FIGHTING INMATES.

1777, APRIL 03rd, SUNDAY 12:15 pm.

Back in the present time, at the bottom of the abyss, white spots appeared on a door of thick metal. They ate away at everything they touched until there was a flash of light and it was gone. For the first time in two years, Noche stepped out of her cell.

In the fading light, four other doors were revealed in this room as well as stairs leading up. The blonde didn't hesitate, she began her ascent. It took forever before she reached the top of the stairs. A locked metal door barred her path and corruption dissolved it in a matter of seconds.

She entered a dark room full of humanoid shadows that were scattered all about. If anyone in this room noticed her entrance, they hadn't reacted to it. Granted it was a large room, about half a mile in diameter and while there was light in this room it was a dim blue and didn't illuminate much in this cold tomb.

Still, it was far better than the place she had just left. Noche began her search for the stairwell out of here. She crossed paths with a handful of prisoners, they ranged from all types across the world, and there was no separation of sex here. They all seemed sick or injured with festering wounds and pallid flesh. The abuse made her stomach turn.

One person was pissing on the wall, another pair that was fighting over a torn-up shirt, and one guy – Noche stopped. She blinked her one remaining eye to make sure she was seeing things correctly. Was he using a rat corpse to masturbate? Yep, nope. She needed to find that exit.

Despite being naked and looking like a walking corpse, there was a certain type of confidence to Noche's walk. A pride and arrogance that hadn't been seen down here in a long time. The few inmates she came across recognized something was different about her and avoided her like the plague. All but one. A small young man who barely reached up to her chin.

"Hello miss, I don't think I've seen you before?"

Noche stared at the boy for an uncomfortable period of time. He tilted his head to the side and there was an almost unnatural innocence to his face. If it wasn't for the fact this was near the bottom of the asylum she might've been fooled.

"That's cause I came from the floor below," she said.

The corner of his smile twitched.

"Is that so? How'd you do that?"

"I forced my way out."

Long dead instincts flared to life – Noche twisted causing the shiv aimed for her back to miss. She stuck out her right leg behind her causing the unseen assailant to trip. He crashed into the boy and the two went down together.

"Did you really think I'd be distracted by an innocent face? At the bottom of the asylum?"

The boy threw the man off him and growled. His eyes darting all over Noche's form; it occurred to her she was still naked. It also occurred to her that this kid was roughly the same size as her.

"Your clothes. Hand them over," she said.

He gave her a blank stare. When he didn't respond she moved towards him, but the man on the floor swung the shiv at her legs. Noche dodged the strike but bumped into a third person. They grabbed her in a headlock, but Noche leaned forward and tossed the person to the ground. A middle-aged woman hit the floor.

This bought the man with the shiv enough time to get up and stab into her torso – the knife went in about an inch before stopping. Pain as noticeable as an itch bloomed in her ribs, but it didn't bother her in the least. She turned, grabbed the man by the neck, and lifted him off the ground. A grin spread across her face the whole while.

Her grip tightened around his neck as he flailed his arms about. Then he clasped both hands together and brought the shiv down into her bicep. He stabbed her over and over, but the shiv barely went in, besides, she could ignore the pain.

Her hand clenched into a fist and his neck snapped. She threw the limp body at the boy, who had managed to stand up. Knocking him back to the ground.

"Last chance. Your clothes. Give em."

"Fuck you! You raggedy bitch!"

Noche fell onto him, planted her knee into his gut, and placed her hand over his face. She pressed her thumb into his left eye and he screamed. Blood squirted everywhere as the woman approached, however, she froze when Noche locked eyes with her. The sheer killing intent was enough to paralyze her with fear.

Noche stopped before killing the boy, she removed her thumb and held his face. Then forced his shirt and pants off as he flailed and screamed. With casual ease, she got dressed as the young man's shrill voice filled the room. They were a bit small on her with the size difference, but the black and white striped uniform was better than nothing.

"I was afraid the mmMmonster would consume you."

She halted at the sound of the voice. It was familiar, one she recognized at the back of her head. She turned to a massive humanoid bear and after a moment's pause her eyes went wide.

"Baxter!"

"Noche. I amMmm so glad, yet full of sorrow, to s-seeee you down here."

For the first time in years, Noche's smile was filled with warmth.

"Baxy, I'm so glad to see you."

His eyes went wide at the old nickname. She used the opportunity to run up and wrap her sole remaining arm around his huge torso. Both his massive arms wrapped around her in turn.

"CommMme, Noche. T-There is sommMmeone here who you ought to see."

Baxter led the blonde towards the far side of the room. There a tall figure leaned against the side of the wall. His gaunt face made Noche's stomach drop. It was Boots. They locked eyes and at first, there was no spark of recognition in his. Then his expression became one of shock, followed by anger.

"Boots I—"

He kicked Noche in the face. The sheer force sent the blonde bouncing across the floor – slamming her into three separate people. She went unconscious for a brief moment and when she came back to the world was spinning. She sat up and spat out a tooth.

"Damn it, I don't have many of those left," she muttered.

The orange-haired boy was standing before her in a flash, with a wide-eyed Baxter running after him. His gaze lingered on Noche as she sat on the floor, eyes darting over the countless scars and signs of torture. The blonde made herself comfortable as he stood silently above her.

"Did they torture you?" She asked.

"No pain greater than what you did."

Noche winced at the venom in his voice. They stayed in that stalemate until Baxter caught up and immediately stood between them.

"W-Wwwhat happened between you tw-two!"

"I killed his sister," Noche said. "And saved his life in the process."

"I didn't WANT to be saved!" He snapped. "I didn't want to go into DeathTech! I never wanted to risk Spark's life!"

"I'm sorry! I fucked up! I just wanted–"

"I don't give a damn what you want! Your sorry isn't good enough! Spark is dead because you have no self-control!"

"You would both be dead if you put your head in that portal!" Noche shouted. "You know as well as I do that Edward isn't as good as his word!"

"I'd rather be dead than live in a world where she's gone anyways!"

"Enough!" Baxter roared.

The two stopped yelling and turned their gazes on the bear man.

"Anggger is a weed in the garden. Once it takes root in your heart, it grrrows and grows into sommMmething neigh immMmpossible to take out."

Boots glared at Baxter with an expression that could chisel stone. However, the bear man didn't flinch. He rested his sympathetic gaze upon the orange-haired boy.

"Oy Baxter! I cannae find my wool blanket!" A man shouted. "Ows a man supposed to sleep in tis cold, fooking wet place without is wool blanket!"

A tall, lanky man with shoulder-length gray hair appeared. He paused as he encountered the trio.

"Am I interrupting some ting?"

"No. Not at all Timmy."

Noche's face went blank for a moment; then realization dawned on her.

"Timmy? As in Timmy time bomb?"

He perked an eyebrow at that.

"Yah, that's me?"

"I'm Noche! We fought before you got arrested."

Timmy stared at her for a long time before his eyes widened and his face went pale.

"Cor blimey lass, what happened to you!"

"A lot."

"Fooks sake – wot are you doing here!" He turned to Baxter. "Wot is she doing here?"

Baxter shrugged.

"Why are you here, Noche?"

"It's a long story. The short of it is the Grave brothers have it out for me," she said. "Fortunately I have a way to escape and I'm doing so today."

Timmy scoffed. "And ow do you propose to do that?"

Noche grinned as tar started to well up in a black orb hovering before her. Somehow Timmy paled further and took a step back with a gasp.

"Shite, shite, shite! That tar! That mother fookin tar!" Timmy said. "I lost me mother fookin foot to that tar!"

"Yeah, turns out it's corruption. I'm a corruption user."

The floating ball of tar erupted into white fire. The illumination caught the attention of a few people that lingered nearby, causing the room to go silent.

"And last I checked, DriveMetal doesn't work against corruption."

Baxter's eyes went wide and even Boots had a subtle reaction.

"C-Corruption? Like mmMmaster Raven?"

"Exactly like him," Noche nodded.

With a flick of her wrist, she allowed the corruption to die out.

"Do you guys want to come with me?"

No one responded immediately. Baxter's face scrunched up as he went deep into thought. Timmy stood there dumbstruck and Boots continued to have a hard expression.

"Y-Yuh saying, yuh can get us out of tis ell-hole?"

Noche grinned.

"Even wwwith this ability, you'd have to be careful Noche," Baxter said. "The asylummMm guards aren't human. They are some sort of genetic experiemmMment of the Grave brothers."

"We live in a constant state ov fear and misery," Timmy muttered.

"Don't worry – I can handle anything that comes my way," she said. "Besides. Dying isn't an issue. Allowing the wardens to escape is... I will make them pay."

People approached Noche's group. She narrowed her eyes, most of them appeared skinny, but it was a large number of them. Then the boy with the bleeding eye stepped forward. Noche resisted the urge to groan.

"Oh shite! It's the chemist," Timmy said.

"The what now?" Noche asked.

"He's the famous create user – that super deadly chemist."

"MmmMost create users down here aaaare chemists," Baxter said. "They're the ones that understand Create the bbbbest."

"Well knowing how things work really well won't help him here," Noche said. "But it does explain why he's so scrawny looking."

"Shut up!" The boy yelled. "Kill the blonde!"

A smirk appeared on Noche's lip, then a chuckle escaped her lips. She started laughing as people approached.

"Oh my god, I can't, I can't handle this," she snorted. "You said it with such a straight face. It sounded so generic."

"You took my fucking eye, I'll kill you."

Noche wiped a tear out of her eye.

"Ok, seriously. Anyone who approaches me will die."

Only a handful of people stopped approaching, but most of the group surrounded her. Timmy and Baxter both got into a defensive stance; Boots didn't react in the slightest. When five people surrounded the blonde her grin faded.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Noche summoned her Omni-Oar and took a moment to stare at the blade. A part of her was relieved to see she could still do so. When the Grave brothers brought her to the asylum, she resisted the urge to summon it at the time. If they found out she could do so they would've learned about her ability to escape.

By the time they stopped torturing her, she was too restrained to properly wield the sword. She couldn't move her hand in the slightest, her wrist was manacled, and her arm was nailed in place. The Omni-Oar didn't have enough leverage to reach her bindings. Corruption was the only viable means to escape.

Everyone froze when a black sword appeared in Noche's hand, however, the blonde didn't hesitate. She was no longer that innocent girl who balked at the sight of death, now she was a killer. The dark blade sliced cleanly through the nearest person's neck; showering Noche in blood.

Someone screamed, a left arm made of corruption appeared at Noche's shoulder, and she raked in across someone's stomach. As skin and muscle were erased from existence and intestines flew into the air. Some landed on the blonde's head like a crown of meat and blood.

Like a shark that had begun its frenzy, she turned to the next person and summoned a waterfall of tar above them. That person dissolved as a hole melted into the floor. She turned and swung her sword bisecting someone's torso from their legs.

Noche turned to the wall and a ball of white fire slammed into it. The resulting hole became a jet of highly pressurized water that sliced someone's arm off. She used her left arm made of white fire to destroy a person's head like a dry eraser against marker on a whiteboard.

A ring of corruption exploded from her feet and ate away at everything and everyone surrounding her. Droplets of tar spread onto people's limbs and grew as they consumed. She didn't care about it running rampant, about the dangers of losing control. Noche used corruption without restraint – she let it spread everywhere.

Timmy and Baxter both had someone attack them as well, but they were both stronger than their assailants. Combined with the chaos Noche was causing, they were able to escape the slaughter.

"Cor blimey, she's so strong."

"MmmMuch stronger than when I fought her. Supernaturally so."

"I swear, she has a VIP that increases her power dramatically," Boots scowled. "She went from lifting a few tons to punching a hole in a mountain practically overnight. It's downright impossible."

Twenty people lay dead at Noche's feet and her body was dyed in red. She crushed an eyeball under her foot as she approached the one-eyed chemist. He tried to run away, but she cut off his legs with one swing of her sword.

With a kick, she flipped him onto his back. She stabbed into his thigh, yanked out her sword, then thrust her hand into the wound. She wrapped her fist around the bone, crushed it, and ripped out the shards. He screamed and wailed as she stood up, grabbed her sword, and cut off both arms.

Noche pressed her foot into his torso and slowly applied pressure until all his ribs broke. She let him stay that way until the blood stopped flowing from his wounds and the screaming stopped. When she was down she turned towards the group.

"You..." Timmy swallowed. "Really like hurting people."

Noche shrugged. "I warned them."

She let her left arm of white fire dissipate.

"So whose coming with me?"

There was a brief pause before Baxter stepped forward. Timmy looked between his bear friend and the blonde, before taking a step forward on shaking legs.

"Boots?"

The orange-haired boy glared at her.

"After the Grave brothers, I'm going to kill Edward," she said. "If you have nothing left to lose, then you should at least kill the person who murdered your sister."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know you blame me, but Edward's the one who—"

"Shut it," he interrupted. "What you did is unforgivable... But you're right about one thing. Edward needs to die."

They stood there in a standoff.

"So you coming?"

He frowned, but after a few seconds, took a step forward. Together Noche, Baxter, Timmy, and Boots made their way to the locked door that contained the stairs up. With a fake left arm made of white fire, Noche touched the door and deleted it from reality. When the fire cooled to tar and faded away, the quartet exited the room.