Evolve - Chapter 3 Chapter 3

The elevator door opens to a massive room, with a bunch of pillars everywhere and in some areas whole walls, the room itself is anything but empty, cables are running around all over the floor and the ceiling, connected to a whole lot of computer work stations, there are people walking all over the place, most of them wearing glasses. Some work stations have pillows and little blankies next to them, I’m guessing they sleep here too. This place is tech paradise. Trance music is playing softly all around.

“Welcome to my department.” Says Janice, as we step out of the elevator

“When we first got here we worked inside the rooms and apartments on this floor, having to get out and go next door and get info or whatever so we decided that was tedious so we went over the building plans and knocked down walls, left the pillars up, reinforced some of them, and left some walls that we couldn’t knock down, communication is easier now and well it’s just plain awesome.” She says, smiling. She feels at home here.

We walk down the path in the centre of it all while I’m looking around taking it all in, to my left there’s a dude playing what looks like call of duty on two different screens, the third screen next to him seems to be running some kind of program or algorithm, again I’m not much of a tech wiz. To my right a girl with a buzz cut, a dragon tattoo running from her neck and ending on her left hand, wearing a sleeveless top is running what I’m sure is a facial recognition pattern on one screen and on the other is streaming an MMA event.

“What do you all do down here exactly?” I say slowly

“Gather Intel, decipher Intel, find whoever needs to be found, analyse powers, patterns, and monitor backlash deterioration. We even work with the med floor for whatever they might need. Not to mention we have access to crazy fast internet which means everyone has fun with it. Come on lets go to my station.” Says Janice

She turns right and begins manoeuvring us through the maze of computers, cables and people.

We reach Janice’s station which is behind a wall on the far end of the giant room. Her workstation is fitting considering she seems like the head of this department, mounted on the wall are eight flat screen monitors, the two on the top left are on two different news channels and the two on the right are showing CCTV footage of somewhere but it’s not here. The bottom four have information of people and their faces, one of those people is me, the other ones are of Marc and a young girl, I’m about to read her name when the bottom four screens go off. I turn to Janice.

“One thing at a time.” She says simply

She takes off her jacket and tosses it on her chair. What I thought was a power rangers t-shirt earlier turns out to be a power rangers sleeveless top, revealing her sleek, smooth arms and shoulders, she has a dream catcher tattoo on her right forearm, which catches my attention by how beautiful it is.

“Do you like it?” she asks noticing my stare

“Yeah it’s nice.”

“If you ever want one just go see Becky about it, she’s the girl with the dragon tattoo from back there.” She says sitting on her chair and propping her feet up

“Funny, that’s both a truth and a reference to a movie of the name.” I say

On her table are three separate keyboards, some snack food wrappers. But the curious thing about this area is what’s behind Janice, it’s a device that looks like a water dispenser with a screen on it, it’s pulsating a blue glow. Next to it is an elevated arm rest with a metal clap that is about as long as the arm rest, the clasp has some kind of thin dark padding

“What you’re looking is an ability analyser, first generation, it’s the only one we have been able to get our hands on, WECA has a fifth generation but a second generation analyser has proven harder to get.” She says looking right at me

“What’s the padding for.” I ask

“To guard against any unwarranted discomfort”

“Why would there be discomfort?”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you ask too much?” says Janice standing and walking to the device

I’d say a couple teachers and some annoyed strangers have hinted that I ask too much but never actually said so it doesn’t really count. I need to get smarter if I’m gonna impress Janice sometime or at least let me have cool super powers.

I walk over and stand next to Janice, she touches the other side of the dispenser detector (yeah I’m calling it that), a tray pops out from the middle of it, on the tray is very sleek looking bit of headgear, shaped like an elf crown, the Tolkien Lord of the Rings elves I mean.

“Put this on.” Says Janice pointing at the headgear.

I pick it up and bring it up to my head, as I lower it down to fit it, it tightens around my skull then I literally feel four different painful piercings into my skull, instinctively I reach up to remove the headgear but it’s stuck, and when I try to jerk it off it causes me more pain.

“What hell!?” I say look at Janice angrily

“Hey I did not say anything about the process being painless. And to be frank, we’re only getting started, sit.” She says kicking her chair in my direction

Reluctantly I do as she says, I grab her chair and take a seat, Janice fiddles with the screen for a bit before the arm rest lowers down to my level. Janice gently takes my arm and places it on the arm rest strapping me in. Needless to say my heart rate is going up because of how close she is to me right now, I’m only realising this now but she smells great, and she moves just as I was beginning to enjoy that moment.

“This next bit might sting a little and also everyone reacts different to the sensation.” Says Janice

“Sensation?”

“You’ll see what I mean.”

Janice turns and begins tapping the screen again; I wonder what she means by sensation.

“Okay, I’m firing it up, now.” Says Janice turning to face me after tapping the screen for the last time

The first thing I feel is a warm sensation on my arm, the one on the arm rest. It feels like there’s a little person with really warm feet doing a happy run on my arm, the sensation then speeds up and shoots up my arm, and neck and pings in the headgear, the same sensation happens again only this time it’s faster. Electrical impulses are being sent to the headgear, I might not know much but that’s what it feels like. After about five or six more sensations they stop altogether.

“That’s it?” I say looking up at Janice, she shakes her head

My entire body jerks back and my hands grip the chair and arm rest like my life depends on it, it feels like I’m being electrocuted and a scream is trapped in my throat, all I can do is gasp repeatedly, I can feel my eyes roll to the back of my head.

I was about to say I’m dreaming again, but this is no dream, standing in front of me is Marc, one of the five, and he’s staring right at me, I can’t tell where this is everything around is blurred, he’s as clear as a 4K image. He’s a tall skinny dude with short blonde hair and blue eyes, his hands are taped up like a boxer’s before a fight, he’s wearing a black vest and shorts.

“You’re not Nicole.” He says

“Who’s Nicole?” I ask

“None of your business, now get out of my frequency.”

Before I can react Marc punches me right in the gut. And then I’m back in my body staring at Janice’s face which is so close I could steal a kiss but obviously I don’t, looking relived Janice pulls away. The headgear is off my head and my arm isn’t strapped down anymore, I look around and thankfully there isn’t a crowd around, I am thankful for that wall.

“What happened to you just now?” she asks

“I thought you said this thing draws different reactions out of people.” I say standing slowly.

My gut hurts in the same place Marc hit, it feels like I was literally hit, what kind of superpower is that anyway. But it’s probably best if I don’t say anything to Janice, I know what you’re thinking I’m keeping a lot of secrets from these people but do you tell everyone all your secrets in one day? Exactly.

“Yeah I did say that but I ain’t never seen a reaction like that before, it’s like you went someplace.” Says Janice

“It must be the whole three powers thing, what are the results?” I ask

Janice raises an eyebrow before turning to the screen on the device.

“You have got flight, augmentation and energy projection. I don’t think I’ve ever come across the last one there, this thing doesn’t even have any information on it, just a name.” Says Janice turning to me with a look of curiosity on her face.

“What does that mean?”

“It means your power’s never been documented, no one has ever seen it not even WECA.” Says Janice

Never been documented you say, I beg to differ, that footage from the hospital documents it just fine. I already knew about the augmentation, flight is cool and if energy projection means vaporising people I might as well have two abilities because I will be using that unlike I know what it is exactly.

“Does everyone go through that process, the whole machine thing?”

“No, most people know what they can do by the time they get here, I’ve only every had to use that thing four times, you make five.”

The girl with the dragon tattoo emerges from the other side of the wall, she’s actually quite beautiful, she has on black lipstick.

“Janny, I got a kid on that Marc dude, he was spotted an hour ago, got picked up the O.R’s people, you might wanna get Han on this one.” She says

Janice grumbles, “Damn it, that makes it that much harder to find him. Thanks Becks, can you go tell Han for and take the newbie here with you, he might come in use.”

“You sure that’s a good idea, this is Han we’re talking about here.” Says Becky

“I know, but he’s gotta learn at some point.” She says

“So I’m just getting passed on like a bad luck necklace?” I say, turning to Janice

“No, got work to do and frankly it’ll do you some good.” She says

“Let’s get going then, I was in the middle of something and I don’t wanna miss too much.” Says Becky, disappearing behind the wall

I take one last look at Janice before following Becky, she walks fast, so fast I’m almost struggling to catch up, we make it all the way to the elevator without a word.

The elevator arrives, and very gentlemanly I gesture for Becky to go in first which she does, I follow in after her. She presses a button labelled ‘P’ I’m guessing that leads to the building parking area/basement, the doors close and the elevator begins descent

“So what do you think so far?” Says Becky, as she moves to stand right in front of me, she’s smiling

“Of what exactly?” I say resisting the urge to press myself against the elevator wall

“Of this place?” she says inching closer taking one step back and I’m already hitting the wall

“I uh don’t have an opinion yet, I’ve only been here like an hour and a half so, yeah.” I say chuckling nervously

“What’s wrong you look a little hot under the collar there new boy,” Says Becky inching ever so close.

I exhale loudly, “The vicinity of space between us is really close.” I say

“The nervous when really close to a girl type, that’s cute.” Says Becky before turning around just as the elevator doors open

And just as I thought it is the building basement, partly lit, and I think I hear a really old air conditioning system, it must be good because the air in here smells great. I follow Becky as she leads the way through the lit area, which is pretty much like a path made of light showing us where to go. I wonder where the gate is, for when there’s a car coming in or going out. Up ahead, in probably the brightest lit area of the basement is a man on a large blue mat sparing against two punching bags, landing punches and kicks like he’s Bruce Lee, I can’t quite make out what he looks like yet mostly because of his really long dark hair that’s hanging about covering his face. Beck and I approach and stand at the edge of the mat. He’s shirtless showing off his sleek physic, wearing loose black pants and standing barefoot, he has very light tones in terms of skin colour, obviously noticing our presence he stops, reaches into his pocket and pulls a hair band, he fixes his hair ties it in a rough ponytail, he is clean shaven.

“I assume you did not come down here to watch beat up punching bags.” He says, his accent has a hit of Chinese in it

“Good to see you too Han, someone we were tracking down was taken by O.R’s people, and giving your history Janice figured you’d know where to shake down for information on where they took him.” Says Becky

“Janice? I’m taking orders from a child now am I?” he says sounding both insulted and patronised

“Frank’s letting her run point on this one, I could just go upstairs and get to Frank to tell you what I just told you personally.” Says Becky calmly

The two of them stare daggers at each other before Han looks over to where I’m standing.

“Yeah he’s going with you on this, he’s your escort with abilities.” Says Becky

“He’s new, does he even know what he can do?” Says Han, but Becky is already walking away

She doesn’t even look back to respond. And so I’m left with brooding Han staring me down, I’m trying to work out if this dude is really hardcore or if it’s just an act. Han turns and walks towards the darkness behind him, touching a pillar as he goes past it. Lights go on revealing a make shift basement pad that looks awesome, there’s a shag carpet on the floor and on it are two green couches facing a flat screen, on the other side of that is a single bed on a blue carpet of its, and hanging from the ceiling are fairy lights, just like my room, beside the bed is a colour splash curtain pinned to the ceiling which Han disappears behind and behind the flat screen in a parking bay is a black VW beetle with tinted windows and silver rims. Han may be a bit hardcore but he’s got a pretty cool pad.

“Take a seat on the couch I gotta change then we can go.” I walk over to the couch and take a seat

This is a really nice pad, I know I said that before but I gotta emphasise. I wonder if he’s got any channels on his TV would be nice to watch something while I wait. There’s a couple of remotes next to me on the couch.

I reach for one with my left hand, “Don’t even think about it kid.”

It’s Han, I look up to see him coming out from the other side of the curtain, dressed in all black jeans, t shirt, sneakers and has one of those gun holsters that go under a person’s arm, he’s putting on a black trench coat style jacket. He pulls a cell phone from his pocket and brings it to his ear.

“Did you sanction this Frank, giving me some rookie kid to do the rounds?” He says calmly without taking his eyes off me

He then begins making his way towards the VW beetle slowly, not saying a word, I wonder what Frank is saying.

“Right okay, we’ll be back in a couple hours.” Han says, he shoves his phone into his inner jacket pocket and turns to me

“Let’s go kid,” he says turning and getting into the car.

I’m stumbling off the couch and head for the car and enter just as Han starts up the car. As soon I close the door Frank backs the car out as Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good’ comes through smoothly through the speakers. The beetle is modified, like race car level modifications, I can practically feel it purr.

Frank navigates the car through the dark basement with the headlights as his eyes, he takes a sharp left and guns the beetle straight towards a boarded up double gate that’s opening slowly, too slowly. I turn to Han slowly and he has a sly smile on his face, he turns to me with the same sly smile still on his face.

I’m tempted to bail out of the car just as the beetle slips right through the opening the gate has made, the car just about makes it without a scrape, Han turns the car into the street and turns right joining other cars in the early evening hustle, outside it’s just about getting dark. In the far distance I can see the Johannesburg CBD skyline.

“Didn’t think we’d make it kid?” asks Han

“I had my doubts,” I say

“We’ll be working together, you’ve gotta learn to trust me.”

He says this while he weaves past cars at just under 60km/h making these civilian drivers look like their standing still, there’s an exit to our left but the traffic light ahead is closing and the opening to reach that exit is being close by a mini bus taxi slowing down looking to stop behind a Toyota Corolla, Han guns it the modified VW engine roars in agreement, the little beetle zips through the opening, I look back just in time to catch the surprised look plastered on the taxi driver’s face. If I’m gonna die tonight it might just be squashed in this VW beetle.

After driving for what feels like an hour we have arrived at an old abandoned warehouse building, the parking lot isn’t empty though, there are some really nice cars, luxury cars, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi, the list goes on, I think I spotted a sports car. Han parks the car next to a Porche Carrera, without a word he steps out, shuts the door and starts walking away, I’m guessing I follow. I step out and shut my door then jog to catch up to him.

“What took you?” asks Han, almost hypothetically, it’s better to say nothing

There’s the sound of muffled music and voices coming from inside. We walk around the building and reach a door that’s unguarded, but there is a hand biometrics machine on the door, at least I think it’s one of those, it would be really cool if it is. Han reaches out and places his hand on it, it glows blue for a moment before turning green, the door clicks open and we both step through, naturally I’m the one to close the door. By the way that was cool.

The music I was hearing is coming from a live band that is playing from up on high on a suspended platform made of some kind of clear material, there are a lot of people here both women and me, people in suits, some of them not in suits but still in pretty rich looking clothing the point is they look important some of them seated some of them standing or walking around, there are hostesses wearing short tight white dresses walking with trays carrying anything from drinks to money, some of them sitting with a few of the men and women in seated around an big enclosed octagon cage, looking up I see more people with a higher view on things.

Amidst all this there are men that look like guards dressed in black suits, some of them walking around and all of them armed. Everything about this screams underground fight club, and I have a feeling it’s normal people stepping in that cage.

“Listen up kid, stay close, you don’t want these people thinking you’re a stray.” Han shouts into my ear before making his way into the crowd

We’ve only taken about ten steps to wherever it is we’re going when a man in a suit with a sharp haircut and a well groomed beard stands in front of Han with a smile.

“Holy crap, are you the indomitable man Han?” says the man

Indomitable man? My eyes shift to analysing Han’s reaction. He smiles at the man nervously and taps him on the should and attempts to slip past but the dude begins walking along side Han, bumping into a few people.

“Are you gonna get in the cage tonight? Because if you did I wanna bet on you, everyone knows you’re a winning bet.” Says the dude grabbing Han’s arm

Han looking annoyed turns to the man with a mad look in his eye but doesn’t say a word, the dude let’s go of his arm and begins backing away. Han turns to me, shakes his head and then walks on. We navigate our way through the sea of rich people and hostesses. We arrive to a set of stairs that lead to what looks like an upstairs office, the windows painted black. There’s a guard at the base of the stairs, he grips his firearm tighter as he sees us approaching.

Han and the large man exchange an intense look, “Is he in?” asks Han

“Yeah.” Replies the man

“Mind moving out the way, I wanna speak to him.” Says Han

The guard glances at me then turns back to Han.

“He’s with me.” Says Han

“I don’t know him and he only cleared you to come in anytime you like.” Says the guard

“If I go up there alone and tell him you didn’t let my associate through, what do you think’s gonna to you?” says Han

The man and Han have a stare down, taking a deep annoyed breath the guard reluctantly steps aside, Han leads the way up the stairs. All this talk of ‘him’ and ‘he’ is making me nervous. Han makes it to the door, knocks once, opens it and steps inside, again I follow him through and shut the door. The office walls are painted white with splashes of red, other than a safe in the back corner, the only furniture in the room is a desk with a computer on it, a brown carpet covers the entire room’s floor.

A man with shaggy hair in a sharp suit dark grey tux, facing a monitor looks up and smiles, he immediately stands, walks around his desk and then him and Han embrace. The thing is I was expecting someone a bit old and intimidating, this guy looks at least 21 years old.

“It’s good to see you Han, it’s been a while old friend.” Says the man. Old friend? How

“Yeah, you know I’ve just been living.” Says Han, the man begins making his way back to his desk

“Who’s your young friend?” He says as he takes a seat

Young friend? Has this dude looked in the mirror lately.

“Someone I’m training,” says Han taking a glance in my direction

The young man gestures for us to sit, following Han’s lead I take a next as well.

“So why did the legend of my cage come to me for after a four month hiatus for?” asks the dude

“I need a favour from ya O.R, your boys picked up a kid earlier in the day and brought him here, it’s real important that I find him.” Says Han

“What’s this kid look like?” asks O.R

This is O.R! But he’s so young, what did he start his criminal activities at age 10?

“Short blonde hair, blue eyes, slim.” Says Han

O.R stares at Han with a cold look in his eyes and a slight smile on his face.

“You’re describing Marc, the reason I got house so packed, place hasn’t been this full since your time, he’s my main event, the money maker.” Says O.R

“Yeah, I uh I hear you O.R but I need to take this kid with me.” Says Han, with a nervous tone in his voice

What is it about this guy, clearly Han is older than him, but yet there’s this aura about this dude that keeps making people afraid of him, is he that badass?

“You wanna take away my biggest attraction? First you leave for no apparent reason and send this part of my business into plummeting mode and now you walk in here and you wanna take what’s mine again. Let me tell you something about that kid, he came to me I don’t know he found me because my location is only sent to those who need it, heck even you still get a weekly update on where the cage goes, so this kid outta nowhere pops up and says hey I hear you host fights give me a week under you and I promise I’ll your main attraction, I think you know what screw it I’ll give him a shot, he goes in steals the show and now here we are six weeks later. He ain’t going nowhere.” He says, no longer smiling, a colder look in his eyes

Han scratches the side of his head and sighs, “Thanks for seeing me man, I hear what you’re saying, we’ll be on our way.”

“It was good to see you Han, and word of advice as a friend don’t ever come here look for information or people, you got your three strikes, nobody gets a fourth. If you want the kid so bad step in the cage and fight him, maybe you win and it’s impressive I’ll let you walk out with him.” Says O.R

“I don’t do that no more, O.R.” says Han

“Then stay for main event, it starts in ten minutes.”

“Say hello to Harriet for me when you see her.” Says Han

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that,” Says O.R the look on his softening for once

Han nods, stands and heads for the entrance, I stand and follow him, we both exit, Han leads me through the crowd of people once again. What was that about, I fully would have expected Han to start slapping that dude upside the head at some point, but Han had this respectful way about him as if he were talking to Don Corleone.

Han leads up a set of stairs to the high rise area of this warehouse arena, we find two free seats and sit, from up here there is clear view of everything below us.

“Han, what was that about back there?” I ask

“You wanna ask why I was being so respectful to a punk kid?” he says his eyes fixed on the people below us

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“That’s because that ain’t no punk kid, that’s just a 70 year old man in a 20 year old’s body.” Says Han

“I don’t understand,”

“He was affected too that day a year ago, got to the ability to time travel, happened at a tough time too, his wife had just been killed by someone working for a rival of his, he came to me one time happy as heck telling me he spent a day with her and wanted to show me, I can’t really explain what happened but uh he took me and him back to when she was alive.”

“And you used to work for him?”

“Yeah, he came out of nowhere and started beating out competition in the entire province in drug trade and weapons and brothels, then he toned that down and started this fighting business, beat out the competition in that too became a king pin of sorts bought shares in companies he makes a lot of money for his family, friends, made a lot of money for me. I was his star fighter then he started adding people with abilities, a lot people thought I’d quit.”

“But you didn’t you kept fighting,” I say slowly

“Yeah, used everything I knew to survive, learned people’s weaknesses and beat them even with their abilities, I built a rep, the indomitable man they called me.”

“Why’d you quit four months ago?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you some day, kid, fight’s about to start.” Says Han

And sure enough down below people are taking their seats, some making final bets and a man steps on the suspended stage in a suit, I’m guessing the announcer.

He clears his throat and beams, “Ladies and gentlemen we are now just moments from the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the main event!” He says in loud husky voice pausing to allow cheers from the gathered crowd

“Now I hope you all placed your placed your bets on the right person. Now the rules are simple there are none,” he says laughing, “However some of our participants tend to be non-participant and sometimes seek to escape but as we all that is not possible because thanks to some of you with connects fingers reinforced our cage to keep them inside until the fight ends and of course no one wants the action spilling outside.”

The announcer points at the cage, as two human sized cages made of wood are wheeled into the cage and placed at opposite ends, the men who wheeled them in exit and an electrical buzzing sound comes from the cage the moment they shut it.

“With the Don himself Mr O.R watching, introducing to you the reigning defending king of the cage who has a talent for the electric, ladies and gentlemen The Marcsman!”

One side of the cage falls to ground and out steps Marc, he looks around the at the crowd then stares at the cage across from him there’s a slim metal collar with a single blinking light on it around his neck, the cage Marc stepped out of dissolves behind him.

“And of course the challenger, this one is a first ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have a kid who can control the dead by the name of Jacob.”

The cage across from Marc falls away and from it emerges a boy, he looks maybe 15 with a massive messy afro dressed in a black dungaree with a navy blue t-shirt underneath, he also has the same metal collar that’s around Marc’s neck, he looks around nervously before facing his opponent.

“There is only one rule, no killing, you can beat your opponent to a pulp and bring him within an inch of his life if you like but you will not be allowed to kill him, the fight ends when one of the participants is either incapacitated or yields defeat, when the buzzer goes off it will not sound until the end of the fight, there are no rounds or time limits.” The announcers pauses to allow cheers and whistles and a few shouts for the start of the fight to go around.

“Sound the buzzer.” Says the announcer

And as the announcer makes his way off the suspended stage a buzzer, similar to the one you’d hear at a basketball game, goes off.

As soon as the buzzer goes off a cloud of black smoke engulfs Jacob and about half the cage space, Marc takes a defensive stance his entire body starts crackling with electricity but he doesn’t make a move to attack just yet, this entire feels like it’s holding a collective breath, myself included, the black cloud begins to dissipate, well more like it’s being sucked into a vacuum space and the vacuum is Jacob, the mist has now all but vanished and there stands Jacob, the entire room takes a collective gasp because we’re looking an entirely transformed Jacob standing across from Marc.

All around him is a black menacing aura that is giving me an uneasy feeling, filling me with fear, it’s as if he is made of death itself, he now has a long black cloak that is tatters hanging off his shoulders, his skin is thin like a wraith, I can see his bones as if his skin is made of a thin layer of blurry plastic, he doesn’t look like a scared kid anymore, in his right hand he grips a black staff that has a circular end with a bit of the black mist swirling around inside. His dark massive afro and the robe he’s wearing sway around slight as if there’s an invisible wind around him alone. I bet Marc wishes he had attacked him before the mist cleared, because I know I would.

Marc charges up his right hand and fires a streak of electricity at Jacob, Jacob in a motion almost too fast to see brings his staff in front of his to block by emitting some of that black aura, with a loud crack and a fizzle the electricity and mist collide, and like a smoke bomb the mist explodes all over the place it connects, but quickly clears by virtues of Jacob who is furiously waving around his staff sucking the mist back in, Marc prepares to attack again but Jacob doesn’t look to give him the opportunity, he raises his staff up slight and plants it into the ground, and on cue ghostly, decaying hands emerge, the people watching nearest to the cage jump out of their seats in panic. The hands claw their body counter parts from the ground.

Jacob has his right hand extended toward the staff but he isn’t touching it, circling around the staff is five deformed faces, a low collective wail comes from the cage, emitting from Jacob’s staff. There are five decayed ghostly bodies standing between Marc and Jacob staring down Marc, well let’s call them what they are, they are five ghost zombies, the one on the left is dressed in a tattered kimono, next to him is a woman in some kind of army uniform, and next to her is a man in what once was a tailored suit, and next to him is a shirtless big man wearing brass knuckles, and to round it off another man in an army uniform. If this wasn’t so freaky it would be cool because Jacob reached into wherever and pulled out what looks like a troop of trained fighters, but then again what did me and everyone else here expect, he’s a necromancer for crying out loud. The crowd is loving it though, they are losing their minds despite being terrified.

I turn to look at Han, his face is slightly pale, his eyes fixed on the cage, I wonder what’s going on inside his head, his right hand is inside his jacket, I’m guessing he’s got a tight grip on that gun of his.

“You serve me now.” Says a bone chilling voice, almost like a whisper reverberating off every surface in this place

It’s Jacob and I’m pretty sure he’s talking to the ghost zombies, the ghost zombies charge Marc, only they’re not moving like zombies per say. They move like shadows if shadows could move, the big zombie with the brass knuckles reaches Marc first and right hook aimed right at Marc’s jaw, like an acrobat dodges by doing a back flip, he lands on his feet, he’s frustrated I can tell by the look on his face he wishes he could tap into his other two abilities but he can’t, I mean he could but something tells me he won’t. Moving as fast as his can he charges the male army ghost zombie, he dodges a front kick from him and places his hand on the ghost zombie’s chest and burns a hole right through it causing it to instantly disappear.

From Jacob’s staff one of the souls breaks off from the staff orbit and disappears into the ground, the ground cheers. Three surround Marc who is on one knee on the ground, Marc shoots up to his feet, as he does this he sends a shockwave of electricity that cuts through them, from Jacob’s staff three more souls break away and disappear into the ground. Now it’s just Marc and the ghost zombie in the kimono, Marc turns his back to Jacob and faces the kimono zombie.

Marc charges up his hands and then begins firing a barrage of electricity shots at the kimono, but kimono zombie is quick dodging every shot by Marc, Marc ups the ante and begins throwing bolts of electricity from his feet, kicking them out like a kick boxer standing in front of a punching bag. The kimono zombie now begins running towards the cage wall to avoid Marc’s barrage, but it doesn’t stop there kimono zombie runs up the wall and the ceiling and hops down on the other side of the side and charges Marc before he can change direction and begin firing again, kimono zombie jumps and spins in the air before landing a heel into the side of the head of Marc sending him sprawling across the ground, a huge groan comes from most of the crowd, there are few cheers still. Marc is groggy, he staggers to his feet only to be met by a barrage of furious body shots from kimono zombie ending with a furious right hook that drops Marc once again, he’s not moving this time.

“Stop the fight, Jacob has won.” Comes O.R’s voice through the speakers.

Jacob turns his head and looks up in the direction where O.R’s office is before turning around and plucking his staff from the ground, kimono disappears and so does his soul. Jacob tosses his staff aside and it disappears before hitting the ground, he turns and heads for the exit, still in his transformed form.

Behind Jacob Marc stirs, his lips are moving, Jacob stops and turns just as Marc makes it to his feet. The light inside the cage begins to fizzle on and off, Jacob and Marc stare at each other from a few seconds, then Jacob and turns and begins walking away again, this time Marc sends a shower of electricity at Jacob who’s anticipated it, the lights illuminating the far side of the cage go off, leaving only the side with Marc stand on, it’s all that dark but Jacob moves though the dim darkness like a shadow and in an instant he’s got Marc hoisted up in the air and is bringing him down to plant him into the ground, with his free hand he reaches for his collar, his grip on Marc is released and he crumples to the ground, Marc falls in heap and doesn’t move, Jacob isn’t moving either, a thin layer of mist comes over him and changes him back to the vulnerable looking 15 year old boy.

I wonder what was in the collars, sedatives most likely.

“We need to take them both right now.” Says Han, as he stands and pulls me up

“What?”

“Look down there and up here these people are practically rioting.” He says

And he’s right, I hadn’t noticed it yet but everyone in here seems angry about how everything ended, the climax of Marc getting smashed to piecing was something they wanted to see, some of them are angry they lost bets, the guards are preoccupied and frankly this is the easiest way to get Marc, judging from that dream vision thing I had he isn’t the easiest guy to talk to, I don’t know why Han wants Jacob as well though.

“Field test time kid, let’s move.” Says Han as he stands

Han moves quickly down the steps and onto the arena, I’m finding it hard to keep out, he comes to a stop and looks across the room. We reach the cage but the door is on the far end and O.R’s people are about to get Marc and Jacob before we do.

I reach into that well of unknown power within me and concentrate on increasing my physical strength, satisfied I tear a hole into the cage and step through. Behind me Han fires a few shots into the air adding to the chaos. On instinct I lift off my feet and hurl myself towards O.R’s guards and push them out of the cage.

Well damn I guess these powers do work.

I can feel a tensed up power in my hands and it is as though I’m in trance I can’t stop myself as I place my hands on the ground and let it out all at once. The ground in the direction I release the power cracks and explodes sending debris and people flying, the far side of the warehouse building threatens to cave in.

“Holy shit, kid we need to go.” Says Han putting a hand on my arm and pulling me up, he has Marc over his shoulder

I pick up Jacob easily with my augmented strength and we run out of the place in the chaos and confusion, finding Han’s car we hastily put Marc and Jacob in the back. Han gives me a look before turning the ignition and speeding away, I look back at the warehouse just as the part I weakened caves in.