Radioactive: Chapter Ten

Radioactive

Chapter Ten

~Jump~

“You sure this…doctor…can help me?” a woman asked as she leaned up against a wall. She had several tattoos and body piercings along with other strange bodily mutations.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not,” a man with blond hair and blue eyes smiled.

“I mean, like, I saw this guy a while ago, right, and I mean I saw him lift a vase with his mind! There were no strings attached or anything. He even told to throw things, anything, up in the air and he would float it. And he did! It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen!” she exclaimed. “I asked him if he could teach me and he said that he was just born with it. I’ve heard even other people say they died first before they could do anything cool like that.” She leaned in, “I won’t have to die will I?”

The man laughed, “No way! I mean I’ve seen the doc work, it’s now cake walk. There is pain but it shouldn’t be any worse they what you’ve already been through.”

“Really?” the girl chewed her gum.

“Really, really,” the man smiled.

“Like is the power you get random or could I, like, chose? I think it’d be a lot of fun to levitate things with my mind, know what I’m saying?” she asked.

The man nodded, “I’m sure he can do something like that.”

The woman crossed her arms, “You aren’t pulling my leg are you? I mean, you aren’t just saying this to get in to a creeper van with you, right?”

“No, we can walk there,” the man said, “It’s not that far but not that close either.”

“I rather we walk,” the girl said. “Just so you know, I’ve taken defense classes. I can throw you three feet if I have to!”

The man laughed, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He started walking down an alleyway. The girl followed a reasonable distance behind. Old buildings with broken or boarded up windows stood all over the area. People tried to keep themselves safe in the gang ridden neighborhood where drug deals often went bad and some innocent got shot. Prostitutes stood on several corners often never heard of or seen ever again. Even as she followed the man she reasonably trusted she held up to her pepper spray and kept in mind the collapsible baton in her purse. She watched him carefully keeping a few feet of distance between her and him. He seemed like a nice man but nice men turned mean quick in this neck of the woods. She wasn’t about to risk anything.

The man walked up to an abandoned subway. He descended half way down the stairs and looked behind him. The girl stood at the top. She laughed uncomfortable in order to release the awkward moment. The man smiled at her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” she waved dismissively. “I just thought we would be above ground.”

“Oh, this is only the short cut. If you want, we could take the long way around,” the man offered.”

“No, that’s fine,” she smiled. She stooped a little and peered into the darkness. The girl was fairly sure that it was okay. She stepped down a few steps and walked just behind the man.

He tried to make light conversation with her as they walked on the tracks. The path ahead of them was illuminated by a flashlight that he carried. He made sure that he didn’t lose his guest by looking over his shoulder at her every so often. She smiled uneasily at him when he did and he tried to make her feel more comfortable.

After walking almost a mile, they came across a door.

“Here, can you hold this?” the man asked as he handed her the flash light.

The girl took the light and held it so it illuminated the door way, “Sure.”

“Thanks,” the man said.

He turned the wheel that unlocked the door. The old wheel creaked and squeaked loudly. The girl jumped a little at the sudden loud noise. The man pulled the door open and sighed.

“I keep telling them to fix that,” he said, “I guess I’ll have to do it myself later.”

“Yeah, I guess,” the girl muttered.

“That didn’t scare you too much, did it?” his brow furrowed with concern.

She shook her head, “No, no, I’m fine.”

“Well,” he bowed, “Ladies first!”

She walked through the door way and looked around. There were several lights on so there was no longer any need for the flashlight. She stepped into a well lite hallway with white walls. It was a stark difference from the subway tunnel. The man she was with closed the door and relocked it. He motioned her to follow him to follow him down the hallway.

As they walked, several people walked passed them. A few of them were wearing the paper medical gowns. The man explained that they were most likely on their way to their operation to turn them into mutants. Soon they came to an open room. The girl looked around with great interest, she had no idea that this place was here underneath the city’s feet.

“Oh, there he is! Doc!” the man called to a man on an elevated catwalk.

The doctor was bald and wore goggles over his eyes. He wore a lab coat and black gloves. When he heard he was being called he looked around until he saw the man. He took a quick look at his companion and smiled. He walked briskly over to the couple.

“Oh, Jumper! Is that you under there?” the doctor looked at the girl, “Who is your friend?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” the man smiled. He turned to introduce the girl with him, “This is Samantha. She was kinda hoping to go through the procedure.”

“Well, I—” she started.

“Yes, yes,” the doctor wrapped an arm around her and started leading her off, “Let me give you a little information before you make a decision. The process is sort of like this, you see, we start out…”

Jumper shook his head as the doctor explained the process. He turned and headed off to one of the hallways. He reached a room where the room’s lighting was blue. There were several capsules that lined both sides of the room. All of them were contained a body held in some kind of stasis. There was a capsule in the front of the room that looked like it was more important than the rest. It was hooked up to several medical life support machines. Inside the capsule was a body. Unlike any human body the skins pigment was a rich black. White swirls decorated the body. Strands of silver colored hair floated in the liquid inside the capsule. Its eyes were closed as if only in slumber and only the slightest noise would wake it up.

Jumper placed a hand on the glass and sighed. He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts. The blond haired man collapsed suddenly and lay lifeless on the floor. The liquid in the capsule started to drain and the previously lifeless machinery started showing signs of life. The previously lifeless body was walking up.

His eyes opened, one was black with a white pupil and the other was the opposite. The glass opened and he detached all of the equipment off of his body. He stepped off the low platform onto the floor. He walked to a side door and opened it. There was a small bedroom there and he clothed himself. When he reemerged into the lab, he looked down at the blond haired body he had previously possessed.

“I guess I’ll have to do something with you,” he said.

He looked around and spotted an empty capsule. He stooped down and dragged the body to the device and hooked up the necessary devices. As he walked away the glass closed and the capsule started to fill with water. He walked out and down the hallway, looking for the doctor. He found him walking to one of his assistance. The doctor looked up and saw the strange man and smiled.

“Ah, I see you have jumped bodies again jumper,” the doctor grinned.

Jumper smiled, “Of course. This is my natural body. There is no place like home, as they always say. How is Samantha?”

“Ah, yes,” the doctor nodded. He held up a red vial to the light, “I have her blood sample right here. I’m headed off to do the test just now. She’s going to go through with it. Those are the best kind you know, the ones who do it willingly. She’s going to be a good one, I can just sense it.”

“That’s nice,” Jumper didn’t seem at all interested about Samantha, “I brought you one, where is my pay?”

The doctor waved a dismissive hand, “Be patient! It’s coming. Don’t you worry about that! For now, look!”

Jumper sighed and looked up at the vial. He was mentally preparing himself for another lecture, “What? It’s just blood.”

“Just blood? No! It is our life force, our blue print! In it are the basic building blocks of life, the potential for change and evolution! Without it, we are nothing! With it, we can be, no, we are everything! Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Yes?” Jumper said, thinking that would be the quickest way to end the conversation.

“Of course it is!” the doctor exclaimed, “The only reason we are anything is because of this!”

Jumper nodded, “Wow, interesting, sounds great, hey, where’s my money?”

“Gah!” the doctor waved his hand in exasperation. He had yet to meet someone who shared his passion for the human body. “Here!” he reached into his coat and handed Jumper a paper bag.

“Thank you!” Jumper smiled.

“Now, Jumper, you have been bringing in less people in the past thirty days. Some of the others are starting to surpass your usefulness. Now I don’t want to have to dismiss you but I will if you don’t start bring in more subjects,” the doctor said.

Jumper took a few casual steps backwards, “As the doctor orders.”

He vanished suddenly leaving no trace of where he went. The doctor went back to what he was doing. He brought the vial of blood up and looked at it. The red seemed to glow against the light in the background.

Iridescent: Chapter Ten

Iridescent

Chapter Ten

~The Hunters~

After the Fall

Ai stood and watched the two siblings walk away. When they were out of her sight she turned and started walking in the other direction. She walked up a large hill and when she crested it she looked down in to the valley below. There was a clearing and in the center of the clearing was a fenced off facility. She walked down into the valley and walked up to the gate.

A man in his twenties stood against the gate on the outside. He used a lighter to light a cigarette. When he saw her he placed the lighter in his pocket and blew a stream of smoke out of his mouth. He wore a long black jacket over his sleeveless shirt and jeans. His black boots had seen better days as the dirt and mud clung to the soles. He had white hair like little Ai’s only his was much shorter. The hilt of a long claymore sword hung from his back.

“Where in the world have you been?” he asked as Ai walked up to him.

“I needed some air,” Ai stated.

He looked at her emotionless eyes, “You lying.”

Ai remained silent. She pushed open the gate and walked into the court yard of the facility. The man walked in after her and closed the gate behind him. Ai opened the large sliding door of the facility and walked in. There were dozens of empty shelves full of empty and half empty boxes of supplies. Several people lay around lazily a few in the back tried to break into a back room supposedly full of cases of Blue Gold.

“Where have you been?” the man asked.

“Oh, jeez, Dante,” a woman dressed in black and purple groaned in a corner, “Leave the kid alone! Doesn’t a girl her age deserve a little alone time?”

The woman sat up and glared at Dante. When she spoke she spoke in a British accent. Her black hair was tied into two ponytails. She wore black makeup including black lipstick. She was often seen chewing a black piece of liquorish gum. An enormous battle axe lay beside her.

Dante looked at her, “Aw, shut up Zathura! I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Wonder in if I chopped of you head would you still be such a smartass?” Zathura smiled.

“Come on you two,” a teenage boy called from the back, “We can’t have you at each other’s throats. No wonder Ai went off on her own.”

The boy turned around from the door he was trying to open. He had a friendlier face. His black medium length hair was up to his chin and covered the left side of his face in an attractive sweep. He was simple in his appearance, a sleeveless hoodie and cargo pants. Two symitar hung from his belt.

“Oh sod off, Ren!” Zathura said, “Just work on the bloody door!”

Ren shrugged and got back to work. The teen girl beside him motioned for Ai to come over.

“Come over here Ai!” the girl patted the box beside her, “Plenty of room over here!”

Ai started to walk over to the girl. She smiled goodheartedly. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore the colors of a girl, pink and white with blue jean shorts. Near her person was a tattered guitar case.

“Not yet, Sanya,” Dante stated, “I still have to talk to our little princess. Come on, just answer the question.”

Ai answered without any emotion in her voice, “I was getting some actual work done.”

“Work?” Dante asked.

“At least she is getting something done,” a woman walked out of the shadows, “That’s more than what I can say for most of you.”

She wore dark purple pants and a white fitting sleeveless shirt with a high necked collar. Her black hair was short and easy to manage. She wore purple and white earrings. A double bladed glaive hung from her back. She looked at Dante in particular and walked off.

Dante narrowed his eyes, “And what’s that supposed to mean Yin?”

“Nothing?” Yin said, “Just that you haven’t made any progress on the job the man in the suit gave us. What is it going to take to for you to get started? I mean they stranded us on this god forsaken island!”

“Hey it was either do this job or live in that New Order society! I’d rather be here than there!” Dante stated.

“Either way, we’re starving,” Zathura stated.

Dante glared at her, “How was I supposed to know I’d be this way?”

Zathura stuck out her tongue.

“I found some of the people that we are supposed to be looking for,” Ai said.

Yin looked interested, “Is that so?”

Ai nodded, “A girl and a boy. The girl was named Amber hand had orange hair like in the picture the man gave us. The boy had white hair and looked younger than the other brothers in the pictures. His name was Chaud. They have a place nearby.”

“Well, look at our little detective,” Ren smiled.

“A detective and a little princess,” Sanya laughed, “How do you do it Ai? You never cease to amaze!”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Dante shook his head, “You better start at the beginning, little miss.”

“What? She talking too fast for ya?” Zathura blew a large black bubble.

“I met the girl in the forest. She was practicing her aim or something,” Ai continued, “We played a stupid game and she talked too much. From the start I thought I recognized her but I needed to make sure. I was about to bring her back to camp but her annoying brother came out of nowhere. I think he made me.”

“How’d he make an innocent girl like you?” Dante asked.

Ai was quiet as she though a moment, “I messed things up. I called him by his name.”

“That doesn’t sound horrible,” Sanya said.

“The girl never really told me his name,” Ai said.

“Perfect,” Dante dropped his cigarette and stepped on it, “Now they know something’s up.”

“Maybe,” Ai said, “Maybe not.”

“Well now how are we supposed to fix this?” Yin asked.

“You can start keeping your knickers on,” Zathura walked up, “I’m sure the great and powerful Dante can think up something.”

“Oh, we’re saved,” Yin rolled her eyes and walked away.

“Now, let me think a minute,” Dante said.

Zathura sighed, “You’re right, we’ll be here all day.”

Dante looked around, “Is there anyone else here that wants to jab at me? No? Great! Not let a master think. From what the guy said, the older brother will really be the brains behind their survival.”

“The girl did say that he was teaching her how to fight,” Ai volunteered the information.

Dante had a large smile on his face, “We’ll its easy my friends, we simply take out the brother.”

“The brother?” Sanya asked, “I thought we were only supposed to be capturing them?”

“We are,” Dante rubbed his forehead, “What I mean is that if we disable the brother somehow they will be completely defenseless. The girl doesn’t know how to fight, Ai said so herself, her brother was teaching her. She wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight with her brother unable to protect her.”

“Are you sure we could do it?” Yin asked.

Dante opened his arms and looked around, “Look around! There’s six of us against one of him! How hard could it possibly be!?”

Ren looked over his shoulder, “What if they aren’t just traveling just the two of them? The rest of the family could be with them as well and we could be walking in to something a lot more complicated than a brother protecting his younger sister, know what I mean?”

Zathura nodded, “Yeah, how do we know they are really traveling alone?”

“She specifically said that she was traveling with her brother, not her family,” Ai said.

Dante laughed, “I trust our little princess. If she says their alone, they probably are.”

“What’s the plan, Dante?” Yin asked, “How are we going to do this?”

Dante shrugged, “I say we see if we can find their camp. See if they are still there, you know? If not we’ll track ‘em. He can’t get very far with a defenseless sister to drag along.”

The door in the back sprung open. Ren dropped the crowbar he was using and slapped his hands together, “Don’t think he had a store of Blue Gold on him that could last him weeks.”

Dante smiled, “Don’t think he’s got that either.”

The Turn: Chapter Ten

The Turn

Chapter Ten

~Zero - One~

Three Years before the Turn

Chaud sat on a bench in the changing room. He was fitting bullets into his gun while the others were getting ready. He wore a black and grey cargo pants and a black sleeveless shirt with two slits on the back to allow his wings, if he needed to use them, a place. His tennis shoes weren’t anything special. His two holsters lay beside him, waiting to be used.

Naru walked out from the stall that he had hung his things in. He set three folded pieces of cloth on a table in front of him before taking off his shirt. He wore black pants that were more aerodynamic than Chaud’s but they weren’t ridiculously tight either. Naru grabbed one of the pieces of fabric and started to wrap it around his forearm. Chaud noticed that on the outer side of the fabric were rows and rows of needles. Naru secured the cloth and continued with his other forearm.

Deontay walked into the room, whistling. His baggy pants, unlike most, were decent and were held up with a belt that actually worked. He wore a similar sleeveless shirt as Chaud and his clawed weapons hung from his belt. He looked over at Naru as he was fitting the larger of the clothes containing the throwing stars around his mid-section. After that, Naru placed his sai in a special place on each of his forearm.

“So that’s where you keep them,” he looked to Chaud, “We have a full fledged ninja on our hands.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Naru said as he put on an off white long-sleeved shirt. The sleeves were fanned out slightly and the lower waist seemed a little loose fitting. Ease of access, Chaud supposed.

“Either way,” Deontay stretched, “our turn is coming up. Do your sources know who we’ll be facing, Chaud?”

Chaud smirked, “They might.”

“You really think he has sources?” Naru said as he pulled his hair back into a long pony tail.

“How else does he know everything? Yesterday he knew exactly what I had for lunch,” Deontay responded.

“He could just be profiling,” Naru grabbed his other shirt and bag and walked out of the room.

Deontay smiled and walked over to Chaud, “You aren’t profiling us are you?”

Chaud placed his weapon in its holster, “When I hear from my sources I’ll let you know,” he said with a smile.

He stood and situated both holsters on his pants as he and Deontay walked out of the changing room. Chaud leaned on the railing while Deontay continued down the steps. The television was showing clips of the 49^th battle.

Hina below was in her fighting gear and was commenting on Naru’s hair. She wore a dark purple sleeveless Chinese cheongsam shirt. Its length stopped at her waist. She also wore black leggings and like her brother, she was barefoot. Both of them found it easier to battle that way. Her arms were forearms and the palms of her hand were wrapped in white medical tape.

Vicky walked out of the girls changing room. She was rubbing her eyes and blinking repeatedly. Chaud noticed that she didn’t have her glasses on. Vicky wore a long sleeved white kimono shirt with long sleeves that extended past her fingers. She wore white shorts that were just above her knee in length. When she saw Chaud she smiled in spite of her contacts problem. She blinked a few times. The problem seemed to fix itself and she went on her way.

Zara came out shortly after in her black long sleeved shirt, black pants, and knee high, high heeled boots. The heel wasn’t too high, nor was it to thin, it was just enough to add a little to her outfit. The katana scabbards hung from the handmade harness on her back. Her shoulders seemed to sag at seeing him.

“It’s you,” she sighed. Zara was hopping for some time by herself before the big battle.

“It’s great to see you too,” Chaud smiled in response, “They just started the 50^th battle.”

Zara nodded, “They should be calling us out soon.”

Just as she said it, there was a knock on the door on the first floor, the one with no door nod. The door slid open and a woman walked in in a black business suit. She glanced up from the blue rectangle in the crook of her arm than back down.

“Are you the 52s, right?” she didn’t wait for the answer, “Good, follow me please,” and she left the room assuming they were following.

Zara and Chaud made their way down stairs. Vicky grabbed her large shuriken and followed behind everyone. They walked out into a dim hallway, lights lines the hallway every five feet or so. They stepped onto a type of platform. Once they did, the door behind them closed and the platform moved quickly. The woman stood in front of them casually and never looking up from the letters and numbers on her screen. They slowed to a stop. Another group was in front of them standing on a kind of lift.

The woman turned around, “Here’s how it goes: you get on that podium you grab a Seer. I’m sure you all know how the stadium chooses a stage. You battle, have fun; remember none of the battle damage here is real. If you were to be ‘killed’, you’ll simply vanish to a separate room where there are doctors to take a quick look at you. If you win, you stand in the middle and let people take a good look at you. After some time, you with be teleported back to your room. If you lose, you will again be teleported to a room where you will take a belt, like this one, back to your room. Any members ‘killed’ or injured in the battle will join with you shortly. Quick, any questions?”

Everyone looked past her as the lift in front of them started to rise. Zara felt a limb in her throat. Another lift rose from the depths of the underground. It was empty, waiting for them.

“There go the 51s,” she smirked, “Let’s get you wired up.”

The platform moved forward. When it stopped the woman stepped onto the lift. As the others climbed on, she keyed something on a control panned nearby. She then pulled out a box and walked in front of the mass of teenagers. Zara heard the platform behind them descending to some unknown location and another one creep up.

“Order!” the woman called.

Zara stepped forward while Chaud fell in line behind her. The woman opened the box. There were six buds, similar to the ear phone buds, only there was no wire.

“Place it in your ear to activate it,” the woman quickly explained.

Zara did and the mechanics curled around her ear and over her right eye.

“This is cool,” Chaud said.

Zara jumped. She heard his voice inside her ear, “So we can talk to each other.”

“Not only that but you can see the vital signs of both yours and each of your teammates,” the woman answered briskly. She carried the empty box under her arm. While she did a final pass, she grabbed one of Chaud’s guns and looked inside. She nodded her approval and gave it back to him. “Roger that,” she said into the piece in her ear, “We’re going up.”

The woman pressed a button and the lift started moving. It carried for what seemed like years when it finally stopped. It stopped in front of a sliding door. They could hear the screams and cheers of the vast crowd on the other side. There was a final roar as whoever won got the glory.

“Ready?” the woman asked.

Zara exhaled and nodded.

“We’re ready on this end,” the woman spoke to the person on the other end. She twisted the button she pressed before and waited. She looked up at them and nodded, and pressed the button again.

Twin sliding doors opened and a bright light streamed through. Zara took an uncertain step forward, then another, then another. Soon she was bathed in sunlight and a crowd of thousands were cheering for her and her teammates. She risked a glanced at the stands. The stands were packed with people. There were no seats to sit in, just steps that served both as seats and stairs.

“And leading team 52 is Zara Uzek!” a booming voice from somewhere shouted, “Behind her, her second, Chaud Galaxy! The siblings Naru and Hina Sasaki! Victoria Chen and last but defiantly not least…Deontay Walsh!”

Zara looked at one of the six large screens. She saw herself walking. She attempted a smile but her nervousness was still obvious. Chaud looked more at home in front of the crowd. Hina too, she made the crowd love her with her spunk and tom boyishness. Deontay walked out as his normal cheery self as if there was nothing different. Naru looked a little pale while Vicky’s cheeks were an ever growing red.

“And coming from the other side; team 54! Simon Runmill leads the pack! Rudy Rockman is his second! Lillian Mathers and Walter Tidsdale! Rickman Louise and, bringing up the rear, Maddie Runmill!” the voice announced, “With the leaders please meet at the center!”

“Wait here,” Zara said in to the device.

She recognized the bully that had first terrorized Naru and his sister. It was just her luck that she got the chance to repay the favor. He smiled at her as we walked up to the rules keeper. She shook the man’s hand and he turned to shake Simon’s.

“Alright, I’ll make this short and sweet,” he said, “Rules are: there are no rules. You can’t kill each other in here so have at it. Kill the leader, the game ends. If you use powers, be careful of the crowd. They can’t get killed either but a lawsuit can come up any minute. Questions? Questions? Alright, be good sports and shake hands.”

Resentfully, Zara extended her hand. Simon took it and pulled her in firmly.

“You and your little gang are going down,” he whispered before pulling away.

“Salute to the big guy,” he turned their bodies to one direction.

Zara saw several large glass windows. The one they were directly facing, a man in white stood there beside a woman in black. She saluted and so did Simon. There was a loud cheer of approval from the audience.

“Alright, back to your corners!” the rule keeper shouted over the noise, “You’ve got a minute to strategize!”

Zara walked back to the others. Chaud had a sly smile on his lips. He started, “So what’s the plan of—”

“Destroy them,” Zara stated she whipped her hand on her pant leg, “Chaud, Deontay and I will advance first, test what their battle strategy is. Naru, you keep an eye on their abilities while Vicky and Hina will be our back up. Everyone got it?”

There was a unanimous nod.

“Alright! Ladies and gentlemen from all over the world! It’s time to choose a location!” the voice boomed again. The screens turned black and the crowd was going ballistic. A series of pictures flashed on the screen. It stopped suddenly on a fiery volcano. The ground began to rumble and a notice in her right eye was telling her to ‘PLEASE STAY STILL’, “Jurassic Volcano! Ladies and gentlemen, the Jurassic Volcano is a fiery paradise! Sure the dark clouds overhead promise a shower of embers but scenery is a glow with streams of hot lava! There are even geysers the spew molten rock hundreds of feet in the air! Try comparing that with Old Faithful! Oh! And don’t forget Mt. Tiki Tiki that erupts beautiful fireworks for the world to see! But don’t forget your sunscreen ‘cause it get HOT up in here at the Jurassic Volcano!”

The temperature increase immensely. The reading in Zara’s Seer was somewhere in the nineties and still rising. Some of the ground around her was crumbling away revealing a deadly swirl of lava bubbling though. An enormous mountain rose behind their enemies. The stands turned red and rocky and the sun was blocked by dark ominous clouds. Even if Zara knew this was all digital it all felt real. She glanced over to her right where a pool of lava was settling and bubbling.

“Just a pointer, guys,” Chaud stated, “don’t touch the red gooey looking stuff.”

“Thanks,” Deontay responded sarcastically, “I was just dying to have my hand melted off.”

“Shush!” Zara hissed.

“52, are you ready?” the voice talked again.

Zara raised her hand and nodded. Then she gripped one of the katana without pulling it from its scabbard.

“54, are you ready?”

Simon nodded and cracked his knuckles. A timer appeared on the screen in her right vision, counting down from ten.

“The moment the timer hits zero,” she said quietly, “start counting.”

Chaud and Deontay took their positions on either side of her. The audience was counting down with the clock. It was down to the final seconds. Zara’s palms were getting sweaty.

“5!” shouted the audience.

Deontay stretched and shook out his arms.

“4!”

Hina slapped one fist into her palm.

“3!”

Vicky gripped the handle of one of her shuriken and shifted her feet nervously.

“2!”

Naru let out one last sigh to expel the jitters.

“1!”

Chaud gripped his gun with a smile as calm and casual as ever.

The clock struck zero. An electronic buzz shot though the crowds screams. But everything seemed strangely muffled and slowed. Zara felt herself start forward, her eyes focused on her target.

That was only in the first second: 0-1.