of this stupid song, Bianca clicked her tongue in annoyance, “Only if she isn’t willing.” The pace of this chase was boring the Hart girl and she felt incredibly impatient. She wanted the angel. Now. The other two who trespassed the Maw were no longer her concern. Valerio would take care of them in time. Her heart was set on the prized jewel encircled by the creatures of the night, the morally corrupted, and the idiots that shared the same vehicle as the beaut. Bringing her instrument to her lips, she quickly played a quick tune. The sound resounded in the dark of the night and caused the undead on motorcycles to keep a short distance from the main vehicle and trail behind, on the sidewalks, “Don’t hurt her.”

Gregorio didn’t need to answer. She already knew he would comply. That’s how things always were since she was small. He was her grave digger, after all, a masterful one. Taking out the cigarette from his lips, he leisurely blew out smoke and with no signal or warning massive earth pillars started shooting up by the Explorer, even causing a empty pedestrian car to fly into the air. Yes, ladies and gents, Bianca’s main man was a Geomancer. Everywhere was his weapon. This was spectacular! Excitably, the insane Hart clapped her hands (yes with the flute still in her grasp) at the pleasurable performance.

“Don’t you fucking touch me! I didn’t need saving until you assholes dragged me into this!” Sylvia raged, slapping the dirty hippie across the face like a vengeful Valkyrie. How dare some lowlife touch her wings like that! Strangely, as the princess returned her gaze out onto the street behind them, the undead had paused their advance and hung behind the SUV. A smug smirk rose up on the redhead’s lips. Perhaps their master knew better than to throw their pawns into the fire.

Liana aimed down her EOTech sight, seeing how the goons on the motorcycles held back. “Heyo, Phoenix, the enemy is slowing down. Maybe they realized they bit off more than they could chew!” She smirked, aiming down her sights still as the SUV made its way into the wooded drive.

Carmen looked to the rear view mirror. “Don’t discount anything yet… they might have a few tricks up their sle-”

Shoom!

No sooner had the thought crossed their mind when a pillar of concrete lifted the left side of the SUV into the air. The vehicle came crashing down sideways with a metallic screech, now an inoperable husk that wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Had Sylvia, seated behind the driver, not been wearing her seatbelt, she might’ve collided with the hippie, but fortunately fate smiled briefly upon her today. Hanging from the straps, she knew that this battle had been lost. They weren’t going to be getting away on foot, now were they?

Wait a second… She almost wanted to slap herself. She could just fly away from this. “You know, I’d say it’s been nice knowing you, but… well, it hasn’t. Enjoy dying, or whatever.” the bitch snapped as she unbuckled herself and climbed out the broken window, toward the night sky. Sylvia was certain one or perhaps all of them might need medical assistance, but they certainly weren’t going to be getting that from her. Spreading her majestic wings out, the angel took flight and left the others for dead. Hopefully, her powers would hold out just long enough to get her somewhere safe…

Slapped across the face, Hugo grunted out loudly and just as suddenly as the accident happened, it rocked him around against his seatbelt. Pressed against the car, he turned to his side and noticed as the woman leapt from the vehicle, soaring away. Were he a normal person he might have considered her a total bitch, instead he retorted with, ”Well...that was incredibly rude,” he stated, rubbing his face from the woman’s onslaught, ”It seems our true line of defense has disappeared...no offense madame,” he stated to the woman in the backseat. Quickly Hugo looked himself over, luckily he made it out with only a few cuts and scrapes.

Carmen was still in her driver’s seat, incredibly wounded from what just happened. “Fucking bitch… I could’ve… evaded that…” Carmen whimpered, her stab wound now more severe, with some bruises and other wounds from the crash. “Oh my god… she’s so gonna get it when I get back Mayweather… oohhhh… fucking… gah…” She groaned weakly as she was still strapped to the driver’s seat, bleeding out.

Liana, on the other hand, looked back to Hugo. “Yeah… ow…” She groaned, sitting at the bottom of the wreck, bruised up too from being thrown around in the vehicle when it flipped over and ran into the forest. “Fucking…” She groaned, rolling over and looking for her Vector .45. “There you are…” She moaned, reaching over and grabbing her SMG. “God dammit…” She looked around as Carmen tried to free herself from the driver’s seat. “Uhh… I think I know where we are… our safehouse shouldn’t be that far from here. Uhhhnng… c’mon, it’s a bit of a walk… I’ll cover you guys.”

Oh, this just got easy. One last tune would be played for tonight. The rest of the horde slowly crept closer to their prey. The purring of the motorcycles filling the streets. Vrooom, vroooooom. A couple of the undead minions revved up their engine, toying with them. A tear trailed down Bianca’s cheek while she said her goodbyes through her song. The chances of her seeing her children again were slim to none, but she knew this is what she had to do. The game wasn’t over yet. It wouldn’t be over until they saw her brother. For now, she’d entertain them with a Halloween special.

Of course, Bianca had somewhere to be… there was a doll in the sky. It was only a matter of time when the redhead’s wings would give out and down, down, down she’d come, straight to where she belonged. “With me.”

Police and ambulance sirens could be heard from afar, in the wake of all of their chaos. Gregorio waited a few more seconds, observing the perpetrators scurrying away like the mice they were. Sighing to himself, he silently reversed the sports car and drove away from the scene… following the woman soaring in the sky.

Liana crawled out from the back tailgates of the wrecked Ford Explorer. Good thing she stole the vehicle… there’s nothing in there registered under them at all. Even the shells of the .45 bullets she fired were loaded with gloved hands. “Ugh… I swear to...” She groaned, busting open the window to the back of the Ford before crawling out of it, regaining her will to live and her energy, standing up on her two feet, submachine gun in hand. “Uhh… guys, the enemy’s closing in on us again…”

Unbuckling himself, Hugo brought himself to Carmen's side, “Mon, Cherie, are you alright?” It was clear she wasn't from the amount of blood he saw. “Hold on,” he grabbed her shoulder and looking through the windshield, teleported them outside, the two landing on the ground, “Are you alright to walk?”

Carmen groaned gently, whimpering just a little after she teleported on her two feet. She nearly collapsed after she teleported, but once she was on her two feet, she stood up, clutching her stab wound with her left arm to stop the bleeding. “Fuck… ughhh…” She groaned. “... yeah, I think so… I think it’s gonna be a while before I go fight with the SDF in Syria, babe…” She gave a soft smile, an inside joke referencing her first conversation with Hugo. “... the safehouse should be up ahead… I think I could make it in time to… heal… gahh, dammit!” She nearly collapsed again, whimpering, squeezing a few tears from her eyes. “No… no… I’ve been through worse… I ain’t gonna let a shitty ass broken bottle be the death of me…” She groaned, standing back up, using her right arm to pull out her holstered sidearm, clutching onto it. “C’mon, Liana will take us there. She knows the way…”

Hugo went to Carmen’s aid, grabbing her left arm and pulling it over him so that he could support her, ”Come now, Madame, I know you are stronger than this.” Despite his joking, he knew the situation they were in was bad, Carmen had it way worse with her wounds though. Their assailants however, no matter what they threw at them, they weren’t going to go down. ”If only I had my sword...I could slow them down.”

Liana looked to Hugo, covering them with her submachine gun as they struggled to get up. “Sword?” She looked to Hugo before pulling out her gladius from the back of her tactical vest, scabbard and all, before tossing it to Hugo, having the handle face him. “All yours.” She said before looking back to the road, where she saw the motorcycles approaching. “We gotta go, now." She said, her voice urgent. She then looked up into the dark forest, and to the road, visualizing her surroundings. “Head towards the moon! It should lead you straight towards the safehouse!” Liana said, pointing in the direction that they should go. “I’ll cover you!”

Carmen nodded. “You… you got it!” She panted, a little lightheaded. “C’mon... let’s go…” She said, attempting to walk as fast as she could in the direction Liana pointed towards.

Hugo caught the sword with ease, testing its weight. While it was much heavier than his katana, it was sizable and would definitely do some damage, ”Mercie, Liana!” By this point the undead were off their motorcycles, chasing down the group, with the way Carmen was moving, they would be on them in seconds. ”Mon Cherie, rest here a moment, I will be back,” Helping her towards a tree so she could stand, Hugo teleported away and right next to Liana.

Carmen nodded gently. “Thanks…” She groaned, leaning up against the tree, pointing her pistol towards the enemy. “... motherfuckers… going down…”

Lowering himself into a stance, scabbard in his left hand, pressed against his side, he readied his right hand on the hilt of the blade. Breathing in, and exhaling, he closed his eyes, snapping them open as the footsteps got closer, he unsheathed the blade in a flash. Blue streaks appeared at the legs of the dead and instantly they collapsed to the ground, their legs sliced clean off.

Liana was firing off two rounds per enemy, aiming for their upper chests and heads with her suppressed .45 submachine gun. Once one of them got too close, she aimed her gun towards him… and he collapsed, with blue streaks slashing him apart! Liana’s eyes opened wide, witnessing awesomeness once again. “Holy shit… Carmen managed to snag quite the help…” She smiled a little before immediately blasting the head of an approaching enemy in two, downing a few more. POP-POP! POP! POP-POP!

POW-POW! Carmen fired off her 9mm pistol as well, two rubber rounds bouncing off of the approaching undead with the force to stop him, before his head had a hole blasted into him with a hollow point round. “Undead… pendejos…” She groaned, shifting her aim to another approaching enemy, blasting him as well. Those two rubber rounds were intended for Lucas and Klaus, but situations are flexible.

Despite how quickly they were taking the undead down, they seemed to be getting back up, typical of a zombie to never stay down. ”This is a useless farce Madame, we must fly.” Sheathing the blade after another strike, he latched his hand onto Liana blinking the two of them beside Carmen. Once again he moved to have Carmen supported against him, wrapping her arm around his neck and shoulder. Once secured he held onto Liana and blinked a few times ahead, as far as he could possibly see, stopping after the fourth blink he asked, ”Where do we go from here?”

Liana felt a little weird after being blinked multiple times, but Carmen was already feeling weird, having lost a whole lot of blood. Once he asked where to go, she looked to Hugo. “Hang on…” She pulled out her smartphone, letting her submachine gun hang by the strap on her side. After a few apps and a little bit of loading, she loaded up Google Maps and the Compass. “Down there.” She said, pointing through the woods. “With your… weird… powers and stuff… we should be there in notime.” Liana said softly, looking to Hugo with a nod, indicating she’s ready. “And we gotta get there fast, Carmen’s not looking so good.”

“Are we there yet…?” Carmen asked, lightheaded.

“C’mon, Phoenix, stay with us now!” She patted her on the arm. “Don’t make me have to tell your friends the bad news!”

Were they not in such a bad spot, Hugo might have jested a little, but now wasn’t the time for jokes. ”Oui, Mon Cherie, tonight is not the night to meet the reaper.” Following Liana’s direction, he blinked a few more times ahead, giving time for Liana to familiarize herself with her surroundings, and tell them where to stop.

After many blinks, they would soon find a large abandoned industrial building surrounded by a rusty chain link fence, and a small clearing in the forest. There was a long dirt drive that was unmaintained, that led through the woods, and went towards the road that they crashed from (though it was a bit of a drive, and the building was hidden from most maps due to it being condemned). The building looked incredibly old, but Liana and Carmen smiled once they arrived there.

“Safehouse Bravo…” Carmen grinned lightly in hope. “... we’re here… we’re home…” She groaned, nearly stumbling.

Liana looked to Hugo. “This building is maintained on the inside, and is structurally sound. We have many comfortable bedrooms and living areas outfitted in the top offices, though the large interiors are still… shitty. Everything important is locked up, though.” She explained as they approached the fence. Once they blinked past the fence and approached the main entrance, Liana guided them in. “Welcome to Safehouse Bravo!”



Sylvia didn’t bother to look back and see how the others were faring. In fact, her dark eyes were glued to her phone as she nonchalantly followed the road northward. Up here, about four or five stories off the ground, what did she have to worry about? Her lithe fingers furiously wrote a text to the vampiress, Amelia, silently blaming this entire situation on her. If the blonde hadn’t left, then she wouldn’t have had to deal with a horde of the undead! And she wouldn’t have to leave those cretins, whoever they were, to fend for themselves! It was obviously Amelia’s fault that two people were probably dead now.

To: Amelia
We’re just not going to be friends, okay? You almost got me killed… But whatever, I guess.

Like lightning, karma struck as soon as Sylvia pressed the “Send” button. Her translucent wings dissipated and the redhead began to fall like the Tower of Terror, dropping her phone in the process. Shit, shit, shit! This was the problem with flying: her wings were notoriously unreliable, failing at the worst times possible. Plummeting, she was only able to reactivate her bright appendages for a split second, but that was enough to reduce the drag so that the impact below wouldn’t outright kill her though it was absolutely going to hurt. With no other options left, Sylvia closed her eyes and hoped for the best. The Princess of Mayweather ended up hitting the hood of a car with a loud bang, and near immediately, the girl’s consciousness faded as her face smacked into the thin metal.

Lips curved into a devilish grin in response to the sight of the glowing angel crashing down onto the hood of a sports car. Bianca’s Bugatti to be exact (with a dent now, how unfortunate). The car slowly pulled to the side as the brunette victoriously stretched, "Let’s go home, Greggy.” Without saying a word, the driver unbuckled himself and exited the vehicle. Striding to the front of the hood, Gregorio slid his hands under Sylvia and quietly flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Since the car did not have a back seat, he walked toward the passenger's side and placed the redhead on top of his mistress. Not needing to open the door since the roof was down.

Like a little girl being gifted a new toy, Bianca made sure the angel was nice and comfortable laying on top of her. Sylvia’s head resting on her shoulder. Peacefully sleeping. After her loyal servant returned to his seat, Bianca brought her pointer finger to her lips and whispered, "Shuuuuuush. She’s sleeping.”

After quite a long night of dancing, entering torture chambers, falling into dumpsters, driving like crazy in a stolen Ford Explorer, and stumble-teleporting through the woods, Carmen, Hugo and Liana made it to Safehouse Bravo, a large industrial building left standing in the woods of upstate New York. The building itself was falling apart with overgrown plants surrounding it on the outside, and even looked like it in the large storage area inside as well, but the building was maintained structurally, and the main offices upstairs were refurbished into very nice living spaces. Inside the main storage area was that of an older New York city services Jeep Cherokee, as well as many old crates and a bunch of traffic lights piled up on top of more crates. While all of this was a facade, the reality was locked away in the upstairs living area, where the real safehouse is at.

The upstairs area, towards the back of the building was closed off by commercial-grade steel doors that are normally locked by a keypad (as one couldn’t carry keys with them all of the time). Liana remembered the passcode when they got there, and it led up into a nice lofty area that came with a living room and a kitchen, to which Liana referred to simply as ‘The Loft’. There were also bedrooms in the safehouse, and while they were somewhat nice, they were also a little filthy. A large storage room, locked away by another keypad, was used as security office, complete with monitors that had running cameras, ham radio sets, and a fully stocked armory with rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, pistols and explosives. It was a nice place that had everything a safehouse needed, and it was one of many that Carmen and her friends had dotted along Upstate New York.

That night, as soon as they arrived there, Carmen’s wounds were immediately addressed, where her lower back had a massive stab wound from a broken glass bottle (and made much worse by the accident, tearing muscle and skin further apart). Liana, while she was an expert at killing, she learned how to heal herself when she received retaliation, and used this skill to help Carmen out. Having taken out all of the glass shards and cleansed to wound, she immediately stitched it up, put a lot of healing creams and fluids on it, and slapped a bunch of sterile gauze on it, and a large pad to help stop the bleeding. The healing process was incredibly painful for Carmen, but after a joint or two, it helped her settle down.

Much later, Carmen sat in the loft, with the massive bandage underneath her shirt and N7 jacket she still wore. Joint in hand, she watched TV on the couch while Liana kept watch on the security cameras. Beforehand, both she and Carmen had reloaded their weapons and stocked themselves up just in case if they were still being pursued, Carmen switching back to her much favored and very deadly FNX-45 tactical instead of her smaller P99. She relaxed as she watched the flatscreen in front of her, head on a pillow as she lied sideways on the couch. Fresh Prince of Bel Air was on TV that night, and Carmen enjoyed it somewhat.

After arriving and helping Carmen into a room where Liana could work on her, Hugo felt it best to give the girls some privacy and asked to use the bathroom. There he stripped down and used the shower, allowing the warm water to ease and relax his muscles. While he had taken minimal damage during the engagement, he still felt a little worn, it wasn’t exactly often that he was thrown into life or death situations. It also gave him time to think, to reflect on their choices, though it mattered little, knowing him, he’d forget everything in the morning. C’est la vie, he chuckled to himself as he turned off the water and toweled off. There weren’t any spare clothes to change into, so he simply put on the ones he wore at the club, leaving the shirt open, revealing his bare chest.

Stepping out of the bathroom and into the living area he saw Carmen resting on the couch, it seemed she had taken the healing well. Walking towards the chair opposite to her, drying his golden locks he said, ”You’re looking much better, but it appears I was right,” he sat down, ”It seems you do live a dangerous lifestyle.” Hugo chuckled a little, a gentle smile on his face. ”How are you feeling, Mon Cherie?”

Carmen chuckled a little, looking to Hugo. “Eh… so far this was the worst that has ever happened to me. Normally I get out of these kinds of… things unscathed.” She said with a smile, before sitting up. “Ow... fuck, still hurts.” She grunted as she sat up, cringing a little from the sharp pain. “It’s gonna be a bit before I recover though, assuming that no one at Mayweather could heal me up… it’s only just to stop the bleeding.” She explained. “Mmnn… Liana’s in the security box if you wanna see her.” She said, stretching a little.

He winced a little at her obvious discomfort, but other than that, she definitely looked much better. ”Oui, I’ll have to give her my thanks, the sword she gave me was very useful indeed.” He stood up and draped the towel over the chair he was in before approaching Carmen and taking a seat next to her, ”I believe that can wait though, after all I did ask you to dance, not Liana.” He frowned a little, a revelation dawning on him, ”I feel I must apologize, had you not danced with me, you might have concluded your business unscathed.”

Carmen nodded with a soft smile. “Yeah… We got plenty of shit, so whatever you need, just feel free to ask. You were incredibly helpful in our escape so, uh, as far as I know, I’m happy to call you my homeboy.” She said with a soft smirk. Once he sat next to her, she continued to watch TV. Once he apologized, she frowned too. “Hermano, don’t blame yourself.” She said, patting him on the shoulder before looking down for a moment. “Yeah… I did go to see this guy named… Mr. Allen. Huh. I doubt he’s behind all of this though.” She said softly. “And besides… I learned that the place was under control of some Mafia assholes while we were dancing, I’m equally at fault for ignoring my friends when they told me.” She said. “And… yeah. I had them spy on me from a black van a quarter mile away.” She chuckled, before thinking. “Speaking of which…” She then called out to Liana. “Hey! Liana! Have the team report in! I wanna make sure they’re alright!”

“You got it boss!” Liana called out from the security room down the hall.

”Mercie, Carmen.” A small smirk on his face, as she explained her reasons and actions for being at the club tonight he nodded. ”Perhaps I was wrong to say you are a spy, though you seem more Mission Impossible than James Bond if you were one.” He chuckled a little, and noticed the joint in her hand, that familiar fragrance wafting in his nose. ”May I?” When he was handed the joint he brought it up to his lips and took a hit, holding the smoke in his lungs before exhaling, ”I suppose I was successful in one thing tonight,” he took another hit, ”I did give you a night to remember, though it didn’t turn out the way I had originally intended.” He chuckled again, passing the joint back to her.

“Eh… well, I always thought myself of a… criminal version of Sherlock Holmes, or… Denzel Washington’s character in The Equalizer.” She said, passing the joint to him. “A night to remember? This is a night me and Liana are never gonna forget!” She laughed. “Fuck, I mean I nearly got killed by a broken glass bottle in a motherfucking dumpster. If that isn’t fucking embarrassing, I don’t know what is!” She chuckled, taking the joint back. “It’s fine, either way... sex is great and all but, I don’t really learn much from it.” She said, taking a hit herself. “What happened just now? That was all a really, really big learning experience. I ain’t gonna do any of that shit again!” She chuckled. “And if I’m about to, I’m gonna make sure my friends stop me, well, uh… they actually did try when I was in Delirium.” She thought for a moment. “Oh well. Hehe.”

While at the time it was pretty serious, now that the danger had passed, it was actually pretty funny. The weed didn’t help to make it any less so as Hugo laughed along with Carmen. ”You don’t learn anything from sex? Perhaps you just don’t have a good enough teacher, or the proper ‘study material’.” Taking the joint from her, finishing his sentence with another hit.

“Mmmhmhmmh~” Carmen chuckled at his statement. “Smooooth~” She chuckled sarcastically, lightly hitting him on his shoulder. “Ahh… last time I did it…uh... was with a woman, believe it or not.” She said softly. “It… felt so wrong, yet it… felt right.” She said with a soft smile. “Better than any man I’ve slept with, I’d say…” She chuckled a little. “If you stick it out with me, you might be able to meet this woman.” She said with a soft smile. “But if you can top her, I’d do it with you again, and again…, until someone beats your high score.” She said with a lusty grin, leaning over towards him, running her hand along his chest. “For me, until I find the man or woman I love with all my heart, I only restrict access to the best. So… if you wanna prove it, the bedroom is right down the hall.” She grinned, gesturing towards the hallway across from them.

”Last time, I was with a man, and a woman, there is no shame in it Carmen, love comes in all forms.” He smiled as he listened to her challenge, that ever familiar look of want and lust displayed. His face soon followed suit, ”I’d most certainly be willing Mon Cherie,” a small flash of concern did cross his face, ”But are you sure you are up for it? Your wounds I mean, I wouldn’t want to do something so robust as to make you bleed again.”

Carmen grinned at his acceptance, and after standing up with a little pain, she shook her head. “Ahh, well, we’re doing it in bed so… I think I’ll be better off.” She said with a soft smirk. “Let’s go, hombre~” She gestured to him teasingly, leading him through the hallway and into one of the bedrooms (the one farthest away from Liana for Liana’s sake). “Mmnnn… you ready as I am?” She asked, unzipping her leather N7 jacket before throwing it onto a nearby chair, revealing her grey shirt and her shoulder holster that carried her radio, handgun and the ammo for it.

He followed the teasing woman into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a soft click. Approaching the darker skinned woman, he let his shirt slide off his body, tossing it on top of her jacket. ”Only if you are ready to receive a proper lesson, Mon Cherie” He said the last part a bit seductively, his hand gently brushing her cheek as he leaned in close for a kiss.

Carmen gave a hot moan before closing her eyes, kissing him back. “Mmn…” She blushed a little, letting her shoulder holsters slide off of her torso and slowly onto the chair behind her. “Yes…” She moaned gently, closing her eyes and kissing him along his neck. Pressing her hand against his chest, she grinned slightly, letting him show his affection towards her as she took off her shirt, revealing that she had quite a nice set underneath, with a bra that showed off her assets quite nicely. She smirked. “Impressed?” She asked. “The women on the side of the bad guys often have the bigger package.” She said, raising an eyebrow jokingly.

Her caresses and kisses were heavenly, eliciting soft groans from the male. Pleasure on its own was nice, but coupled with a nice high, the effects were significantly heightened. She stepped back a moment to strip her shirt off, revealing more of the dark beauty before him. At her inquiry he answered simply, ”Magnifique,” before pressing towards her, helping her to gently lay down on the bed, careful not to touch her wound.

Carmen smirked at his reply. “Mmmn… you’ll get plenty of it in just a second~” She teased, and once she was pressed towards the bed, she moaned gently, and once she was laid down, she bent a little and immediately winced. “AAII!!” She yiped out in pain, feeling her wound. “Aaaiii...Owowowow… ouchie… fuck…” She groaned, sitting back up almost immediately. “Owww… fucking hell…” She winced. “Damn… yeah you’re right, what the fuck… that hurt like a motherfucker… yeah I don’t think I can do this right now…” She said apologetically, wincing in pain. “Yeah that… that hurt… alot.” She moaned. “Uhh, do you accept rainchecks? I’ll let you play with my tits for free…”

Hugo looked at her with a worried expression as she cried out in pain, he knew that she was not up for something like this, but they at least tried. At her offer of a raincheck and fondle, he chuckled softly, ”There is no need to push yourself Mon Cherie, we ca-”

Almost immediately, the door to the bedroom opened, revealing Liana, with a concerned look on her face. “Hey Carmen, are you alriiii-” She trailed off, looking at the scene before her. A shirtless Hugo, a shirtless Carmen, sitting on the bed, incredibly close. “Uhhh…” Liana stood there, absolutely still, awkward as all hell.

Carmen put her hand up. “Liana… it was just a little-”

“You guys didn’t invite me?” Liana asked, frowning. “I kinda wanted to unwind a little myself!”

Carmen now felt just as awkward as Liana did. “You know?” She asked, in regards to her being attracted to women as well.

“You and Sukaina are a very terribly kept secret, you know.” Liana pointed out.

Carmen fell silent.

Hugo looked back and forth between the two as the scene unfolded, surprised, but not embarrassed, though even he could tell the scene was awkward for the two. ”Carmen, I know you are feeling pained, but I do want you to feel pleasure, and well, a man does have more tools at his disposal than just his tool. Liana wants to unwind and to have a man and a woman at your side.” He looked carefully between the two, ”Perhaps we can come to a compromise?”

Liana looked to Carmen, gesturing to Hugo. “He does have a point.”

Carmen looked to them both, and was silent for a moment before she shouted. “NO!” She threw her hands up. “Not now, okay? I’m sorry, I can’t do this!” She sighed. “Okay, I guess I owe you both a raincheck, okay? And I guess that’s more of an incentive for you to get me to Mayweather to find a healer too.” She said, gesturing to Liana. “Listen, both of you guys did a great job in saving my life, you’re both awesome, and you guys totally deserve it, and I’d love to fuck the both of you, but… just… wait until I can at least bend?” She sighed. "Jesus..." She stood up. “Ow…” She whimpered a little before walking off.

Liana watched Carmen as she passed her, before turning back to Hugo. She cringed a little. “Sorry about that…” She said softly, in regards to ruining their moment.

Hugo’s eyes widened at Carmen’s sudden tirade and he stood up and stepped back a little, letting the young woman vent out before she left the room. At Liana’s apology he ”C’est la vie, Liana. We’re all a little ragged after our escape, no?” He went over and grabbed his shirt from the chair and threw it over his shoulder. ”Perhaps it is best if we all rested a little now,” he said stepping past Liana, ”Although, the offer is open if you needed to unwind still.” he said with a smirk on his face.

Liana listened, nodding. “Yeah.” She sighed softly. “You two go ahead and get comfortable, I’ll arm up the safehouse before I hit the hay as well.” Once he stepped past her and offered, she grinned a little. “I appreciate the gesture, and while it is nice to have a dick every now and then, I think I’d rather pass after what just happened. Besides I gotta make sure that the murder biker zombies don’t come after us again, so...” She poked him in between his chest. “I bid you... goodnight.” She said before walking off towards the security room.

Watching as she walked away Hugo gave a small sigh, ”Bonne Nuit, Madame.” From there he entered one of the bedrooms and flopped on the bed, quick to fall asleep.

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“I can tell you this: You should get new friends, if you can call them that. I have seen Gianna’s fall, and with her, the rest of her pawns."

Keats wasn't sure how long he'd been running around the track, but it had definitely been a while. Call it dedication or some other bullshit feel-good term if you wanted, but it was more of an attempt at self-destruction, anger swirling through him ever since he woke up. There were a lot of things going on, and he wasn't sure about any of them. All he knew was that he'd been going for long enough and fast enough that it was starting to hurt. That familiar burn in his muscles as he kept on running. That was good. What he was looking for.

Yeah, he deserved that. Deserved a hell of a lot more than that, with the thoughts that just kept circling and circling around his head. Thoughts that told him to leave everyone behind, to just stop trying to watch their backs. Be his own man - what kind of disloyal backstabbing bullshit was that? He chose to stick with them, with Luke. He chose to take on each and every one of those Mayweathers. He chose it. It was always his decision, he was already his own man. They'd stick by him, he could trust them.

"They will not help you. They will not save you from what is to come. Don’t be collateral damage; find your own way out of the chaos.”

Despite what he told himself, he couldn't help but dwell on it. Keats found himself distracted, not really paying attention to where he was running at all. Losing his footing, he went over his ankle, twisting it and falling to the ground. What was wrong with him lately? He hadn't been himself. He knew what had brought this on today - stupid freaky girl and her talk about seeing the future, but it had been going on for more than that. His ankle throbbed - normally he'd go get it healed, but today he needed it there. Needed something real, something he understood.

Besides, maybe he really did deserve this. This wasn't what he was meant to be. Who he was meant to be. He was a successor to the family name. The only successor, now. Had to be a villain, and a damn good one, or he was letting them all down. Not like that was anything new. For all his training, all his bluster, Keats was never able to match up. Always second place. So why was he even bothering?

Maybe he just wasn't cut out to be a villain - no. That couldn't be it, he wouldn't let that be it. Couldn't let that be it. Nah, he had to be strong enough, there wasn't another option. He stood back up, fabric wrapping tightly around his ankle, enough to support it but not enough to stop the jolt of pain every step he took. A reminder to himself to stop being such a coward about everything, he guessed.

He checked the time. That was right, he had a meeting, didn't he? With a sigh, he walked back towards the building, head held high and walking strong, not showing any reaction to the pain as he entered. It was bad enough dealing with his own thoughts, but Keats wasn't about to let anyone else see him looking weak. Besides, maybe she'd just been messing with him. Maybe none of what she'd said was true. If it was though...

"Sometimes its fun knowing what others don't. Other times... I'm not so sure."

He smiled bitterly to himself as he walked across campus. He had a lot of questions, and no real answers to any of them. Maybe Lyla really knew something he didn't, or maybe she was just a crazy bitch looking to fuck with his head. He couldn't exactly ask her about it. Had a feeling she wasn't lying when she said he wouldn't see her again, if nothing else.

---

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Ah, shit.

Amy squinted up at the ceiling, getting the feeling that she'd maybe had a little too much to drink. The night was... Blurry, at least for most of the time she'd spent inside the club. She could remember coming in, the first little while of the night, then... Well, not too much. Let's see... Vague feelings of regret? Does that count as remembering? Judging by past experiences, she'd have found some way to mess up. How badly - or not badly - was a mystery to her. Yay for good decisions. Go me.

Come to think of it, she definitely remembered making someone a little angry. Judging by the lack of any kind of injury, at least she figured she hadn't been stupid enough to escalate any kind of fight in the middle of Delirium, which was mildly comforting. No super-powered thugs were going to come and break her limbs without warning or anything like that, so it could probably be worse. Time to get up and face the day.

With a sigh, she sat up. Somehow, this seemed like it might be a pretty long morning. Well, maybe she could think of it as a learning experience? Just as the thought crossed her mind, the alarm on her phone decided it was the perfect moment to ring. Loudly. With a groan, she scrambled to switch it off as quickly as she could. So much for positive thinking. Nope. Never mind. She could do without this particular learning experience, thank you very much.

What she could do with was a few more hours of sleep - or more accurately a few more hours staring at the ceiling without any more loud noises. Did she have classes today? Did she care if she had classes today? Skipping stuff probably wasn't the best idea, though. And it wasn't like she was capable of causing too much destruction anyway, and something important could always come up... Looks like I do care. Should probably get out of bed now.

Besides, she wasn't the most distinctive person anyway. As long as she kept her head down like normal, any and all potentially pissed-off people that could shoot magic beams out of their backsides probably wouldn't cause any trouble. It seemed like a sensible option anyway - both for herself and anyone else in the general area. Also whoever had to clean up the school after people got obliterated. That job would probably suck.

Anyway, there was stuff she had to do. Nothing too flashy until she decided to get started, though. Of course she could technically do whatever she wanted or needed to, so long as she could make sure no-one figured her out. Flying under the radar was the only way she'd be able to work anything out around here - being an outsider to the whole mess.

Not that she could really work things out on her own, but it was hard to think of anyone that'd help her out. Seemed like most people were already associated with either side in the great Mayweather vs Delphina shitstorm of 2016 - which kind of ruled them out. As she started to get dressed, Amy figured she might as well spend some time thinking about it during the day.

Not like there's anything better to do, is there?

The next morning was quite uneventful. Things have died down from the night before, and while the rest of Carmen’s team reported in to be safe the night before, as they are chilling out in the stronghouse (a safehouse complete with underground bunkers), Carmen decided to have Liana accompany her for an indefinite amount of time until she feels safe without her. After that encounter with Witching Hour last night, she couldn’t trust anyone from the Delphina camp (not like she trusted many of them to begin with, though Benny was an exception). While Carmen had healed a bit in her sleep, the wound was still pretty deep and it still hurt whenever she moved in that area, or whenever she had to use the restroom. It really sucked, and she had to take a few painkillers and smoke a few joints in order to ease her pain.

Hugo awoke with a big yawn and an even bigger stretch, gently raising himself up as he scratched his lower back. He hadn’t slept that well in a long time, his body seemed physically pleased with itself, perhaps he had gotten in a good workout before sleep? Yawning once more before fluttering open his eyes, he took a quick surveillance of his surroundings..hmm definitely not his room, and not any room that looked familiar to Mayweather’s dorm layouts. Perhaps he had gone out the night before? Made his way to some person’s apartment in the city? He was alone though, that could mean whoever he had spent the night with was already up and about. Looking around further he spotted his clothing and some machete next to it, who’s was that anyway? Shrugging it off he stepped out of bed and started throwing his clothes onto his person.

Having already ate breakfast (Carmen fixed up some breakfast burritos), Carmen and Liana were preparing to leave for Mayweather, in hopes of getting everything sorted out, and settling down once again. Carmen looked up to Liana as Liana was packing a duffel bag with medical supplies, survival gear and ammunition.

“I’m trying to figure out how I could have you travel with me on the premises, they probably wouldn’t like the idea of having you around.”

Liana thought about it. “I could be your tutor or something. A chaperone.” Liana smirked. “Be that embarrassing mom that you never had.”

Carmen chuckled a little at Liana’s remark. “That’s not gonna work.” Shaking her head, Carmen thought about it some more. “Huh… you’re a good fighter and a good shooter, almost as good as me, right?”

“Almost.” Liana nodded. “Where are you getting at?”

“I could just say that you have the same powers I do.” Carmen shrugged. "I mean it’s worth a shot.”

Liana leaned forward. “Carmen, you don’t have to have me watch your back everywhere you go, you know. I could simply stick around nearby and dick around in the car while you’re attending classes.” Liana said, in an attempt to reassure Carmen. “I’ve done hits in which I stayed in a Crown Vic for 2 days straight. I can handle a few hours at a time.”

Carmen looked to Liana. “You do understand that we both nearly got killed, right? Just because we ended up entering a room while being fucking drunk?” She sighed. “Just make sure that we have at least three grenades in the glovebox. You can never be too sure.”

Liana let her shoulders hang, looking quite annoyed. “I assume this is your first time having a near-death experience?” She asked, slightly annoyed. “I nearly died like… 5 times. I’ve been there, it’s scary as fuck.” She explained. “However, you’re being too paranoid. I know, I’ve been there, but it’s not gonna do you any good. Besides, we can’t have grenades in the glovebox anyway, that’s overkill and it can throw us in prison.”

Carmen sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.” She said. “Just at least pack in whatever you can print fake licenses for. No automatics." She said softly. "And remember, we're gonna have to keep these weapons hidden in the truck instead of on our persons. I'm not in the mood for getting expelled."

Liana nodded, packing in a few FN Five Sevens as well as a few PS90s into the duffel bag. “Yeah we’re gonna have to stick with small stuff for now, and hide the large stuff in our new vehicle once we get it.” Liana said. “These weapons do just the job for us.” She said, packing the ammunition for the weapons into the bag with everything else. “No ricochet, no overpenetration, no collateral damage, and pierces most forms of armor. Perfect defense weapons if you ask me.”

Carmen eyed Liana before shrugging. “Whatever makes you sleep at night, hermana.”

Fully dressed Hugo walked down a hallway, looking around for who ever lived in this apartment. Looking around a corner, he spotted two rather beautiful women, looks like he did get lucky. His eyes wandered down however to things they were packing though, guns, armor, utilities, his eyes widened. Did he bed himself two gang girls? The mafia? Mon Dieu, how’d he end up with this? Regardless he’d have to play it cool, like he always did, and if things got hairy, it's not like they’d expect anyone to just poof away right?

”Bonjour Mademoiselles!” His tone was light hearted as he stepped into the room and around the two girls to the closest window. He pulled down the shade a little bit and was only slightly disappointed to realize he didn’t know where he was, but at least safe enough to jump away if need be. That being said, it was clear he wasn’t in some New York City apartment, he was somewhere out in the woods in what appeared to be a warehouse setting, maybe he was with a couple of gang girls. ”I take it we’re a little ways out from the city no?”

Carmen looked up and smiled to Hugo once he entered, happy to see him up. “Hugo!” She grinned. “Did you grab something to eat yet, sleepy head? I didn’t wanna wake you up too soon.” She said, her voice incredibly friendly, happy to see him. As he walked to the window, she looked for other things to pack into another bag.

Liana looked up to Hugo. “Hey man.” She greeted him with a soft smile. At his question regarding their location, Liana nodded. “Yeah, we’re bit away from New York City, but we’re still a bit aways south of Mayweather. We’ll be heading there shortly after we’re done packing up.” Liana said. “There’s no rush though, you can take your time in whatever you need to do.”

He breathed a silent sigh of relief, it turns out these women were with Mayweather, then why were they packing so much heat on them? Despite that, it’d be suspicious if he didn’t answer their questions, ”Ah, no, I have not eaten yet, I don’t usually eat breakfast in the morning, though I appreciate your kindness for holding me up last night. He turned away from the window and plopped himself down on the sofa, and watched as they continued to pack up their gear. He couldn’t help but notice how excessive it was and couldn’t help but comment on it, ”That's quite a lot of gear you are both packing Madames, I don’t suppose you’re going to have a war with Delphina now, no?”

Carmen looked to Hugo and nodded. “I understand, but if you’re ever feeling hungry, we can get you something along the way.” She said before packing the bag with nonperishable foods and medicines, as well as ramen. At his question regarding the weapons they’re packing, Carmen and Liana both looked at him, confused at his question. “Hm? No!” She chuckled. “They’re just personal defense weapons, and we’re going to store them in our jeep for the time being. Don’t you remember getting fucking chased by those undead Mafia goons last night?” She laughed. “Besides, while I no longer trust Delphina, I’m not gonna try to kill anyone… yet anyway.”

Liana looked to Carmen with a soft smirk. “But you’re still getting ideas?”

Carmen gave an annoyed sigh to Liana. “No. I’m just saying that there is a chance that Delphina has a murderous asshole in their ranks that might try to fucking kill all three of us on sight, and I’m prepared for that possibility.” She said. “That’s all.” She looked to Hugo. “By the way, I still owe you and Liana for saving my life back there, really would’ve hate being done in by a broken bottle, I’d be the fucking laughing stock of the afterlife.” She chuckled lightly.

Hugo’s eyes widened slightly, perhaps he wasn’t wrong about the mafia part, but these girls clearly weren’t part of said mafia, Saving her life? Done in by a bottle? What the hell had Hugo gotten himself into this time? ”R-right, yea, how could I forget? Well, don’t worry about me, I’ll be hungry by lunchtime, best we get ourselves off to Mayweather then, right, Madames?” He started walking towards the entrance of the living space, peeking around the corners. For once, he felt...slightly nervous. Gun toting ladies, mafia involvement, near death experiences. ”Er...where is the bathroom?”

Both Liana and Carmen were a little off-put by his reaction to what they were saying. While Carmen was surprised, Liana studied him like a book while he spoke. Carmen looked to Liana before looking back to Hugo, nodding softly. “Yeah…” Once he asked about the bathroom, it started to come to her slowly. “Just at the end of the hall, to the right.” She said, gesturing to the door.

Liana looked to Hugo, with a little bit of an accusing countenance. “You don’t remember a thing that happened last night, do you?”

”What?” he laughed jokingly, turning around ”Of course I-,” he stared at the intensity of accusatory woman’s face, and felt slightly unnerved. Suddenly he looked away and scratched the back of his head, ”Heh...guess I’m found out huh?” He looked back up at the two sheepishly, ”No...I don’t remember...I don’t know what happened last night, how I got here….who you two even are...which I apologize if we all got...rather intimate with one another.” He gripped onto his hair a little more tightly.

Liana nodded with a sarcastic “Uh-huh.” at Hugo’s first reaction, but once he pleaded guilty, she gave a soft sigh. At that, however, Carmen looked incredibly heartbroken.

“But…” Carmen stammered. “...we were dancing, and we ended up in this crazy ass chase with a bunch of undead mafia goons, and you… teleported this angel bitch into the truck and…” Carmen frowned. “I nearly died from falling into a… dumpster and a glass bottle stabbed me… it hurt like a bitch.” She brought up her shirt, showing off her wound, which had a massive patch with spots of blood over her lower right back. “I lost a lot of blood, and you helped us get here. I would’ve died if it were any other way.” She said softly, her eyes getting misty. “How can you forget all of this? After all we’ve been through? Christ, we nearly fucked!” Carmen sighed, squeezing out a tear.

Liana, however, appeared to be upset too, but not as much as Carmen was. She was nearly stoic, but hints of sadness was on her face. She didn’t say a word.

Carmen swallowed. “We’ll still get you to Mayweather, but…” She sighed. “... you’re gonna have to watch your back. We don’t know if the goons have any connections with people in Delphina… other than Gianna of course.”

Hugo’s heart suddenly felt like it was breaking, it wasn’t the first time he had met a woman who he had completely forgotten, it was just...something he had to deal with. ”Listen, um...Madame...you will...have to forgive me for not remembering, I…” he scratched his head, looking off to the side. He always felt awkward having to explain himself, he’d gotten more slaps to the face because of this than he could recount (obviously). ”I suffer from something...rather rare...something that...prevents me from remembering things clearly, at least in my mind.”

He felt extremely bad, even he noticed the tears produced, ”I appreciate the ride to Mayweather...but if you’ll allow me the chance, I would like to show you something….” He looked to Carmen with sincere eyes, ”Please, Madame, it would explain things better than I can…”

Both of them listened to what he had to say in response, and Carmen nodded softly, wiping away her tear. It wasn’t often she cried, but it felt like she just lost a friend this morning. Someone that she was proud to call Hermano. Now he no longer remembers the entire experience that brought them together as friends (with benefits), and it was enough to shatter Carmen’s heart.

“I see…” Carmen nodded gently once Hugo said that he had a condition that makes him forget. That must be the worst thing ever, to suffer from amnesia almost every single morning. She wasn’t the only one who had suffered from loss here, and she could clearly see that. However, once he offered to show her something, Carmen nodded. “If it helps.” She said softly, her voice a whole lot more quiet than it normally was.

Liana simply listened, before looking down. She looked back up to Hugo, and then noticed that he didn’t have the Gladius that she gave to her. “The… sword that was with you, it’s yours.” Liana said. “I gave it to you when we were fighting the undead bad guys, and let you keep it when we got here. But… if you don’t want it, I can take it back if you’d like.” She said, nodding.

”Sword?....Oh the machete in the room I was in?” He couldn’t help but chuckle a little, ”I see...so we must have run into some real trouble if you gave me a sword then. Wait here.” He ran back to the room he woke up in, grabbing the blade before walking out into the room with the two women. He unsheathed the blade and tested it a bit, ”Hm...A bit wider and heftier than I am used to, but I see why you gave it to me...I asked for it...no? Why else would you have given it to me?”

Liana gave a soft smile once Hugo retrieved the modern gladius she gave him, and once he unsheathed it and swung it around a little, she nodded softly. “Yeah, we were in the woods a few klicks southeast of here, the truck crashed and Carmen was severely wounded.” She said softly. “Carmen had a 9mm pistol and I had a Kriss.” She said, gesturing to the suppressed SMG that sat on top of the weapons locker. “You wanted to fight, and wanted a sword… and I happened to have one so… we all kicked ass together.” Liana said with a soft smile. “You were great too, it looks almost beautiful and mesmerizing seeing you fight... with these blue glowing streaks, it was almost like watching a ribbon dancer.”

Carmen looked to Liana. “I vaguely remember that part…”

“That’s because you were too busy nearly dying from blood loss." Liana remarked.

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Ha ha.” She called out sarcastically.

So they really were in deep trouble if Hugo asked for a sword, which meant he had to use his powers. What could they possibly be fighting against that he’d go through lethal measures? Probably ‘the undead’ that was against them was doing the same, really though? Was that true?. Regardless he sheathed the blade and slung the weapon over his shoulder, if they were going back to Mayweather, there would be no issue with him carrying it. While one of them seemed understanding, the other still looked rather hurt, hopefully he could make it up to her, ”Alright, ladies, what can I do to help?”

Liana zipped up one of the duffelbags. “You and I will carry these into the Jeep parked downstairs, while Carmen…” Liana shifted her attention to the woman mentioned. “... cleans this place up and prepares for our exodus.”

Carmen sat there, silent. “Right.” She looked up to Hugo for a moment before looking away, zipping up her duffel bag before heading out the door.

Liana watched as Carmen left. “Decided that she needed space from you to calm down. Besides… these bags are a little heavy and she hasn’t healed yet.” She explained to Hugo as she stood up, picking up the duffelbag filled with weapons. “I’ll unlock the door on our way out.” She said, waiting for him to grab the bag filled with food, MREs and medicine.

Hugo sighed, ”She has every right to be upset, no? I have completely forgotten about her, about you, whatever our night was, whatever it could have been. It's days like these I curse myself for not bringing my journal. Ah, but se la vie, all will be explained in due time.” Hefting the duffel bag on his shoulder, he motioned for the woman to go, ”Well, madame, let us be off then,” As he walked towards the door, opening it for her to go out he decided to ask at this point, ”What were your names again?” Shutting the door behind them.



The journey home was uneventful. Having packed everything they needed into one of their emergency vehicles, Carmen, Liana and Hugo were heading home once again. No one really exchanged much words during the journey, as Carmen simply played a few soft songs in order to relax her nerves.

The whole entire week was nothing but stress for Carmen. Shortly after she left Mayweather, and a few days before she went to Delirium, Carmen and her crew pulled off an embezzlement/extortion heist on a New York Senator, one that was deep within the pockets of big banks, oil tycoons and the assholes responsible for DAPL and the TPP. The heist earned them millions, but it was one that was incredibly risky, and everyone had to lay low after it all went down, Carmen included. Soon after the heist, she was requested to go to delirium by some asshole who went by the name of “Mr. Allen”, nearly made love to a french pothead that forgets everything (including their names!), and was chased out by a bunch of creepy undead goons and nearly got killed by a glass bottle. And now everyone was finally heading back to Mayweather, and Carmen hoped that things were at least better there.

Soon enough, Carmen arrived at the campus parking lot, parking the Cherokee in the spot where she normally parked it at. “You know, funny thing is that… it felt like five months since I last been here…” Carmen sighed, leaning back in her seat after she shifted the gear to park. “Even though it’s been more than a week. A fucking week.” She chuckled. “Man… so surreal…”

“Well you better snap out of it soon before I do it for you.” Liana said as she climbed out of the passenger seat, closing the door behind her before opening up the door for Hugo. “Here you go, buddy.”

Carmen stepped out from the vehicle and closed the door behind her, before looking at it up and down. “I wonder how everyone’s gonna react to me returning in this thing.” She chuckled before throwing the keys to Liana. “Hey, mind switching this thing out with a newer and sleeker version? Thanks.”

Liana nodded. “You got it.” She said before getting back in the Cherokee, starting it up once again. “I’ll be back in about two hours.” Liana said before rolling the windows up, shifting into reverse and pulling out. Before long, the SUV was gone.

Carmen sighed. “I didn’t intend on keeping that thing, it was only supposed to be used as an emergency escape vehicle.” She explained. “Now, did you want to show me something?” She asked, looking to Hugo.

Hugo stepped out of the vehicle, nodding to Liana ”Mercie.” He grabbed a couple of the duffels from the back and waved as Liana drove off the the vehicle. As Carmen spoke to him he nodded, ”Oui, though it might take a while to explain everything, let’s drop off your bags first, then we can go to my dorm, then the infirmary to get your wound taken care of.” The journey itself took several minutes in long silence as they made their way to Carmen’s dorm, then afterwards, Hugo’s. Entering his room, one half was a Rasta’s dream, Jamaican flag, Bob Marley poster, dreamcatchers, and beads, lots of beads, all the works and fixins. The other half had a woman’s touch to it, the one that displayed Gianna’s personality perfectly, after all she was his roommate, though she never was around, then again, neither was he. He carefully set the gladius down on the bed and immediately opted for the katana lovingly placed in its holder. Once the right weapon was in hand, he opened a drawer next to his bed and pulled out a thick, leather bound book.

Holding the book up to Carmen he started, ”This, is my journal, my memories, everything that I have experienced, that I believe is worthwhile, that I want to remember is in here, let us walk.”

He walked side by side with Carmen, opening up his past, revealing things about himself, things he experienced, people he’s met, ”I used to be normal, you know? One day when I was a little boy, I was playing outside in the backyard, suddenly I’m standing, smoking in my neighbor's yard several feet away, completely naked, that was the first time I blinked…” He showed her the map of his travels, from origin, to place, to place, to place, ”This is my sensei, he taught me everything about the way of the sword, but he also taught me of peace, peace of the body, peace of the mind, peace of the spirit, he explained it to me as, it is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war…”. He showed her the time he had spent in Jamaica amongst the Rasta Elders, how hard it was for him to leave, ”There are many days that I miss Jamaica, those sun kissed sands, the cool breezes and the smell of the ocean. They say home is where the heart is, that is why I know, even though my mind may not remember, my body does, my heart does…” He went on to explain that despite all the people he’s written down in his book, many of them he was unable to, or even forgotten if he had written them in, ”I’d be lying if I said I knew who my parents were, if I have any to begin with. I couldn’t begin to describe who they are, what they look like, if they are still alive. All I know is I was born in France, perhaps one day I’ll return and seek out who they are.”

Though it was a lot to explain, they managed to arrive to the infirmary in a short amount of time, even at their slowed pace. The two got themselves checked in, moreso for Carmen than himself, though he had apparently suffered a couple of scrapes from the night before. He simply sat in a chair near Carmen as the nurse inspected the wounds, asking her usual questions and despite protests of him actually being in the room (especially with his weapon). He had pulled out a pencil by this point and was jotting notes in the journal before looking up at Carmen and saying, ”Again, I apologize for not remembering you, but I would like to, that is why I’m writing you in, but there’s more. You saw all of my drawings, of people I’ve met in my life? May I draw you as well? I’m insulted that I forgot such a beautiful face, I’d rather not forget it again.” His look was sincere, a soft smile, but still laced with concern.

After walking and absorbing all that Hugo had to say and show, Carmen actually came to and understanding about him. After having put (and hidden) her duffel bags under her bed, she followed Hugo to his dorm, and was surprised to see that he shared it with Gianna of all people… she could use this to their advantage. She watched as Hugo put his new Gladius away, and took out his own sword, as well as his journal. She listened as she explained what it is, as well as its contents, and the more he talked about it, the less angry she was at him, and the more she pitied him. Other than the fact that he was forgetful, Hugo seemed like the kind of guy that both she and Liana would like having around. Carmen and Liana both could use a peaceful influence in their lives, and even Carmen knew that Liana needed it most, she still has some... murderous tendencies.

Once they arrived to the infirmary, Carmen sat down before the nurse examined her. Luckily she left her weapons in the dufflebag, so she wouldn’t have too many issues as she was checked out, other than the stinging pain she got when her patch was removed and her wound was prodded. “Oooww… ouchie… owww…” She whimpered a little as the nurse examined her wound. “That thing nearly… ow… killed me… it’s a long story but, it’s a broken bottle. Ack…” She grunted in pain before Hugo spoke to her once more.

Once Hugo apologized for not remembering her, she smiled just a little. “Well… it’s fine, now knowing what you had to live with…” She said softly, and once he offered to draw her, her smile widened. It wasn’t a smirk, nor was it a grin, it was a simple, innocent and hopeful smile. “Just make sure you draw my nose right. A lot of people end up fucking it up… because it’s… asymmetrical and whatnot.” She chuckled a little. “Need me to sit still?” She asked before wincing. “Ouch…”

He smiled a little in response and chuckled at the comment about her nose, ”Nonsense, madame, you are still beautiful, straight nose or not. Do not worry about how still you are, I’ll be able to draw your picture regardless.” He set himself to work while the nurse used her powers to heal Carmen. Despite any winces or pained faces she made, he was able to draw out a fairly good sketch of her. Just as he finished sketching the drawing he showed it to her, ”What do you think?”

Carmen tried to keep still, but once the nurse used healing touch on her, she whimpered a little and cringed. “Gahh… fucking hell…” She whimpered a little, feeling the wound on her lower back heal up almost immediately, the wound closing up and forming a small scar marking where the bottle punctured her skin. “Ahhhh… owww… yeah, I appreciate that… uahh...” She moaned a little in pain before the nurse considered her fixed. “Damn… oohh… thanks Doc…” She said, patting the nurse on her shoulder. “Man, I still can’t get over the fact that I nearly got killed by a fucking broken glass bottle.” She sighed. Once Hugo finished her drawing, however, she looked at it. “Holy fuck…” She examined it. “That’s… that’s a good drawing…” She smiled before looking to him. “Feel free to write whatever you like in there under it, add ‘bitch’ if you need to.” She chuckled.

”I’m glad you like it,” he smiled, helping her down off the table. As they walked towards the door, pencil eraser gently nibbled in between his teeth, he thought a little bit. ”Obviously your name will go by it, but...I’m sure there is a better title I can call you by no? You are a beautiful woman, and beautiful women aren’t just simply, ‘bitches’.”

Carmen stood up with him before she checked out from the nurse’s office. Once he asked her about her title, at that, Carmen gave a little smirk. “Hmm… there’s this one name that you never stopped calling me ever since you met me at Delirium last night.” She thought for a moment. “While it didn’t suit me as well as I thought it did… I liked it.” She looked back to Hugo as they walked out from the infirmary, blushing a little. “How about... Mon Cherie?”

Hugo looked to the woman beside him, a small smile turning into a big grin, ”I called you that all last night, huh?” He looked her up and down, ”I must have a great choice in words, because I believe it suits you.” Jotting down in his journal again he closed it up and said, ”Very well, Carmen, Mon Cherie.”

---

The training room ringed as Lucas kept hitting the reinforced dummy. These dummies were specifically made for those with increased strength. Or rather, who could apply quite a bit more newton than the average boxer. It didn’t matter how to the dummies. Thus the bully of Delphina kept hitting, completely alone in the hall. It was midday, so everyone was out eating. But not Lucas, a man who just went through two hellish talks. Strangely, the last one was the worst. There was something particularly embarrassing being asked by a mother if you’re dating her child. But it simultaneously hit an incredibly sensitive string. So now he was trying to cope with all that. Or rather, he was trying to forget it. Through the only way possible: fighting.

Amy entered the training room with a slight smile on her face, not really paying much attention to anything else in there. It wasn't really too often that she'd train in here but she figured it was about time to sort herself out and prepare for the tournament as much as she could, although finding an opportunity was an issue. Still, everyone was meant to be out getting food right now, so she could finally train without having to hide anything. Stretching lazily, she decided to stop holding back her powers, her grey eyes losing their colour as they extended around her. It was kind of a relief, honestly - having to keep such a tight rein on them could be a headache in more than a few ways.

Lucas had just taken a breather. Trying to keep himself under control. This wasn’t supposed to get like back in the forest. He wasn’t supposed to beat himself to the point that his knuckles started bleeding. Today was supposed to be far more stretched out. Not just a spike of anger, but a slow burn. One that would sear away the problems. If even for just a moment. Alas, he reckoned it was high time again for another set of exercises. As he stepped up towards the dummy he took a deep breath, supplying his already aching muscles with more oxygen. It was now time to train with the full power of the solar force. When pulling back his fist, a light flooded his fist. Like it a comet, it had a tail going along the arm of Lucas, ending way beyond the shoulder. With a smooth motion he moved forward, summoning forth all power he could put in a punch. Letting it get amplified by the power. He could feel the strength, the energy. He knew what it was capable of. But right when he was about to hit his target the bright energy surrounding his arm dissolved into the air. With wide eyes he witnessed how his fist hit the dummy, barely even moving it. While the bones in his fist felt as if they all just cracked. “What the hell!?” he exclaimed, looking around. There was nothing, no-one. He never experienced his powers failing. But then he saw it. Some girl, one among the group chosen for the tournament. He eyed her, trying to remember if he knew her power. He didn’t. So he slowly turned his gaze to his arm, trying to trigger the solar force again. But to no avail.

Eyes widening in surprise, Amy glanced over at the source of the noise. Wait a minute, that was Lucas, wasn't it? One of the Delphina guys, and one that most people thought of as a whole lot of trouble. If she remembered right, he wasn't the best guy to make angry. Okay, that probably wasn't good. It might have been a good idea to look around the room before she did that, now that she thought about it. Still, there was always a chance she could just pretend nothing happened. Maybe he'd just think his powers went wrong for a second and she'd be able to train in peace, although she didn't want to bring the field in completely since that seemed like missing the point of training in the first place. Settling on a comprimise, she brought it in slightly, just enough that Lucas would be a couple metres out of range. Trying a little too hard to pretend nothing had happened, she gave him what she hoped was a look of curiosity and a sympathetic smile, as if she had no idea how his powers possibly could have done that. Even as she did so, she could tell it wasn't really convincing but it was worth a try.

The girl threw him an utterly unconvincing smile as suddenly his arm coated itself once more in pure burning energy. Looking at his palm he could feel the power coursing through his blood. A whole different feeling from what he felt but seconds ago. Something was alright. Hell, something was straight up fishy. His powers never just failed. Well, his Darkstar power certainly wasn’t that reliable. In fact, he rarely could use it. But his solar force has always worked, no matter the situation. His mom told him he once destroyed the bed because he activated it when he was asleep but Lucas couldn’t remember that. Still, was the girl responsible? Maybe, he could only ask. With his power still active on his arm to serve as immediate intimidation he walked up towards her. Mayweather or Delphina, it was better to make sure they knew with whom they were talking. But when he got closer the power suddenly vanished again. The heat in his blood vanished once more. Causing him to stop walking and look at his arm again. Once could be a coincidence, twice was a pattern. He quickly took a step backward and sure enough, his power returned. He looked at the girl again, not caring to keep his power active. Even without the pure blinding energy enveloping his arm he could look menacing.

Marching like a warrior he came up to her, asking: “Delphina or Mayweather?”

Yeah, that didn't work at all. As Lucas advanced towards her, Amy couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. Sure, his powers weren't working, but without a weapon she wouldn't stand a chance fighting the guy. He'd figured her out anyway, so there wasn't much else to do but talk it out. Taking a slight step back, she replied to his question. Normally she couldn't be bothered with this type of talk, but not answering didn't seem like a good idea. Saying that, answering might not be either, but it was the best option. Although she was still a little taken off balance by his sudden discovery. "I, uh... I'm Mayweather. And you're Delphina, right?" she smiled slightly as she adjusted to the situation, this one more genuine if a little less confident.

Despite Lucas' repuatation and school status, Amy didn't actually seem hostile in any way, more annoyed with herself for not looking around than anything. She decided it might be best to introduce herself if only to make that clear, so she smiled slightly gesturing towards his arm in hopes of smoothing things over. "Oh, almost forgot. I'm Amy. Sorry about your hand, by the way. Didn't expect anyone else to be in here."

She knew who he was, yet still answered truthfully. Well, he assumed it was the truth. Mostly because she knew who he was, yet it was clear he didn’t know her. Most would have assumed answering Delphina was a better choice. Well, in a way they weren’t. He examined the girl standing before him, trying to get a grasp on her. So many people were so easy to read. It was as if they showcased their buttons and got mad the second you pushed one. Still, the girl seemed surprisingly nice to him. Especially as she knew who he was. The comment about his hand did pull his attention towards the now bright red knuckles. “Nothing big.” He said with a casual sort of neglect. His knuckles have been through worse before. Not even that long ago. Now a layer of scar tissue covered them. “Amy huhn?” he returned his attention to the girl, relaxing somewhat. Trying to look less big or ready to slam someone’s head against the ground. “Usually nobody’s here at this time. So why are you here?” Of course, he knew why.

Amy looked at him for a second, curious as well as relieved that he didn't seem ready to punch her or anything. As for his question, it wasn't really that difficult to figure out, so she was pretty sure the guy was just confirming his suspicions. "Well, it's just that, because nobody else is. I try to keep my powers to myself, and it's worked for me so far." she laughed slightly, looking relieved at how reasonable this was apparently turning out. She was silent for a moment, glancing at the scars on his hand and appearing to think things over. After a second, she spoke again. "To tell the truth, pretty much everyone in Mayweather thinks I suck, and that suits me fine. Means I can catch them by surprise if I have to, you know? Plus they don't try and drag me into stuff, so I get to pick my own battles."

Lucas listened with some unusual attention. But everything that concerned fighting endlessly fascinates him. So after Amy finished speaking he walked away, without saying. He went to a certain closet and pulled out two pairs of fingerless, MMA gloves. One pair he threw at Amy, not really caring if she’d pick them up or not. As he walked towards the boxing ring within the training hall he pulled on the gloves. Once in the ring, he said to Amy: “Guess it’s time you got dragged into some stuff. Taking people by surprise won’t be enough. Not here, not during the tournament. Show me what you got.” It was all calculated, though. The plan was forming in his head. A girl that could negate his trump card was a danger. No doubt he could overpower her physically, but the problem was her getting in the second round. During the free for all. Even then he could physically take on most opponents. But he had to be able to do more than just take on.

Catching the gloves, Amy looked at them for a couple of seconds. This seemed like a really bad idea, but the gloves gave her hope. They were designed for a specific purpose, for fighting. If that was right then there might be a chance. Not like she could risk backing down right now and annoying Lucas. If she didn't get on his good side, no way could she convince him not to tell the whole school about her powers. As she walked over to the ring, looking slightly dubious about the whole idea, she tugged the gloves on and barely held back a sigh of relief - looked like they did count as tools after all, since she could feel her other ability's effects taking hold. Seemed like Lucas might be in for a surprise. She took her place opposite him with an unreadable expression. " I guess I can try and show you a couple things."

Lucas wasn’t planning on having a talk. Hell, he wouldn’t let her say a word. He immediately went for the low kick, aiming for Amy’s ribs. A hit would hurt, but it wouldn’t deliver the devastating strike he wanted. Even an idiot could block. Even ineffectively. To take her out of the game for good he would have to aim and strike perfectly. So for now, he would have to hurt and wear her down.

Caught off guard, Amy's block wasn't as effective as it might have been, and the sting she felt from the blow showed on her face. So that's how this was gonna be, was it? She retreated a little to catch her breath. His attacks weren't refined, but there seemed to be a lot of power behind them for sure. No way was she winning a blow-to-blow fight, enchanced skill or not. She shifted her stance a little and hung back, appearing worried but actually just waiting for him to attack her again - her best chance would be to counter him and use the force of his own attacks against him.

The kick connected, but Lucas wasn’t about to let it at that. As she went back, he went forward. Applying the pressure. A simple mindset: keep the opponent busy, afraid and occupied. So they don’t have a chance at retaliating. A mindset Lucas took at heart. The look on her face was proof enough that it was working. But also a problem. The most efficient strikes one could make were counters. He needed her to attack. Still, he first had to draw her out and weaken her. He stood before her for a second, shifting his weight back and forth, keeping her guessing how he’d strike. Suddenly he shifted his weight, committing to a violent forward attack. A single strike aimed not at her face but at her stomach. Soft tissue that could easily bruise.

As Lucas struck, Amy moved with surprising speed and shifted her stance, not making any move to stop his momentum but instead using it - with surprising skill. Not that it was any skill of her own, but he didn't need to know that. Instead of blocking and letting herself take another hit, she decided to try and use the force of his attack and transfer it into a textbook and hopefully painful judo throw. Her face had changed as well, no longer bothering with the 'scared little girl' approach and replaced with something closer to an expressionless mask.

Lucas didn’t realize what happened at first. One moment he put all his weight and strength forward, the next he was with his back on the ground, feeling the air escape his lungs due to the incredible amount of force he slammed down with. But he got his breathing under control in literally no time. A throw, Lucas could only guess it was judo. She could do judo? The fight would become a little harder now. Still, Lucas was not discouraged. He would just have to learn what her style was. He jumped right up and faced her. In judo, weight and balance is everything. It was an art of using one’s power against him. The more power he’d use, the worse she could hit him back. How do you fight such a person?

Simple. Lucas once again flung a fist at her, but this time at her head. A much higher target for the girl. If she wanted to throw him again, she’d have to go up with both her arms. Opening up her sides. In judo, that wasn’t a problem. The left arm alone could achieve little. But this wasn’t judo? One attempt to throw him and he’d slam his first right in her ribs. Using the temporary distraction to grapple with his first fist around her neck. Taking control.

Amy couldn't help but be a little surprised by what had just happened. Firstly, she'd somehow managed to throw the guy, and secondly, how quickly he'd gotten up after it to launch his attack. There wasn't much she could really do but try and react, considering how surprisingly fast he was. Letting her body's instincts take over, she moved again, into a stance where she was a little lighter on her feet, more like a boxer as she brought her fists up in a block to try and turn the blow away from her head - she definitely didn't want to take a hit there. Trying to change her stance so quickly meant she wasn't quite as balanced as she should have been, however, and the force of his fist slamming into her forearms caused her to stumble back a few steps, biting back a curse from the pain of the hit.

A boxing move? The swift change of stance surprised Lucas. She knows boxing too!? The girl suddenly rising on this threat chart. Boxing was harder to counter, but again it had limitations. Ones he could clearly see. Boxers were light on their feet, moving swiftly. This was because leg sweeps weren’t done. But Lucas sure as hell would. He waited a second, mimicking her defense, keeping his eyes locked on her. Timing it right, he swept his right foot towards her. A hit on her feet would be enough to fully disrupt her balance. Right after the sweep he’d take a hit at her when she was, supposedly, completely open.

Seeing the leg sweep out at her, Amy felt her feet shifting again - and for a brief moment wondered how many fighting styles came with these gloves. Seriously, she had to get herself a pair. There wasn't really any way for her to dodge the sweep, which collided with her foot and caused her to grit her teeth, a slight pained noise escaping. Okay, that did it. Now she really was pissed. She launched a straight knee strike at his stomach, a move taken straight from Muay Thai.

Judo was understandable. The boxing could be explained. But the knee, that was one step too far. This girl was too good a fighter to have to surprise people. Hell, she certainly didn’t have the physical body for someone so experienced. After taking the knee to the stomach, a strike mostly taken by his muscles there, he took a step back. Eyeing her. The hits only caused more adrenaline to flow through him. This was one of his advantages. Through rigorous training, he got used to it. The high, the power, the blood like molten lead flowing through your veins. So few could take the kick of it and keep their head straight. It required you to get used to it, physically.

Lucas was out of plans. For every strike he tried to deliver, she had an answer. Seemingly from another sport. “You fight quite well. From your body, I wouldn’t have guessed you practiced that many martial arts. What belt you got in judo?” he asked, while still keeping his distance and his guard up.

Amy smiled dangerously, finding something about this pretty funny. "Judo, huh? Nothing." Judo? Guess that was where the throw came from. She'd gotten kind of tired of being on the defensive. So, she needed something that would let her take down a bigger, stronger opponent - yeah, she had a feeling these things would give her something. Taking a step forward, she aimed to get a hold on Lucas' arm, keeping her head down to protect it as best she could but well aware that she'd probably take a pretty strong hit for it. Still, that's what her instincts were to do, and she couldn't do much but trust them.

Unknown to her and possibly also to Lucas, the reason for the grip was to try and take the fight onto the ground. When it came to taking on a stronger opponent, having time to adjust and take a breather meant that she could shift to a style meant for that exact purpose - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Lucas had no idea what was happening. Suddenly she managed to grab his arm and the next moment she threw him with an incredible force against the ground. The only reason she managed to do that was because Lucas stood there, utterly confused. No belt but such a perfect throw? Impossible. No way she could just train judo without gaining the belt. There was little doubt, she had to have expert training. But once on the ground, Lucas had enough. As she threw him, she held his arm, which was her undoing. Lucas threw in his weight and pulled her down on top of him. Giving her no moment to think or move he locked her in his legs as he grappled towards her neck to strangle her. A hot headed approach that could most certainly end very badly.

Unable to hold herself up against Lucas' weight, Amy found herself in a little bit of trouble. Along with a fair bit of discomfort and the inablity to get herself free from the hold, along with the feelings of panic and need to escape that naturally accompanied the situation - it seemed like there wasn't much help coming from her powers in this scenario. Whether that was because of her shock or just that there wasn't a particular move coming to mind for this situation wasn't really clear. For lack of a better plan, she lashed out as well as she could towards roughly the area where his face would be, hoping to score some kind of hit and be able to breathe again.

A hit connected, on his head no less. Precise enough to disorient him for a second, letting loose of his grip on Amy. In reaction to this he rolled backwards, keeping his distance from the girl as he shook his head once more. There was something off. The girl was too good. Her physique was too light for being such a trained fighter. Did she leech off his own skill somehow? No, her strikes were too precise. Even he had flaws in his technique. Maybe she leeched off the skills from someone else? He still kept his distance, trying to find an opening. But her stance was precise and very effective.

What could be her weakness? What sport did she not know? She showcased 2 martial arts and boxing already. No way he could go up against that in a conventional fight. So he decided against going for a finishing move. Then the lightbulb in his mind came on. With a trained eye he observed her, focusing on her whole body at once. Little muscle definition, little tone. When his fists connected he could feel little resistance from any muscles. She wasn’t weak, but they certainly weren’t defined as a trained fighter. No way she would survive a battle of attrition. So that’s how he came at her. With a flurry of strikes and kicks. Constantly being sure he kept his balance and never committed fully to an attack. Even half-assed strikes could hurt.

She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. Sure, she was blocking his strikes well enough, but that didn't change the fact that it hurt like hell. It was tiring her out, wearing her down. Already struggling to keep up the pace, Amy realised that she couldn't afford to stay on the defensive for much longer against him. No matter how well she blocked, she was still taking hits, her arms weren't up to that kind of strain and it wouldn't be long until he got past her guard. All those weeks of not training at all were starting to take their toll, that was for sure. At this rate, he was just going to outlast her, and the pain she wasn't used to was showing on her face.

Out of options, there really wasn't much she could do other than going for a last-ditch attack. One of them would have to go down after it - if she couldn't take him down then no way was she lasting much longer in the fight anyway. It was pretty much this or nothing. She had no idea if it would actually work or not, but she lunged forward, intending to launch a series of elbow strikes directly at his face, aiming the first at the bridge of his nose. If she connected, it would probably do some damage, but either way she'd left herself completely open in favour of an all-or-nothing assault. If this didn't take him down, she'd be in trouble.

A precise strike. If Lucas wasn’t so busy speeding up his strikes, he would sure block it. But he didn’t. The elbow connected though not on his nose. Somehow he managed to evade it slightly, letting the elbow not hit the nose but his cheek. The soft tissue took the brunt of the force and Lucas felt how his teeth bit down on his own flesh. A splatter of blood came out of his mouth, but Lucas was used to blood. The fact was that right now he was more than just high on adrenaline. The endorphins of his body blocked out any form of pain, turning it into a dull, distant ache. His mind was still surprisingly clear. He knew that with such an attack, the girl was now open all along her right side. He had to guess where her feet stood, but from the corner of his eye he did see her body twisting. Making an educated guess, he lifted his foot and stomped down to where he guessed the side her knee would be.

Not enough. Amy realised, as her attack made contact. It was a decent hit, but it hadn't taken him down, which meant-

Her thoughts were interrupted as he stomped on her knee, and her muscles exploded with pain that obliterated her focus. She didn't know how to push through it like he did, and it was the type of feeling that meant serious damage. Collapsing to the ground with gritted teeth she was unable to stop a pained noise from escaping her throat. She shifted, with a little difficulty, until she was sitting after which she looked up at her opponent, unable to keep it out of her voice completely. "Guess you win - Fuck, that hurts." she said, muttering the last part under her breath. At least nothing seemed broken, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Lucas fell over backward. Slamming into the ground with a loud thud. He was surprisingly exhausted. The girl did pull out the best from him. Then again, he couldn’t use his own powers. No doubt she would have left with broken bones if she lowered her field. But that didn’t matter. He won and did so much more. The stomp would definitely bug her but only during training or the tournament would the pain get too worse. She was out, at least for now. Taking a sigh of relief he sat up. Looking at her. “I always win, honey.” He threw her a grin. “You fight surprisingly well for someone who looks like… well you.” He motioned with his hand towards her entire body. “And the throw was surprisingly well executed for someone who claims she doesn’t own a judo belt. Tell me, who trained you?”

In response, Amy just shrugged with a soft smile. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment. As for who trained me, there isn't anyone. I didn't really have anything to train for growing up, so I didn't bother." her tone was genuine, of course. What reason was there for her to lie? She couldn't be bothered trying to come up with a story right now. Wincing slightly as she sat up, she laughed a little. "Honestly, it's not been long since I even found out I had powers. Never knew anyone else with them back home."

He listened quite attentively at his victim. To his own opinion, the girl was a little too trusting. Every half-assed fighter would know what kind of effect such a stomp would have. They’d also immediately realize he didn’t do it randomly. Still, she talked. And he felt somewhat obligated to listen. When she finished he stood up and walked out of the ring, without saying anything. Only to return moments later with two sport bottles filled with water. Carefully he handed one to Amy, after which he took up his place on the ground in front of her again. Drinking from the cool liquid. Only now did he realize just how much he was sweating. “Strange. You certainly fight as if you got some extensive training. Is that another power? You can negate someone’s powers and know martial art instinctively?”

"Something like that." she looked at him curiously, surprised at how civil he was being. Saying that, she'd definitely need to get her leg checked out somehow considering what he'd done. But even so, it didn't really seem to fit. "This might be a stupid thing to ask but why bother talking to me? I mean..." She glanced at her leg. Well, she didn't want to make any accusations, it always could've been a heat of the moment thing... "Never mind. Guess I just expected you to be more hostile, me being at Mayweather and all."

“So many people are so sure that I…we are the bad guys, that they literally cannot imagine it any way else.” Though on this occasion, he really was the bad guy. Though sometimes things had to be done out of necessity. He didn’t actually bear Amy any ill will. Especially not now. But she was a threat. A danger. There was a plan and it needed to be executed as precisely as possible. Taking out any distractions was part of it. Though, at his core, he was hoping Brenna was doing the same. Just so he knew he wasn’t the only one walking in this moral deep gray area. “Honestly, if people asked more ‘why do you do this’ about common things like talking, the world would be a brighter place. So I don’t really think it’s stupid.” His voice was calm, as he tried to get his heartbeat to level out again. “I guess I’m talking here because…” why did he talk to her? After the entire morning, he wanted nothing more than to beat away the feelings. But here he was, talking to a Mayweather he just injured. After the pause that was clearly indicating that he initially didn’t have a clue why he talked to her, he answered: “You know how like, your entire life is just a giant rollercoaster? You go from situation to situation, crawl out of a hole just to fall in another.” A metaphor too deep. “I guess, what I’m saying is that I talk to you to entertain myself. Because it’s simple. And right now, I need a little simple in my life.”

Amy seemed to think for a second, before nodding slowly. "I think I get it. You don't get much simplicity in this place. But as for you being the 'bad guys', well..." Amy sighed, looking over at him. "I never really thought about it like that. Sure, you are the 'villain' school, but I don't think it's the same thing when you really get down to it." It wasn't really that easy as far as she was concerned. After all, it wasn't like everyone in Mayweather was a saint, so why would their counterparts be any different? "If I had to put words to it, I think it's more that a villain's meant to act in their own interests, while a hero's meant to use them for others. That's what I'd say the difference is. Whether you're a good person isn't the issue." She looked at him, curious to see how he was reacting to what she said, what he thought of it. After all, it might be a change from some of the more self-righteous attitudes held by her fellow Mayweather students.

“There are many ways to be a villain. But I think, by far the most common is the villain of the necessary evil. Some of us must do what others cannot. But that brings a moral dilemma to most heroes. Would you kill one person to save a hundred? Of course, heroes will say that if that person is evil, the kill means nothing. But what if it is a university professor with two kids and a loving, faithful wife? Heroes fall in a moral limbo once they enter the gray areas.” The example was not loosely chosen. Though he doubted Amy would know. His sister was once faced with the very same problem. A university professor was kidnapped. His research on nuclear fission was unparalleled. But the ones that took him were trained. His sister still claims they were some sort of black ops. Alas, she was forbidden from entering the building, lest the situation would escalate. But the situation had to be resolved. To this day, she still claimed the most daunting words she ever heard was an FBI director say: ‘No more options. Finish it.’ A few bullets later and a faithful husband and man that advocated for peace his entire life laid dead in the back of a van.

Lucas got up, realizing they’ve been talking too much about too deep stuff. Whether he’d end up as one of the kidnappers or the ones that pulled the trigger, he didn’t know yet. He would take whatever side Gianna wanted him on. “We better get that checked out.” Lucas switched subjects, as he meant her knee. He reached out with his hand and was pretty ready to support her. Though he hoped the nurse nor the assistant of the nurse would be able to heal her.

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Amy couldn't help but wince a little as she shifted where she was sitting on the infirmary bed. The pain in her knee hadn't gotten any worse, but it definitely wasn't getting better either - a fact that she was reminded of every time she moved it. At least Lucas had helped her get here, even if he'd almost seemed to vanish as soon as she sat down. For someone so large and menacing he sure could disappear like it was nobody's business, although she could see where that kind of skill would be useful for a villain. Almost as useful as stamping on people's knees, probably.

Despite that thought, she wasn't actually that angry about it. Whether the state she was in had been deliberate or not on his part, she didn't feel like it was anything personal seeing as he'd stuck around to chat afterwards. It would have taken a lot longer for her to get any help if he wasn't around, that was for sure. Besides, she hadn't gone down easy. As she waited for someone to turn up, a small smile appeared on her face, despite her situation. It could always be worse.

“Okay so remember, the correct way to respond to an insult is-“ Amelia never expected this much work when she volunteered as a nurse. Then again, if she could believe Dr. Thrope then the recent influx of students to the infirmary was rather new for her too. Apparently, Delphina students like a fight left and right. Which always results in at least one person getting hurt. Sadly it’s an innocent bystander half the time. “Turning the other cheek.” The fellow in the bed said with a tired groan. Though she couldn’t really blame him for groaning. As she has been trying to stamp it in his brain for the last half hour. With a smile as bright as the sun, she went towards one of the windows. It was getting rather warm inside and she wanted to push some fresh air through the infirmary. All the while she quietly sang along with a song she couldn’t get out of her head.

Only when she turned around did she notice Amy in the bed around the corner near the entrance. She looked surprised for a minute, not expecting another guest. Didn’t she hear the door? That was odd. “Oh, hi there! Sorry, I –euhm- didn’t really see you there.” Let’s hope she doesn’t take that as being rude. Still, with her almost trademark smile she walked over to the new girl, whom she recognized from somewhere. “So what can I help you with?”

Having zoned out a little bit, Amy looked slightly taken off-guard when Amelia first spoke to her and brought her back to reality. It wasn't like she'd been sitting around for that long, so she wasn't really annoyed about the wait. With a reassuring grin, she looked at the other girl. "It's no problem honestly, not like I'm dying." It wasn't going to do her too much more damage, or at least she figured. With a gesture towards her knee she decided to start explaining herself, although was a little unsure of what to say. "Well, um, someone sort of stamped on my knee. Nothing feels broken, but I really can't tell you much more than that... I guess I'm not used to this sort of stuff." she shrugged as she turned to look at Amelia.

“Huhn…” Both intrigued and confused Amelia walked up towards her new patient. Both trying to see what’s wrong and from where she knows the girl. Delphina’s generally don’t really stomp on knees. Fists are their preferred tool of fighting. And the way she explained it made it sound as if she wasn’t just collateral damage. Though, Dr. Thrope told her before that she shouldn’t pry too much into why people got hurt. Sometimes the reasons could be pretty embarrassing. An initial look told her something certainly went down. “Okay, so tell me if this hurts.” Amelia gently took Amy’s leg and started bending it slowly, focusing on both the knee and the girl’s face for any sign of pain

At first, Amy looked on a little curiously at what the girl was doing. It ached a little, but no more than it had when she was making her way to the infirmary. Wondering what the point of this was, Amy was about to question it when pain suddenly shot through her leg, making her go pale as a ghost. Eyes squeezed shut, she bit back more than a few choice words - instead settling for a frantic shake of her head and clenched fists to indicate that there was something wrong.

Amelia immediately let the leg spring back into its most comfortable state after which she mumbled a sorry. Then she started noticing how swollen the knees looks. That was definitely not okay. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” True to her word, Amelia only vanished for a couple of seconds behind the corner and swiftly returned with a bag of ice. Which she gently put on the girl’s knee. “Sorry about that, just wanted to see if you could still bend your leg. Which you can. So that’s good.” Still looking left and right, trying to find some guide on knee injuries. Dr. Thrope would know what to do. But she was out again and she couldn’t really call her. So she had to make the call. Something she didn’t like. With a small hint of fear and uncertainty covered by lots of cheerfulness she said: “So, I got bad news and good news.” After that she just kept quiet, letting her new patient choose what they preferred to hear first. It was stereotypical almost.

Amy took a few seconds to get her breathing back under control as the pain faded back to the duller feeling of before. Once Amelia returned with the ice, she smiled a little, although it was a lot more strained than before. While she wasn't exactly thrilled with what just happened it didn't change that it probably had to be done, so she could get through it. Besides, there wasn't much reason to make the other girl's job harder if she actually wanted help with this. Amy had to admit, though, her delivery of the whole good news or bad news thing was almost strangely cheerful, like she was hiding something or other. After a second, she replied. "Let's just start with the bad news. Gets it out of the way, right?" Despite herself, Amy laughed a little, trying to make the best of the situation.

Not the answer she really wanted. Delivering bad news was always a little less painful when she could give them the default good news. Still, the patient’s wish is her command. “So the bad news is that you hurt your knee. Pretty bad actually. Standing on it will be painful and the second you’re going for a run…” she really didn’t have a good metaphor for this. “Well you’re not going for a run if you try. The short story is that you’ll have to put a bandage on it every day and wait a few weeks to maybe a month and a bit to let it heal.” It was clear that Amelia did not like delivering bad news. Then again, maybe her blood could help? But this was forced muscles, not just bleeding skin. “So the good news is-“the assistant nurse pulled out a lollipop from her coat’s pocket and handed it to the girl. “-you get free candy!” After that she got up and quickly went to the nearby desk and took a blank admission file. After a few minutes of silence, she came to the part that she dreaded most: personal information. “God please don’t take this bad. But –euhm- what’s your name?”

Amy looked taken aback by the bad news, not sparing much more than a glance towards the candy in her hand. Up to a month? How was she supposed to train, or even compete for that matter - there were already plenty of people that would beat her in a fight anyway, her leg being evidence of that. Thoughts racing around her head, she took a second to even register the other girl's question. When she did, her mind was quite clearly on other things. "It's Amy. Stevenson." she sighed, frustration etched across her expression. For the first time, she actually looked at the other girl rather than focusing on her injury. It wasn't someone she ever remembered properly meeting, that was for sure. Despite that, there seemed to be something familiar about her, and Amy wasn't generally that shy about asking questions. Absentmindedly twirling the lollipop in her hand, she spoke up. "I don't mean to be rude, but have I seen you somewhere before?"

Amelia wished she could do something more than just deliver bad news when she saw Amy’s expression. The powerlessness stung again. Like an ache that didn’t go away all the way. But when the girl asked from where she knew her, she put down the file with a very expressive sigh. “I knew it! I knew I remembered you from somewhere! Okay, let me think. Hold on… that name…” Amelia quickly took out her phone and went to her emails. There she saw Amy’s mail among the other receivers. “Found it!” she exclaimed with a cheery expression. “You’re also in the tournament.” Wheels started to turn in her head. “Hold on… who gave you this injury?” She could almost guess the name. But she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to appear biased. But there were only a few in the tournament actually capable of going this far to take out the competition.

"It was Lucas. He challenged me to a fight, and I couldn't really see a way out of it." Amy replied, seeing no reason to hide what had happened. It wasn't likely to be that much of a surprise anyway, considering the guy's reputation. Now that Amelia had figured it out, though, Amy could vaguely remember her being there. Amy had been a little too busy trying to hide in the background to pay that much attention there, which was probably why she hadn't made the connection right away. She looked back at her injury, seeming uncharacteristically defeated. "Looks like you'll have one less person to worry about anyway. Even if it's a bit better, I won't exactly be fighting fit." She looked at the other girl with a forced smile. "Still, good luck to you - sorry, what was your name again?"

“Oh, sorry. Amelia. Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself.” She staid friendly, but did walk up and down around the bed a bit. She couldn’t believe it. What was up with that guy? At one turn he carries a girl up to her room, the other moment he injures someone else’s knee. Well, one thing was true. He couldn’t get away with it. But other than Amy there wasn’t really any proof of what he did. Or that he did it deliberately. “You want to fight?” she asked Amy a little more serious. “Like do you want to be in the tournament? You can answer honestly. Because I genuinely don’t want to be part of it. But if you could fight, would you?”

Slightly confused, but seeing no reason not to answer the question, Amy nodded. "I would. I guess I wanted to prove I wasn't as weak as people take me for, but I'll live. Just have to look on the bright side - I got a lollipop out of it, right?" She smiled, her usual cheer returning a little. There were probably one or two things she could take from this, such as not letting people stamp on her knees. It was a good life lesson. "Why ask? I don't think it matters much anymore."

“Okay hold on, I’m right back.” Once again Amelia vanished around the corner, grabbing a plastic water bottle. With a sharp needle, she punctured her finger and let the blood drip into the water. After she assumed enough blood was there she closed the bottle again and shook it really well. After that, she appeared back before Amy. “Okay so, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve never really used this on injuries like yours. So I don’t know what will happen. But with normal wounds and such, it accelerates the healing process. I’ll leave it to you if you want to take it. With a bit of luck, you’re walking and hopefully kicking ass in less than two weeks.” Amelia smiled at Amy. “But don’t feel, like, obligated!” she then realized that it all really felt as if she was pushing the girl. “I mean, you don’t have to take this or do whatever, you know. Just, it’s an option I want to give you.”

“Also, I genuinely don’t believe you are weak. I mean, if you fought Lucas and walked away with just an injured knee, that’s actually impressive.” The last few times she was in the infirmary, something got him really low. While at the same time she has seen what the guy could do. Whatever took him down must be pretty beaten as well. So if Amy just walked in with knee injury, she seriously gave Lucas a run for his money. Still, with the paperwork done, the infirmary quiet after a long morning and Amelia still desperately trying to run away from her own thoughts she sat down on the bed next to Amy and took a lollipop out for herself. “So… why did you fight him in the first place?”

Amy looked at the bottle, wondering whether or not to question its contents. She definitely wasn't sure what was in it, but if the stuff had a chance of helping her out then it was something she'd be grateful to have. It wasn't like Amelia would have any reason not to help her out, and Amy trusted her. Her thankfulness was evident on her face as she nodded, accepting the bottle. She was about to thank Amelia properly when the girl continued talking, and what the girl said actually surprised her. It wasn't exactly wrong, but it sounded like Amelia might have some kind of experience with Lucas herself. Despite her curiosity, Amy figured that the least she owed the other girl would be to not pry into her life.

Of course, a little bit of honesty was normally welcome, so she'd answer any questions Amelia had. Within reason, of course. She chuckled. "It's more accurate to say he fought me. I was in the training room, and I kind of figured nobody else would be there so I wasn't paying too much attention... Anyway, the short version is that he figured out my powers and challenged me to a fight. I went along with it because, well, he had me figured out by that point. If I made him angry, what was to stop him telling everyone and their mother what I could do?" Shaking her head, she thought it over. Now that she said it out loud, she probably should have just avoided the fight and dealt with that. At least that way she wouldn't have caused anyone else trouble. "Probably not my smartest moment. In my defense, there wasn't much time to think it through."

“Wait but how didn’t you get reduced to a pulp?” the man battled red level. If what they said was true, he could also put a crack in a wall. In a physical fight, she didn’t see how you could win if you didn’t have some form of super strength yourself. “Is it really that bad that people know what kind of superpower you got? I mean, they’re going to know it sooner rather than later. You don’t have to flaunt it around but keeping it a secret isn’t going to serve you well. But I guess you already realized that.” In all honesty, Amelia was a bit tired of hearing about Lucas. “So you’re looking forward for the tournament?”

"That's not really why I hide it. If people think I'm weak, then they don't try to manipulate me - or at least, not as much. I just wanted time to judge things for myself without anyone whispering in my ear." Amy said casually. It was why she was fine with competing in the tournament in the first place, she figured she might have herself at least a little sorted out by then. "As for the tournament, yeah, I guess so. Mostly, I've just got a point or two to prove. You don't seem too enthusiastic to me. Mind if I ask why?"

Here she sat, with a fellow student and someone she only knew for a few minutes. Yet the girl explained her choices to the point that it felt like she was sharing something personal. She was right, though. Amelia couldn’t speak about how Mayweather used to be. Before the merge. But ever since she arrived here people have made factions and camps. They trenched themselves in with one another and just stared down through barrels firing insults. Not just Mayweather against Delphina. The school for villainy might be in a constant state of civil war but at the very least you could expect that. In Mayweather, it felt as if not taking a stand was seen as being weak. She didn’t know who Samantha was. The only thing Amelia knew was that she entrenched herself the deepest. But people spoke for her and about her, which told Amelia the woman must be of quite some importance. Important enough to draw and manipulate people to fight her battles. “There’s a lot of whispering going on lately. I’ll give you that.” She looked out the window. Outside there was a classic October sky: grey. “No, I don’t like the tournament. Honestly, I don’t like fighting at all. The tournament… I think the teachers think it will draw us together. But I don’t think it will unite us in the way they think. I think it will only widen the schism. Whoever wins, he or she is either a Mayweather or a Delphina. So no, I’m not really looking forward to breaking the school even more. I’d rather sit here… help people. That’s what I’m good at, helping… people...” the final part she said rather absentmindedly, as she looked at her half dissolved lollipop. Was she good at helping people? Or was she just pretending she was?

Amelia did have a point, to some extent. It wasn't exactly difficult to see how the tournament could make things worse for everyone, that was for sure, but Amy didn't think it was as set in stone as all that. If one of the main aggressors from either school were to win, then that was a recipe for disaster, certainly. At the very least, it would lead to an escalation from someone or other trying to prove a point. Of course, Amy had no interest in seeing the conflict get any worse, or any more people turning on each other - and whether Amelia realised it or not she'd actually come close to hitting Amy's real reason for trying to win and the points she was trying to make. With a knowing smile, Amy just looked at her. "For what it's worth, I don't think you're wrong. But that all depends on who wins... I think there are ways we can make it bring people together." Amy was sincere, though she doubted it would work out painlessly. Her tone became slightly reassuring as she continued, noticing Amelia's apparent uncertainty. "And for what it's worth, I'll have you to thank if I'm able to take part, so that's at least one person you've helped out today. I think you're doing pretty good."

“For what it’s worth, I hope you win.” Amelia shot Amy her beaming smile, though she couldn’t help but feel like Amy wasn’t the only one who should win in Amelia’s eyes. Still, Amy could probably use a win in her life. She reckoned that she was underestimated for quite a long time in her life. Else she wouldn’t hide her powers. That and she wouldn’t go to the training room right when nobody’s supposed to be there. Amelia recognized someone who preferred the shadows. But she wasn’t the only one in the school that could use a win in her life. Eliana was on Amelia’s mind now too. The girl’s been suffering through a lot. A win could act like a pick-me-up to her. Especially after last night the vampire really thought Eliana could use some good news in her life. But the thoughts of last night summoned up feelings she rather wouldn’t feel.

Then Amy said she was actually doing pretty well at helping people. Yet what happened to Sylvia, she couldn’t get that out of her head. Nor did she want to confront the feeling or Sylvia for that matter. But she’d have to. Still, she was so tired from the night, she couldn’t hide her sadness behind a mask anymore. Her face turned somber as she looked at the ground, in shame. “I guess. Sometimes doing well isn’t enough.” But then she realized she wasn’t talking to herself. Amy was there. With a quick shake, she tried to look a little less sad and turned to Amy: “Sorry. Stuff and such.” Her face a mix of sadness and genuine friendliness. Yet clearly ever so fragile. “Yesterday was… tough.”

With a small nod of appreciation, Amy accepted Amelia's support. Even if it was just a couple of words, that was better than nothing. When Amelia's expression changed, she looked at her with some measure of understanding mixed with concern. Of course, she wasn't sure what the girl would class as 'enough', but there seemed to be a lot on her mind. Slightly unsure of herself, she decided to put in her two cents, not that she was the greatest at this kind of thing. "You know, as much as I hate to admit it, you can't save everyone alone. Super or not. You've got stuff to deal with, and you want to help everyone out, but it seems like you're taking on too much." Her delivery came off as a little blunt, but Amy's concerns were genuine.

Amelia was taken aback by the blunt remark. She thought she would be used to it by now, as her father always spoke what’s on his mind. And never in a polite way either. Especially towards his children. Yet she understood what Amy meant. “I’ll manage, for now. Thanks.” But Amelia did realize she might have gotten a little bit too open with the girl. She was all for honesty and such. But Amy didn’t understand Amelia’s situation. The mess she was in? That was her mess. Mess made not because she wanted to help too many people, but because she couldn’t control herself. That was always her problem. It felt as if whatever she wanted was scrutinized and criticized. The worst part was that most of them were right.

It had been seventeen days since Delirium. Seventeen days of numbness. Avalon remembered every single second of that night, every feeling. She remembered the weakness she felt, the weakness that girl had filled her with. She'd made her into a slave, intent on serving her. She felt violated. All of this ran through her head as she sat on her floor, wrapped in a blanket and staring blankly into her mirror.

Her face was bare, no makeup, her eyes puffy from crying. Her outfit was a mess, a sweater she'd stolen from Sam and sweatpants that Will had given her last year for Christmas. Her mouth was pulled tight, as she absentmindedly chewed on her bottom lip, a clear effect of her anxiety. Her nails were speckled with dark red polish that she couldn't seem to chip off, and her fingers were constantly tapping out a melody that only she seemed to know. Avalon Middleton was a shell of her former self, and no one could know.

She'd been avoiding Will and Sam, who seemed to grow closer every day. Without those two, she came to the realization that she really didn't have many friends. Harold was gone now, so she couldn't talk to him, and really there was no one else she was close with. She blamed herself. She needed to start being nicer to people, or else she was going to wind up alone. Maybe that's not such a bad thing she thought, staring at her self in the mirror.

She shook her head. Enough. She stood up and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was far past time she got ready. She had a Fear Fest to attend, whether she liked it or not. She began to do her makeup, do her hair, and put on her costume. Her outfit consisted of a red hood, a dress that left very little to the imagination, and a pair of black pumps and white stockings. She had to admit one thing; she looked hot. Not that that cheered her up in any way. She took a look at herself in the mirror and nodded. You've got this Avalon. You've got this. With that encouraging thought, she walked out to find Sam or Will, or more likely both.

Amy kind of wondered what she was doing out here. It wasn’t like she was the biggest fan of the outdoors or anything, but honestly it had been the only place that came to mind. Well, except the training room but that was a place she wanted to avoid. She glanced at her leg for a second. It was recovering, and she could walk fine, but right now she still had to bandage the thing up. If she was honest with herself, it wasn’t the place that she was trying to stay away from. If Lucas figured she’d still be able to compete… It was safe to say that she didn’t want to run into him and risk going through round two.

But even with that worry on her mind, Amy knew she needed to do something with herself. So she’d brought herself out here, the morning of the day the Fear Fest was due to take place, early enough that she’d be able to get back in time to prepare. After all, she couldn’t very well miss the event after her encounter with Virgil - despite herself, she found that she looked forward to it. As she finally arrived at the firing range, a small smile appeared on her lips. While the training room was okay for basic stuff, this was somewhere that she could train with some real weapons. Abilities or not, she couldn’t go wrong improving her skills.

The firing range itself was a makeshift one, complete with old wooden tables, a few wooden chairs, as well as many a damaged mannequin beyond the ruined furniture. Remnants of paper and plastic targets remained nailed on the trees, some of which were right beside the mannequins that were filled with holes. Shells from various firearms lay across the ground, and though there were plenty of leaves surrounding the area, there was a dirt clearing that was maintained where the furniture was at. There were also some empty crates, as well as a hammer nearby. It appeared to be incredibly run down, but a sign on a tree revealed what it truly was, a ‘safe space’ for those who are ‘trigger happy’, which was essentially wordplay on the whole ‘triggered’ ordeal. Whatever this place was, it meant a lot to someone.

Amy was a little surprised at the atmosphere of the place as she looked around. It wasn’t exactly polished, that was for sure, but considering how isolated the place was she’d expected things to feel a bit lonelier. Not that she was complaining. If it hadn’t been for some of the decoration, being all the way out here by herself would have been kind of creepy. Someone had put a good amount of time into this place, but these things were here to be used so Amy figured they wouldn’t mind too much. With a yawn, she stretched lazily, mentally preparing herself to launch into a good training session. She hadn’t exactly done any shooting - honestly she wasn’t used to guns yet at all, though her powers no doubt meant she knew how to fire one. It just seemed smarter to practice everything possible.

A short distance away were the sounds of a particular vehicle, a black Jeep Cherokee that was affectionately referred to often as the ‘innocuous Jeep Cherokee’ by the driver. Speeding down the paved road, the SUV made a hard right onto the dirt path that lead to the range. At the helm was none other than Carmen Chavana herself, and at her side was her comrade Liana Washington, an assassin that helped bail Carmen out during the events of the Witching Hour incident. The Cherokee raced through the woods, bouncing and moving along with the rough terrain it tore apart in its wake. The engine revved as Carmen twisted the steering wheel back and forth, drifting the four-wheel drive vehicle along a turn before speeding ahead.

“Ready to unwind a little?” Carmen asked with a smirk to her comrade-in-arms. “Tired of the monotony of math class?”

Liana simply stared forward. “You know, you should actually pay attention in class once in a while, Carmen. You might actually learn something.” Liana turned to Carmen with a soft teasing smirk. “You know, I won’t be there to help you when the exams come around.”

Carmen rolled her eyes as she drove through the woods. “It’s not like you really pay attention in math either. What the hell do you have use for that, anyway? Making stupid ass calculations for rangefinding and long-ranged shooting?”

Liana sighed. “Yeah, you got me there.” She leaned back. “I don’t pay attention in that class either but I’m not trying to graduate here. I’m only here to make sure that my precious little Phoenix doesn’t get hurt by those… uh… Undead Pendejos.”

Carmen was about to say something, but once she saw her shooting range, as well as Amy standing in it, she immediately slowed down and brought the Jeep to a halt. “Woah… who’s that?” Carmen asked, not recognizing Amy from afar. “I hope she ain’t a snitch.” She said as she stepped out of the vehicle, Liana doing the same before closing the doors and converging. “Hey… uh… can I help you?” Carmen called out to Amy.

Amy had noticed the noise of the vehicle, but she’d figured it would just be someone passing by or something. Wasn’t as though many people had a reason to be here, from what she could tell about the place. Besides, there was a lot of stuff around here that kept diverting her focus, so it hadn’t really kept her attention for too long. The place was interesting, that was all. Still, she’d been so distracted that she hadn’t even really noticed the Jeep’s arrival, beyond registering that the noise had stopped.

So despite not exactly taking the most subtle approach in history, Carmen still managed to take Amy off-guard a little, something which showed as she quickly turned to look at the new arrival. If she had to guess, Amy would say that this was the person that had been looking after the firing range. Process of elimination really. Nothing indicated that more than one or two people ever showed up here. Still, if that was right then it was possible she’d be a bit overprotective so Amy laughed nervously before replying. ”I guess I could use a few pointers. Um, sorry about using your range, but I need to practice.”

Carmen looked to Amy as she stepped closer, her arms crossed. Once Amy laughed nervously and asked for a few pointers, Carmen simply stepped closer in an intimidating manner. Not intentionally, however, but it would be moments before Carmen revealed why she was acting this way. She raised her hand and pointed at Amy. “You look incredibly familiar…” Carmen said. “Didn’t you help me out back at Delirium?” Carmen asked, her intimidating look not changing, simply because it was a look of both confusion and where the hell did I last see you? “Amy… right?”

Amy held back a sigh of relief, although she felt a little small in this situation. For a moment there, she’d thought she was in real trouble but this kind of question was easy to answer. Thinking back, she nodded after a couple of seconds pause. ”Yeah? Yeah, I think I might have helped you get in or something.” Amy looked slightly apologetic. ”You’ve got my name anyway.” With a shrug, she continued. ”You’re Carmen? At least, I think. My memory of that night’s a little bit blurry.” That was true, if a little embarrassing to admit, but Amy didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest.

Glancing around, Amy noticed the car, as well as Liana, registering the presence of both of them with slight curiosity. Part of her wanted to ask about them, but a bigger part of her didn’t feel like asking any more questions right away. She smiled cheerfully, friendliness clear on her expression. ”So, uh, you been doing alright? I’ve not really seen you around much.”

Carmen listened, and thought about it some more. Yep, this was definitely the girl that helped her get inside, before the fuckfest that ensued afterwards. Well, that’s a story for another time anyway… a horrifying experience that nearly sent Carmen to the afterlife a few years too soon. At that, Carmen gave a smile. “Hey, thanks again.” She said with a soft smile. “And don’t worry, it was a little difficult for me to remember as well. We had one hell of a night.” She chuckled. “And yep! I’m Carmen, and this is my comrade-in-arms Liana. She’s got similar powers to me, and she’s here to help me out after I had a bad run in with some… bad folks, so to say.” Carmen explained, a little sheepishly. She lied about the part regarding Liana having powers, in fear that Amy might snitch on her in regards to bringing a non-powered individual into the school. “I’ll tell you another time about what happened, but other than that… uh… yeah, I’ve been doing fine. Thanks for asking, hermana.” Carmen said with a soft pat to Amy’s shoulder.

Walking to the back of the Jeep with Liana at her side, she looked to Amy. “So uh… you wanted to some practice with a few guns and gats, right?” She asked. “After all, I think I did tell you that I was going to help you out some way or another in return when we were at Delirium.” She said as Liana opened up the back of the SUV, pulling out a few gun cases before letting Carmen carry some to the table in the clearing. “Damn, these things are heavy as fuck.” Carmen chuckled as she put the cases onto the table, Liana putting the last of them on the other side. She turned to Amy. “So… we got almost everything you want. Name what type, we have it. All of them are made by FN though so the scope might be a little limited.”

”I guess you did say you’d help me out…” With a slight grin, Amy thought over the decision. She didn’t want anything too large or unwieldy, so figured starting small would be the best bet. ”Let’s just start with a pistol. I guess.” Amy paused for a second, looking a little weirded out by the situation. It wasn’t actually either of the people, but one gun was unfamiliar enough. Never mind the armoury that Carmen and Liana apparently hauled around in the back of that Jeep. Oh well. Worst case scenario, it could always be put down as a learning experience.

Despite her internal confidence, it was pretty obvious from her expression and body language that Amy didn’t quite know what she was meant to be doing. Once she got her hands on a gun, it was likely she’d be competent, but she wasn’t sure how much getting used to it would take. No doubt it wouldn’t be too long once she was able to figure out a few things, but when it came to getting started she didn’t want to take chances with a dangerous weapon. Unlike martial arts techniques, there were a lot more ways it could go wrong. Realising that she was probably acting a little strange, Amy offered up an explanation with a slight smile. ”Sorry if I’m acting weird. It’s just, well, we don’t really have guns back home. This is more than a little new to me.”

Both Liana and Carmen listened to Liana’s request, before Liana happily spoke up. “I know just the thing to get you. Figured you were gonna go for that option anyway.” Liana gestured for Amy to follow her to the table. “Over here.” Walking over to her end of the table, she opened up a smaller gun case, revealing an FN Five Seven handgun, complete with ammunition, suppressors and several other accessories. Taking it out from the case, loading in a magazine and cocking the weapon, she handed it to Amy before pointing downrange. “Aim for that mannequin over there. Don’t worry, the gun fires a small calibre, it’s relatively easy to shoot.”

Taking notice of Amy’s awkwardness regarding the weapon, Liana gave a soft understanding smile before standing behind her. “Here, you gotta stand like this with your feet apart.” She said, letting Amy spread her feet a little. “Hold the gun with both hands, with your shoulders twisted just a little…” Liana continued to guide Amy into the right position. “Get comfortable in your position for just a second.”

Carmen interjected. “Wait!” Carmen ran forward towards Amy, holding a pair of ear defenders and shooting glasses. “Don’t forget to wear your protection. Don’t wanna shoot your fuckin’ eye out.” Carmen joked, handing the ear defenders and shooting glasses to Amy.

Liana looked to Carmen. “Oh shit… yeah, forgot about that. I’m normally used to practicing without these… here, lemme see that for a second…” Liana said before gingerly taking the weapon out from Amy’s hands and placing it on the table. “Remember, finger off the trigger, safety is always on until you shoot, and never point it at anything you don’t want to destroy.” Liana explained. “Jesus I feel like fucking Dora the fucking Explorer right now.”

“How the fuck do you think I feel? And I’m the one who speaks fucking Spanish!” Carmen laughed.

Amy smiled slightly at hearing the two joke - it helped lighten the mood, put her at ease a little. She had listened pretty carefully to what Liana told her, and as she looked over the weapon she felt relatively confident in what to do. There had been a few adjustments for her to make, but it did feel as though her ability worked fine with it - having someone else’s help was something she’d asked for more to reassure herself than anything. Taking Carmen’s advice, she put on the protective gear, then glanced back at the weapon.

”Okay, I’m pretty sure I got it. Think I can give it a try.” She spoke with a little more confidence and, after waiting for a couple of seconds, picked up the weapon again. Making sure to obey the safety rules, she walked over into her previous position to fire at the mannequin. Relaxing, she found herself more comfortable with using her powers now that her nervousness was somewhat gone. Shifting to the correct stance with relative ease, she relaxed and focused on her target. This wasn’t so bad after all.

When she took the initial shot, her aim - while not perfect - was better than it had any right to be for a first-timer, her powers allowing her to adjust instinctively both to taking the shot itself and to the recoil.. She’d aimed for the mannequin's torso, and sure enough that’s where she’d managed to hit. After a couple more shots she put the safety back on and lowered the gun, looking over her shoulder at the other two with the type of confident grin she normally wore. ”Thanks for the help, guys. That was actually… Kinda fun. Weird, but fun.”

Both of them watched encouragingly as Amy took her shots. Seeing her take aim and stand in the optimal combat stance for pistols, they watched carefully and evaluated her. One she pulled the trigger, she actually landed her shot on a mannequin closer to them, and while it was somewhat close, it was still a good shot. Her follow up shots had somewhat decent grouping, which was actually pretty good for a first timer. After she turned the safety on and lowered the weapon, they both nodded approvingly, impressed.

Liana shrugged. “I know the Five Seven ain’t for everybody. You can always try Carmen’s favorite sidearm… that one has a little more kick and power to it. And actually doesn’t look fugly.” She chuckled.

Carmen smiled and nodded to Amy. “See what all of the ‘Ban All the Guns’ folks are missing out on? If they had a taste of this maybe they’d change their mind.” She walked up to Amy. “Still, that was nice grouping, and you fucked the target up.” She patted her gently on the back encouragingly. “Go ahead and empty the mag. Shoot for the targets farther away. Aim for the head if you like, and don’t get discouraged if you miss. We all miss sometimes. Not me though, because my powers and all, but Liana misses sometimes.”

Liana rolled her eyes at Carmen with a sarcastic ‘Yeah’ look.

“Alright, what you need to is focus on your targets. Steady your aim, breathe.” Carmen said as she stood at Amy’s back, guiding her. “You got around… eighteen?” She looked to Liana, to which Liana nodded. “...eighteen rounds left in the gun, so shoot to your heart’s content.”

”It’s definitely pretty cool, I’ll give you that.” With a newfound level of quiet confidence, Amy cast her eye over the other targets. They were definitely a bit further away, but it seemed doable at least. ”Eighteen rounds, huh? Sounds good.”

Saying that, she wasn’t quite confident enough to go straight for the head right away - it seemed like a better idea to just make sure she was aiming at the right place first. Okay, what had Carmen said? Focus, and steady her aim. As she did so, Amy started to tense up and hold her breath before remembering the last part of the advice - breathing was important in most situations, so she’d have to keep that in mind. Relaxing once more, she took a shot at one of the targets, aiming for the centre of the torso just to get used to the distance. The next few followed and made their mark.

With a slight grin, Amy decided she might as well try to have some fun with this as well. After all, she wasn’t missing the target so why not challenge herself a bit? She shifted her aim upwards, and aimed for a few head shots. The first went slightly wide - her aim must have shifted when she moved it higher, but she wasn’t too discouraged. Taking a moment to correct her aim, she fired a few more in fairly quick succession, a lot more successfully. Most of them made their mark, and when they did she couldn’t help but look a little proud of herself. Especially at her final shot, which - through a mixture of powers and actual ability - went right between the eyes.

”Yeah!” she cheered, before clicking the safety back on, remembering that Carmen and Liana were standing there and looking faintly embarrassed at her exclamation. ”I mean, uh, that was pretty cool.”

Both Liana and Carmen watched Amy carefully as she aimed for her targets and fired. She watched as she landed on her target, the torso, just fine, before challenging herself with the head. Seeing how she missed, Carmen gave a soft reassuring nod just in case if Amy looked back to her, allowing her to try once again, and tried she did! The next shot landed on the mannequin’s face, and so did a large proportion out of many shots. The FN ammo was tearing up the mannequin’s head, and with one final shot, a hole tore open right in between the eyes. Liana cheered a little herself while Carmen gave an impressed nod.

Once Amy cheered, Liana gave a soft chuckle. Carmen on the other hand, simply gave Amy a pat on the back. “Hey, that was incredibly good shooting, especially considering that this is your first time! You earned that yeah.” She said with a soft smile. “What’s your superpower anyway?” She asked as she took the handgun from the table, examining it. “Also do you want to continue shooting with this gun or do you want to move onto something bigger and better?” Carmen asked. “Seriously though, that was fucking impressive.”

Liana nodded. “Yeah, really impressive. It’s almost as if you had a bit of experience with Five Sevens yourself…”

Amy couldn’t help but grin a little bit, but shook her head at their compliments. ”It’s not really that impressive, honestly. One of my powers kind of gives me a helping hand with this stuff - weapons, tools and such. I have an idea how to use them right away, if that makes sense?” She shrugged. ”It’s kind of like I’m a really fast learner. Having you two helps as well.”

She looked at Liana, noting her comment. ”Never actually shot at anything before though, you can be sure of that. I’ve lived in Scotland most of my life and those things aren’t exactly easy to get a hold of over there. Wouldn’t mind trying a couple more out though, it’s an experience. As for my powers...” she laughed a little before taking a second’s pause. Weighing up her options. Realistically, these two seemed pretty competent - and more importantly they seemed like they’d be the same way without whatever powers they had. That would make them pretty useful people to have on side, especially for Amy.

And, from what Amy remembered, Carmen at least didn’t seem that wrapped up in the school feud bullshit, which made her decision. It didn’t seem there was much to lose from being honest with these two, assuming Liana had the same attitude. ”Well, I already told you the learning thing, but that’s more of a secondary - my main one lets me shut off other people’s. I don’t spread it around much, but it works for me.” As she spoke, she looked at the two to try and gauge their reaction. It was a bit of a risk, but Amy was hopeful about her chances of it working out.

Both Liana and Carmen nodded with an Ah… to Amy’s first statement regarding her powers. When it came to her having no experience with weapons, considering where she came from, Liana chuckled. “Kinda figures, your accent kind of gave you away.” She joked, before listening with Carmen, kind of curious in regards to what her powers are.

When Amy answered her question, Carmen’s eyes widened a little with interest and intrigue. “Hey, that’s- that’s actually pretty nice, and actually pretty damn useful. Considering with all of these idiots fighting each other over some stupid sorority… whatever, we could actually use someone with powers like yours, and hopefully bring an end to this bullshit.” Carmen said with a sigh. “Fucking…” She shook her head. “... whatever.” She looked back to Amy before putting her hands up. “No offense if you’re like… involved in all of that, but I’ve seen what the elections did to this fucking country, I don’t like seeing it here either!” She sighed. “Still, you can learn things and negate people’s powers, while it isn’t really cool, it’s like… incredibly useful.” Carmen explained, sitting on the table. “As for my powers? I’ll show you after you squeeze a few rounds from this.”

As Carmen spoke, she pulled out her favorite FNX-45 Tactical pistol, complete with its own RMR sight. Handing it to Amy with the handle facing her, Carmen gave a soft smile. “Now don’t be fucking it up, this one’s my favorite. And keep in mind, this one packs a punch and bucks in your hands a bit, because it fires a larger and more powerful round.” She explained as she hopped off the table. If Amy took the weapon, her smile widened a little as she stood beside Amy and looked downrange. “You know what to do, hermana. Fuck ‘em up!”

Amy shrugged. The assessment of her powers was accurate, they definitely weren’t flashy but they got the job done, though sometimes she’d have preferred to do something a bit more exciting. Amy nodded slightly at the assessment of the school drama. ”I’m with you. With how powerful some of these people are...” Her expression darkened. ”Someone’s going to end up getting hurt or worse - if it hasn’t happened already. They need something to make them work together.” The last part was more to herself. While she didn’t mention it, Amy had started thinking of a plan to try and do that - but it wasn’t the safest, and whether it’d work seemed sketchy at best.

Deciding not to delve into that one any further, Amy took the gun and looked it over with a light laugh. ”Well then, I promise not to break anything.” She smiled as she took aim and fired. While she’d been warned about the recoil, it still caught her a little off-guard the first time. It took a few shots, but once she’d adjusted to it her aim returned to its previous form. This time she was clearly having a bit more fun with it, switching her aim between different parts of the target to see how accurately she could hit them. After her final shot, she smirked slightly as she turned to Carmen.

”You know, I think I might be getting the hang of this. How’s that for fucking things up?” She chuckled, gesturing towards the target that she’d just completely murdered. She looked over the gun for a second. ”You sure weren’t kidding when you said this thing packs more of a punch, though! I can see why you’re a fan. But enough about me…” She handed the gun back with a grin. ”I believe you mentioned a demonstration? I’m guessing yours might be a bit more impressive. Go ahead, I’m looking forward to it!”

Carmen nodded, and while she was happy that Amy felt the same way about the situation, she saw her expression regarding the issue, to which she wanted it suppressed, and out of respect, Carmen never uttered a word about it. As much as she wanted to do follow up discussions on the issue and possibly recruit an ally for her mission, she figured she’d let Amy continue to have fun in comfort. Handing her the gun, she watched as she took aim, smirking a little. “Alrighty, hotshot. Be careful~” She teased, before letting Amy empty the mag again.

She watched as she fired the powerful handgun at the mannequin target, and while she missed a few times, she managed to keep her grouping in subsequent shots, and ended up tearing the thing apart with the powerful rounds. Once Amy finished, Liana looked to Amy. “Damn… Carmen’s right, you’re incredibly useful.” Liana gave a soft chuckle. “You should hang with us when you can, we’ll show you all kinds of goodies you can get yourself used to.” She smirked.

Carmen rolled her eyes at Liana, and even though Liana read her mind, she didn’t really want to rush things on Amy. “Sorry, we’re just a little excited… considering that you… fucking murdered that thing!” Carmen laughed, pointing at the headless mannequin. “Damn girl… that was some good shooting.” She said with a smile, and once she was handed her gun, she looked back up to Amy with sincere eyes. “Now I’m gonna warn you… what you’re about to see might overshadow your accomplishments, and I want you to know that what we saw will remain with us.” She said with a soft, sincere smile. “Just remember that, hermana.” She said with a soft smile, patting Amy on the shoulder before walking to the table.

Unloading the magazine from her .45 handgun, she loaded a fresh one and chambered it, disengaging the safety. Almost immediately, as she stood behind the table, she holstered her gun and remained there for just a second. “Watch.” Carmen said softly. “Liana, get ready to throw the can.” She said before looking forward towards the range.

In a split second, Carmen drew the tactical pistol from her holster blood dragon style, allowing it to come to rest within her hands before she already fired the weapon. It was almost as if she had an aimbot installed into her mind, she aimed every split second, taking a shot at every single head within the range. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Not even a second to breathe or aim, just rapid successions of nearly impossibly quick headshots. She never stopped, and almost immediately, she turned right towards Liana and fired the last shot into the air, the slide locking back as a beer can exploded in midair, a can that Liana threw into the air. Right after that, Carmen reloaded her handgun TF2 style, and immediately holstered her gun.

Carmen spread her arms. “My power is super reflexes. Essentially it allows me to enable slow-mo for myself, and thus it allows me to quickly evaluate, correct, compensate and accurately hit my marks. This applies to shooting, hand-to-hand combat, driving, first aid and even the most simple of things, like taking exams or tests.” Carmen said, letting her arms fall to her side. “The passive ability that comes with it is super senses. I can see better, hear better, smell better, taste better and touch better.” Carmen explained. “Like your powers, they aren’t flashy or cool but… they are incredibly useful.” Carmen explained. “Now just imagine, everything I just shot were all the heads of jihadi terrorists in Syria, or death squads within an oppressive regime.” Carmen gestured to all of the mannequins that had holes in their heads. “Yep, I have the potential to help the people destroy entire organizations of evil with my powers alone.”

Liana, however, never said a word.

Amy looked impressed at the display. ”You weren’t kidding. That was, uh, fast.” she nodded, trailing off as she looked over the range. While her own handiwork hadn’t been bad, it was definitely sloppy in comparison to that sort of showing. After a second, she glanced over at Liana. ”Sorry if this is rude or anything, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before today. While we’re on the subject of powers, um…” she shrugged, smiling a little nervously. ”Well, I guess I’m asking why you appeared at Mayweather all of a sudden.” Amy wasn’t really the most subtle person when it came to asking this sort of stuff, but her curiosity wouldn’t let her ignore it completely. Besides, it didn’t seem like there was much to lose from asking - worst case scenario she’d just not talk about it.

Carmen grinned, looking to Amy. “Yep.” She simply answered before looking to the table. “We have other weapons and stuff you can use, including knives, nightsticks, tasers…” She looked up to Amy. “Just don’t use them on us. Well… you can try but you won’t succeed.”

Once Liana was asked about her powers, and why she’s in Mayweather, Liana looked to Amy. “Oh… uhh… I have similar powers to Carmen, and I’m shadowing her for the time being.” She lied, using the same lie that Carmen told Mayweather’s head staff in order to have Liana around with her. In all actuality, Liana was brought along with Carmen in order to significantly increase their chances of survival, as they have recently had a bad run in with a mafia, and can only see disaster ahead of them.

Amy looked a little skeptical at Liana’s explanation. ”That sounds like a real coincidence to me. Guess it must just be one of those things.” She shrugged, before a slightly forced chuckle. ”Small world.” As she turned to look over the weapons on the table, it was apparent that she hadn’t quite bought the lie. It didn’t seem worth pushing things, though. If she really wanted to, Amy didn’t doubt she could get hold of some kind of information on at least one of them.

Hoping they wouldn’t pick up on it, she decided to change the subject. Unplanned subtlety wasn’t exactly her strong point so she just did the first thing she could think of and gestured towards the variety of weaponry on display. ”Well, you guys sure own a lot of weapons. I could probably spend days trying to get the hang of these. You’re not stocking up for anything too dangerous, right?” The question was delivered in a lighthearted way, Amy not really paying that much attention to what she’d actually asked.

Both Liana and Carmen listened to Amy’s reply a little awkwardly, but while Carmen seemed a little relieved (having bought Amy’s reply), Liana was still a bit skeptical. When Carmen turned around to Liana, Liana gestured to Carmen about her concerns by exaggerating her facial expressions, to which Carmen picked up on with a nod, Liana indicating that Amy didn’t buy it. However, when Amy started talking about their guns and asked if they were stocking up for anything serious, Carmen gulped. “Uh… Amy? Can you keep a secret?” Carmen asked, looking to Amy with nearly pleading eyes. “Because… let’s just say that we’re at a huge disadvantage and the secret is kind of the only thing keeping us alive right now...” Carmen explained, nearly cringing.

Amy’s expression changed to a look of concern on hearing Carmen’s tone, although her eyes stayed fixed on the table. Maybe that question had been a bit more on the nose than she’d expected it to, but if they told her what it was there might be some way for her to help them out. After a moment’s pause, she spoke seriously. ”I’ve kept plenty of them before.” Turning to look at them both, she sighed. ”Most people have a couple skeletons in their closet. It won’t be a problem.”

Liana and Carmen looked to each other, seemingly thinking about it. Liana gave a soft nod to Carmen, to which Carmen sighed, looking to Amy. “Liana doesn’t have any powers.” She said softly. “She’s just my protection detail. See… around more than two weeks ago, we kind of had a run-in with the Harts… some superpower mafia of some sort, and I barely escaped with my life. My friends are in hiding, and Liana and I are sticking together for our own protection.” Carmen explained. “We’re much safer here anyways, so if that secret’s revealed, we’ll get kicked out and we’ll end up sitting ducks.” Carmen explained, Liana nodding in agreement. “Liana’s just… incredibly good is all.” Carmen didn’t want to reveal any further information, such as that of their past… she didn’t want to make Amy flip out and snitch on them.

Amy was silent for a good few seconds. The Harts. Seemed like they were involved in a lot of people’s lives lately. Speaking up, she sounded as though she’d come to a decision. ”I won’t do anything to put you two in danger. I’d be willing to help you out, if I can, but I need to know a couple things first. Firstly, which Hart - or Harts - was it? And secondly...” She trailed off, before continuing with a dangerous-sounding calm. ”How far are you willing to go if it becomes necessary to protect yourselves?”

Carmen watch Amy’s reaction, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest until she heard that Amy was on her side, to which Carmen, and by extension, Liana, gave out a sigh in relief, and smiled once Amy said that she was willing to help, but she needed to know what Hart she ran into. “The fuck do I know… it was some girly bitch with some creepypasta voice and some big burly dude in a Taliban-styled torture chamber. I didn’t get their names because we were too busy running for our fucking lives and getting fucking shot at.” Carmen sighed.

At the second question, Liana walked over to the table and pulled out a larger gun case from under the stack of smaller ones. She then opened it up, revealing an FN FS2000 assault rifle before pulling out another gun case, opening it up and revealing an FN SCAR rifle with a grenade launcher mounted on it. Liana then gestured to the two military grade firearms and raised an eyebrow. “Do these give you a clue as to how far we would go?” She asked before picking up the FS2000, loading it up and readying the weapon. “Hon… I may be powerless but I have a history of destroying entire crime groups on my own, so much to the point it would make Denzel Washington and Liam Neeson blush.” She said before squeezing off a few rounds, firing in a similar manner to how Carmen did, getting headshots in a quick succession before she stood in a relaxed position, lifting her rifle skyward.

Carmen looked to Liana before looking back to Amy. “Yeah. I may not go as far as her but… we’ve done some horrible shit to horrible people in the past.” Carmen said softly. “But only to horrible people. After our run in with the Harts, we wasted a whole lot of their… undead assholes that chased after us. I’m trying to get in contact with Gianna to hopefully get things settled... but when the shit hits the fan… we’ll be ready.”

”That settles it then.” Amy said calmly after seeing Liana’s shooting. She couldn’t figure out who they were talking about off the top of her head, but it would definitely be possible for her to find out. As for the things they’d done… Well, they didn’t really bother her. She knew all too well that you couldn’t fix a lot of things without someone getting their hands dirty. Somehow Amy got the feeling that the law would be a little less approving, but that wasn’t her problem. ”I can try to figure out who exactly it was for you. Past that…” Amy shrugged. ”Well, if you get yourselves in trouble and need my help then I’ll try and be there as soon as I can.”

All this talk about the Harts had reminded Amy of someone, though. She checked the time on her phone before looking at Carmen and Liana apologetically. ”I’d normally stick around, but I have to go and get ready for this ‘Fear Fest’ thing. I sort of promised someone I’d go with him and it’s a long walk back to campus.” She smiled slightly, although it was obvious that she was more serious in talking to them now that she had been on arrival. She wasn’t sure whether to tell them who she was going with, but had decided against it right now. Neither of the people they’d described sounded like Virgil, so it wasn’t all that relevant.

Carmen nodded with a smile. “I appreciate that, hermana. Same goes for you.” She said with a smirk. “And if you ever need anything, whether it would be weapons, provisions, kush… feel free to holla.” Carmen said, patting Amy on the shoulder. “Seriously though, I incredibly appreciate it.” She said softly, her tone a little more serious. “After our run in with that bitch and her undead cronies, I’ve been getting the feeling that there’s bigger fish for us to get, and they already have eyes on us. Liana and I are trying to find a way to end this bullshit of a feud once and for all, and we’re gonna need all of the help we can get.” Carmen explained. “Send some folks our way to this number…” She said, pulling out a pen and a pad, writing down a phone number before handing it to Amy. “...we could use some friends in times like this.” She said before stepping back.

Once Amy announced that she had to leave, Liana nodded. “Well don’t let us hold you up then!” Liana said with a smile. “We’ll see you there.”

Amy grinned, taking the number and pocketing it. ”I’ll make sure to remember that one. Never know when I might need it, right?” With a small laugh, she continued. ”I’ve got your backs, anyway. What you’re are doing is something I can definitely get behind. See you guys around.” Smiling, she turned to head down the path, giving the two a friendly wave as she walked. Well, that seemed like a couple of people on her side. Talk about a lucky coincidence. For now, though, Amy had a Fear Fest to prepare for.

Both Liana and Carmen waved Amy off before they both turned to each other. “Shouldn’t we be preparing for the fear fest too?” Liana asked. “And I suspect nothing too terrible is gonna happen anyway. If we stick together, that is.”

“Let’s just take the Jeep with us just to be sure. We need an escape route just in case if bad guys show up there too.” Carmen said softly. “Sukaina covered a whole lot of our tracks in regards to things. The only thing that they should know is my name and that I go to Mayweather. That’s it.” Carmen explained. “Other than that, we should be fine.”

Liana nodded. “Alrighty.” She then changed into a combat stance. “Ready?”

Carmen stood opposite of Liana, raising up her fists. “Ready to kick your ass once again? Let’s go, bitch!” She smirked, and once Liana threw her first punch, they began sparring for the time being.

One would expect that Lucas was happy like a puppy on a day like FearFest. Obviously, he was going to pull pranks. It was completely expected from him. In fact, for entire past days now Lucas had been nothing but happy. Which was very odd because his bullying dropped a little. Suddenly his standard victims like Eliana and Milo were left alone. Though the occasional student was thrown around once or twice. Just to make a point. He still had a status to maintain. But still, both teachers and students certainly would have noticed an odd change in Lucas. But today was different. Today he boarded the bus looking like a dog ready to bite. The hellfire in his eyes was back. So intense that it nearly sparked out of his eyes, spelling out doom to everyone. It was evident that he was looking for problems. His mind begging every passing person to give him an excuse. Just to point or even look wrong. Whatever happened, it took the wrong day.

Lucas couldn’t be happier. Things were lining up again. It was his first year as a Darksider and he spent his last few day planning it all out. Observing victims, setting up traps, gathering materials. All this while he was still rigorously training for the Tournament. Though, nobody would say he did anything for it. On his best days he mostly just fluttered with his tired, hollow eyes. Though he fell asleep far more often. Rarely was he seen at the training room at day and his retrieved dummy was left to gather dust in his room. If anything, those who didn’t know him would say he either gave up or couldn’t care for the tournament.

But right now, for two days, FearFest was more important. As Lucas made his bags his gaze fell upon the journal. Could he leave it unguarded for several days? No. Too dangerous. Even when all the Mayweathers were coming with them, he shouldn’t leave such a valuable asset just in the hands of the faculty. Dropping down on the bed next to it, Lucas felt a certain itch to open it once more. Maybe he could discover some feisty secrets about Eliana like he did last time? Secrets he could use against her. Well, he would keep it light hearted. A silent promise to Mitch. But she was Mayweather after all. Luckily she hadn’t picked a side really, in the conflict. A wise choice, for Lucas planned to be utterly merciless to a handful of persons. The cold war they were fighting was about to heat up.


To miss someone. Lucas fell silent. His almost trademarked grin fell off his face. Like a porcelain mask, it shattered into a thousand pieces as he felt his heart shrink. He knew the pain too well. But most of all he knew what being all alone felt like. Loneliness was such a poisonous feeling. It creeps in your bones, veins and eventually in your heart. You stare at the sky and the ground. Dreading or hoping, or maybe a little bit of both, that someone would pick you up. Some fall in the chasm. They wallow in their solitude. Built walls high up to shield themselves. It all starts so simply: by missing someone. But it can end in closing yourself off to the world.


At the end, Lucas slammed the journal close. It was becoming too much. Simple, short sentences were becoming his undoing. How could it? That he could see himself in her now? A month ago they were arch enemies. Now, now he understood her. The diary, the one thing he wanted to use as a weapon against her, had turn itself against him. Her words somehow made him understand her life and her actions. Even more, it summoned up memories he repressed for over 2 years now. He was visibly shaking but kept his eyes closed. His mind forced him to relive that one day as the same sentences echoed through his skull: ‘Love is for fools. Love is stupid.’ Someone as old as him should call it childish, teenage behavior. But he couldn’t. Instead, his head started torturing him again like it did so long ago. The pain from back then rippled over him, causing to shake.

But then it stopped. His body seized trembling. He felt calm. When he opened his eyes he was floating in space. The dark shroud was all around him, speckled with silver. But in front of him burned a sphere. The sun. Not the tiny circle one could see from Earth but a massive globe taking up Lucas’ entire vision. The black and yellow spots danced over the surface as arcs formed hundreds of kilometers over its surface. Lucas knew that, under normal circumstances, he should have been blind. In fact, he shouldn’t even be alive. The sheer heat and radiation that the sun so willingly burned should have vaporized him in an instance. But it didn’t. He didn’t feel anything but a soft warmth embracing him. His mind was, for the first time in a long time, truly serene. Looking down at the book, he noticed how he loosened his grip subconsciously. He was as much releasing it as it was releasing him. For with every second, the torturous pain that flowed through him ebbed away. As the journal moved away from him, millimeter by millimeter, he could sense the thoughts get pushed back. His memories were being oppressed once more. They vanished from his conscious mind, driven towards his subconscious and beyond.

He was forgetting it. The journal started burning on the edges. The white paper slowly turning into black ash. Lucas’ mind went from calm and serene to frantic, grabbing the journal and pulling it close again. The comfortable warmth turned to painful heat. As quickly as it all happened, it vanished again. When he opened his eyes. He was sitting on his bed again, strapping the journal to his chest. For a second he thought he daydreamed it all. A true mark of getting more sleep. But when he examined the journal, its edges were still black and scorched.

It returned to the fake ceiling. Where it would remain for a long time. When the ceiling tile was put in place, Lucas collapsed onto his bed. His mind repressed the memories again but it only made room to think about Eliana. Or, more specifically, his own kinship with her. Hurt and harmed by those they loved. Abandoned and left alone. He was lucky. If not for a handful of person, he’d be roaming the dark still. Lashing out at everything and everyone. The realization came with a newfound emotion. Compassion.

Surrendering to his wandering thoughts he just kicked back and opened his laptop. A few days ago the new battery finally arrived so he was eager to get back to the online land of the living. Of course, his phone had been a substitute but it could never entirely replace his trusted vault of knowledge. His bags were nearly finished, so he reckoned he could stroll through the internet a bit…

Brenna Lancaster was not in a very good mood, and her room certainly reflected as much, the air far colder than anyone could be comfortable with. First, James had broken up with her. Then, she'd been mind raped by that bitch, Minako, at Delirium. And then, the very next morning, she finds out that Carmen's back. Everything seemed to be going wrong for Brenna at the moment. But tonight was going to be fun. She looked into her reflection's eyes, as if trying to assure herself of this.

The past seventeen days had been distractions. Distractions from James and from that night. She'd been helpless that night. Totally and completely at the mercy of someone else. She had to say, she was not a fan. To forget all that, she'd been training, non stop. She'd barely even seen Gianna or Lucas since all of her time was spent in the training center. She was determined to win this tournament. She didn't just want it. Right now, it felt like she needed it.

Sighing, Brenna looked herself over once more. Her hair was lightly curled, and fell down her shoulders in waves, while her body was clad in a jet black leather suit. Her feet rested in high heeled boots, and strapped to her hip was a whip. Her costume was finished off by a domino mask that covered her eyes. She was meant to be Catwoman, though she figured that the simpletons at this school might have trouble seeing past her body. That's alright. Let them stare, and let them underestimate you. One day, they'll regret it.

A few minutes later, Brenna was strutting her way to the Fear Fest Bus her lips down turned into a scowl that meant people gave her a wide berth. Finally reaching the bus, she walked on and took a seat next to Lucas. James had left her, but Lucas wouldn't. He'd be there until the end, standing alongside her. Or so you think... Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head, she nodded to him. He looked pissed, but then again, what was new. "Careful there Tiger. You look like someone stole your favorite toy," Brenna teased.