As the door shut I could hear a loud wail fill the still air. I turned around to see everyone over Ellie's body, I ran over to her, my sister had dropped the knife and a bullet covered in ruby red blood, she squirmed uncomfortably in place.

"What's happening? Is she okay?" I slid onto the floor next to everyone, Adam had his hands on her head holding it steady and Meg looked around the area watching people walk up and down the street.

"The bullet went straight through her muscle and got stuck in her scapula," Stephy said hastily.

"You know I failed bio."

"Not the time Oliver, it hit her shoulder blade. I can heal it but I need to stop the bleeding because I can't work with all the blood coming out. I need you to cauterize the wound."

"You want me to burn her!"

"Yes!" She shouted, she took my hand and made me pinch the bloody wound which made squirm even more.

"Ellie, this will hurt a lot," I said to her softly.

"Freaking do it Stark!" Ellie said through the pain, my sister took her hand and Ellie gripped it with so much force that Stephy's hand was turning white around her hand. I took a sharp inhale and started to heat up my fingers, in a few seconds smoke began to rise from where I held her skin. Adam and my sister who were holding Ellie down as she winced, crushing their hands, while Meg turned away as she clenched her jaw.

"Oliver, you can stop." But before Stephy finish, I let go of her and where my fingers were was a blazing red mark in the shape of my thumb and index finger. The hole was now an apple red mark that my sister quickly put a wet cloth over.

"Holy shit, that was horrible. I'm going to sleep for a second." Ellie said as she closed her eyes. I looked at my sister worryingly.

"Don't worry about her, she'll be fine, but we'll have to set up camp here. She can't go anywhere for now."

"Well, it's a good thing we have landed at a motel. I can go get us a room." I said as I stood up from beside everyone. "Adam, are you okay?" I asked before I left. All he did was lift his thumb but kept his eyes on Ellie and with that, I made my way to the reception.

I walked out to the very front of the long length of the building. The wall opened up to a small patio, two small benches guarded a small glass door and on either side of those were tall potted plants that began to graze the ceiling whenever the wind went through the opening. Light fixtures hung from the above like bats off a cave ceiling. As I pushed the door open a little jingle could be heard from above as a mini bell swaying to and fro, announcing my arrival. For a reception area, it was quite underwhelming. The walls were a tired brown that ran into the mouldy mustard carpet, picture frames hung crookedly on their nails and the light fixture on the ceiling was full of dead insects casing their shadows upon the room like the reminisces of war. In front of me, the man I had almost accidentally turned into a barbeque was shouting at the poor receptionist who flinched back with every bark he threw her way. The girl behind the desk was probably about my age with kinky hair blown out almost fresh out the salon and her ebony skin glowed in the awkward orange light.

"...I ain't paying ta have my toilet stop working. This is appalling." He howled.

"As I said before sir, the plumber will be here in the morning, if you just leave me your room number he will see you as soon as you get in. For now, there is water in the restroom here in the lobby." She had a very polite voice, she was trying her best to please the man with what she had to work with.

"This is what happens when someone like you gets employed. They should'a got a whi-" He started before I stepped in between him and the receptionist and cut him off.

"Finish your sentence. I dare you." I stared him dead in the eye. "What were you going to say 'a white person'. Look me in the eye and tell me you weren't going to say one or both of those things."

"I-" He stuttered but I cut him off again.

"She doesn't control what rooms get water in them or not and harassing her isn't going to make it spontaneously start working again. She's just doing her job, she told you what time the plumber is coming so go back to your room and wait till tomorrow for him to come. By the smell of it, you don't need to use the bathroom anymore." I filled my voice with confidence as I said each word and the man shrink with each one. He turned around and bolted for the door holding his now browning shorts from the back. With the jingling of the bell, the man was gone out the door and the only thing of him that remained was his foul smell. "I'm sorry about discount Danny DeVito over there," I said as I turned around to face her.

"Trust me, I get a lot worse. At least he didn't start swearing at me." She said with a laugh. "Thank you for that, you really didn't have to do that."

"Oh, I definitely had to do that. I've been where you were before but with no one there to stop the other person. There is no way I can just watch it happen."

A smile erupted onto her face. "I'm Nicole."

"Well I wish we had met in better conditions. I wanted to know if there were two rooms available for the night. I'm with ahh.... some of my classmates on a road trip to Indiana and we just need a place to stay for the night."

"Give me a second." She said as she started to type into the computer in front of her. "You're in luck, we have two queen rooms with two queen-sized beds in them right next to each other."

"Okay great, how much is it for them?" I asked as I unslung my bag from my shoulders.

"Free."

"Pardon."

"You're just staying for the night right. If I just say that these rooms are under maintenance, you can stay there for the night without a problem, but you'll have to leave before eight, that's when the manager comes in."

"Couldn't you lose your job for that."

"I felt I owed you one." She said a smile stretching across her face.

"Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate it," I said to her as she put the two keys on the desk.

"Don't worry about it."

"I like your shirt design." She said partially confused but also mistimed. I looked at my shirt and saw the burnt sleeves that had crawled up to elbows.

"Oh, it's a new fashion thing my sister is trying out on me. She wants to do fashion design." I lied. As I grabbed the keys, she put her hand on top of mine. I felt heat ride up my back for the first time since I got my powers. I was so distracted by this that I barely heard the bell ding above the door.

"Oliver." Meg's voice rang through the room. My hand heated up and Nicole's hand flew off mine with a yelp. She held her palm as I swiped the keys off the deck.

"Megan. Hey. Wassup."

"Do you have the keys. We can't keep Ellie on the floor forever." She said with hesitation.

"Yup, Here." I chucked one of the keys to her.

"Okay then. Let's go then." Meg said as she walked out the door.

"Hey," Nicole called out to me as I followed Meg out the door. "I stay in room 15 on the opposite side of the motel. Come see me."

"I'll see you later then," I said as I walk out the door, a jingle left in my wake.

We opened up one of the rooms and moved Ellie onto the bed, Stephy still had her hands on her healing her. Adam opened up the minifridge and inhaled all the bottled waters inside, then sat on the side of bed next to Ellie. The room was bigger than I thought it would be, there were two queen-sized beds and a couch on one side of the room and opposite it was a tv mounted onto a table that reached about my waist. Wooden planks made up the walls around us and led into the bathroom. The wood was supposed to look light like birch, but they had darkened with time. Meg chucked her bag onto the bed and jumped onto the bed with it. I trotted towards the couch and threw myself like a ragdoll.

"How are we alive!" Meg shouted into the air.

"That needs to be the last time we go into a Transgress base by ourselves, like the five of us," Stephy said softly, hands still on Ellie.

"At least it wasn't completely useless though, we are closer to Indiana and ahead of time." Adam said with some measure of delight, as much as he could muster at least.

"Actually, that's not the only that happened." I chimed in as I remembered what we found in the lab, I unslung my bag from my shoulders and pulled out all the papers and the iPads that I stole. Meg did the same ruffling through her bag, taking out the things we could fit inside there. We brought out all to the things we had removed from our bags and placed them on the desk next to the tv, Adam begrudgingly got out of bed with my sister and came to see what we laid on the table. They both took pieces of paper and skimmed through them as they read through the documents their faces started to change to horror.

"Jesus Christ. They're using all the Amps that they are keeping hostage there as test dummy for something they called Roboro. It's Latin for fortify or intensify." Adam said as he kept going through the papers.

"Wait, you know Latin?" Stephy asked, swiping through iPad.

"Mandatory to learn five languages with Maxwell. One of them was Latin, but that's not important. Theirs's not much information on it here all about what the drug is supposed to do, but it has to do with Amps."

"On this," I said as I grabbed one of the files on the table and opened it up to the page I saw earlier. "They have been taking pints of blood and vials of spinal fluid from the Amps they had locked up, they seem to be looking for something."

"Roboro could be them attempting to replicate what gave us our powers," Adam said as he took the file from my hands.

"Makes sense why it's called intensify then, they are trying to boost-" I started to say. but a loud chirping noise cut through air startling everyone in the room. It was coming from my pocket, realizing who was calling left me hesitant. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the flip phone and on the miniature screen was the word 'The Canary' glowed in white light. Everyone was staring at me, I hesitantly stared at the phone before flipping it open and putting it speaker. "Hello."

"I'm surprised you aren't dead." His cold voice rang through the line.

"I handled our end of the deal, Dion is on his way to the place you told him to go to. Now it's your turn to give us what we want." I spoke with force.

"I assume everyone in your group can hear me at this point." He said as if he was accusing me of something.

"Yeah, we are all here," Adam said. "If I knew what and who we were doing this for, I would have walked away."

"That must be Adam then, trying to keep what little of his moral compass he has left clean. You talk to me like I'm a monster, but I know I can sleep perfectly fine with all the things I've done, can you?" The Canary spoke with so much confidence and intimidation that the room went still as if he was here with us. Adam brows furrowed, sparks would have flown off him if he hadn't drained his energy.

"What do we need to know about the base in Indiana," I said with fire in my voice.

"Between a small town called Elkinsville and Middlefork Waterfowl Resting Area is where you'll find A.R.D.O labs, it's short for Amp Research & Development Operations. There is a road off tower ridge road that is blocked off for Transgress to uses. There is no possible way that you can get into the facility without either being a soldier, scientist or Kevin Colts himself. You'll need a validated keycard to even get to the front gate. He has two members of his Gemini at the facility at all times, they rotate every week. The facility is broken down into three parts, barrack, R&D labs and finally the security HQ which doubles as an armoury. How you will get in and out is not my problem, but I can get one of my birdies to meet you in Bloomington to give you outfits as a bonus thank you for getting me my very own personal teleporter."

"Is there anything else we should know about?" Meg asked, hiding her agitation.

"It's nice to hear your voice again Megan, and if you want to find who you are looking for, stay away from the security building. They have a scanner that detects Amps DNA, the Gemini are the only Amps on sight and have a device that accepts them and their Amplified DNA. If you do plan on getting inside their you need to take one off one of them which is not going to be an easy task, even for the strongest among you." He spoke with boredom in his voice.

"And my parents?"

"They will not be bothered." He said with a genuine tone.

"This is actually helpful. Thank you." I said with actual gratitude in my voice. "Do you know anything about Roboro?" I asked but only a laugh filled the line.

"I think our deal conditions have been met." He spoke the way a cunning fox would after tricking its prey.

"We almost died! One of us got shot! At least give us this!" Stephy shouted over the phone, I felt her try and use her powers to try and compel him to say it.

"Two things you should know Stephanie." His voice became darker and more like a snake, venom each word. "Your powers do not work over a phone line. Secondly, I don't care which one of you gets shot or which one of you dies. As long as I get I want. You will get exactly what I said I would provide for you. You got me Dion and I gave the information about A.R.D.O labs like I said I would and a little extra because I'm feeling kind today. If you want more information, you'd have to do another job for me and by what my birdies say you are on a time crunch. It has been a pleasure working with you and I can't wait for next time." Before I could object, he hung up.

"I hate that guy." Adam sat back down on the bed next to Ellie, who was completely asleep. He  ruffled his hands through his hair, like listening to The Canary gave him a headache.

"At least we know where to go once we get to Bloomington," Meg started. "and he's getting us uniform so that we can get in."

"He didn't actually tell us where we'll meet on of his 'birdies'," I said leaning against the desk. "Or tell us how to get in, so we still need to figure that out."

"We can figure that out tomorrow on the way to Indiana, for now though, we should get some rest."

"Meg and I saw a Sonic down the road, we were going to get something to eat. Do you want us to get you something?" Stephy asked.

"Get me whatever you're having," I replied.

"Remember to wear a hat Stephy, you are still a criminal." Adam reminded her.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget about that." He said with annoyance in her voice as she grabbed a hat from the table the tv sat on. She put it on and walked out the door with Meg by her.

"Our room is next door, we can go there and get some rest," I asked Adam.

"I want to stay here and watch her for a while." He kept his eyes on Ellie, the worry was written all over his face. Even the look in his sunken eyes showed fear for his sister's life. I thought how this could be me with Stephy, watching her get shot and the life inside pulse away like waves, not knowing how long it would take for to get better.

"Yeah, I get it. I'll see you later then. I'll leave the notes in here with you." I grabbed my backpack and began to walk out. "She'll be okay."

"I know she will."

The sky was a deep violet that grew ever darker by each second that passed. Over the horizon, a soft pale ball rose with light stroking the open lands around me. A breeze blew past my body and rippled the grass all around me, slowly filling the sky were stars that blinked into existence. I slotted the key into the door and was met with the same scene as the room next door, two queen-sized beds, a tv and a desk. I threw my bag onto the furthest bed, closest to the bathroom, and sat down. The room was dead silent, I haven't been alone in the last two days. It felt odd. Solitude was something I always welcomed freely, but now my mind felt as though it was a cracking dam. Thoughts flooding through the cracks with nothing to filter or hold it back from ripping me apart. In the last few hours, I killed a man and pushed a man to commit suicide. I beat a man to death with my bare hands. He deserved it though, he lit my mom on fire and he got what he deserved. I caved his face in, if anything he deserved worse. I tortured a man to get information, boiling his insides, which made him, in turn, shoot himself in the head. That blood was on his hands. I just need the information, I didn't tell him to shoot himself. It was still two lives. Two men in one day. Tears had started to trickle down my cheeks without me really even realizing it. My heart hit my ribcage with a hollow thump, I could barely breathe, the weight in my chest was overwhelming. 

I stood up and walked over to the bathroom, ornate tiles layered the floor and walls, the shower stood lonesome in the corner like it was being shunned by the rest of the room. The clothes on my body essentially slide off my skin like grease, I turned the hot water on threw myself under it. One thing I missed was the sweet relief of letting warm water brush over my skin while showering but now even at its hottest temperature could I feel anything. It just felt like liquid rushing over me, no hot, no cold, no type of ecstasy to relish in. Even without the warmth of the water, a shower was exactly what I needed, I could feel the water carry some of my pain away. Soapy, grim-ridden, blood-stained water slipped into the drain and I didn't know whether it was mine or if someone else. Regardless, I scrubbed myself down hard, so much so that it felt like the loofah was disintegrating in my hands. No mater how hard I scrubbed, I still felt like I was stained. When I finally decided to got out of the shower, the room was filled with so much steam that I could barely see the room around me. Through it all though, I managed to find the door and push myself back into the room. I threw on a black t-shirt and a fresh pair of jeans just before a knock on the door echoed through, as the door opened Meg walked in with a bag of food.

"We got you a double bacon cheeseburger with some fries and a soda." She passed me the bag and the smell hit me like a beautiful truck.

She was leaving but I stopped her. "Can you join me please. I can't be alone right now."

"Yeah, okay." She turned and sat on the bed opposite me. From the bag she took out a pack off fries and slowly nibbled on them.

"You're not eating that much."

"Yeah. I just don't have an appetite right now." She didn't look at me and stuffed another fry into her mouth.

"It's me. What I did, I mean." I said as I put my burger down.

"Oliver..." She started.

"I can't stop thinking about it. I don't even know what came over me. I want to take back what I did, I really do. Both of them. All of it." Words were just spouting out of my mouth. Apart of me felt like it was the truth but somewhere deep inside me, I didn't regret killing the first soldier. The second soldier on the other hand was what really hurt. He didn't deserve to die.

Meg looked up at me with her terracotta eyes filled with sadness. "The soldier outside the cafeteria wasn't your fault Oliver," She stopped, she struggled to get the words out. "But what happened in the control room. I want to believe that wasn't you. There was a look in your eyes that seemed so distant, they weren't even your eyes anymore. I swear they were I saw them start to glow orange. I didn't know who you were. But, that was you.... and now when I look at you, all I see..." Her voice trailed off in pained dissonance. 

"I don't want that to be what you see, Megan. I don't want to keep thinking about, I can't. I just want it to all go away. I-" My voice cracked, having trouble saying the words. "I killed people today. I can still feel the blood on me. I don't want this to happen again." My words left my lips so quickly, so sporadically. Suddenly, somewhere in my brain their was a click and the thoughts slowed. "It is not going to happen again. I promise you. I don't want you to see me like that. Like a monster." I leaning towards her, I could tell she wanted to inch backwards but she sat still. My hands urging to reach for hers.

"It's not that easy, I'm don't think I'm ever going to get that out my mind and I don't think I can ever look at you the same." She said baring her heart as she spoke. "I'm not going to tell the others, that's for you to do, but I'm also going to hold you to that promise Oliver."

"I will keep this promise." 

"Whatever rage you have inside you, you need to control it not let it control you." She said as she got up and walked towards the door. "You aren't a monster, but that thing I saw was." With that, she closed the door behind her. Suddenly the appetite I had dissipated, something about making Megan uncomfortable seemed to always ruin my day. The room around began to feel musty, probably from the steam that still seeped out of the bathroom, so I followed Meg's lead and left the room into the now darkened sky filled with beautiful lights. It seemed a lot windier than before, but it came with a soothing whistle that gave my muscles a chill, like a massage rippling throughout my body. I took a glance into the window where everyone was, Stephy sat next to Ellie who was now awake and taking bites out of a burger, Adam and Meg sat in front of the tv, the faces bright by the light of the screen. Something funny must have happened because everyone in the room left out a laugh, even Adam. There was something then that ate at my heart. I would have liked to go in but I wouldn't want to bother them more. 

With my mind still somewhat clouded I decided to take a quick walk around the motel. Keeping myself close to the bricked walls, I walked along the outline of the tiny motel going round the back, When I reached the opposite side of the motel I passed Nicole's room. At first, I didn't want to talk to anyone but maybe my new friend could distract me from my mind, so I knocked on the door. No reply came from inside, so I knocked again but still nothing. She was probably in the shower, so I kept on walking around the motel. When I got close the reception area I heard a loud crash noise and a scream, all of a sudden I was running toward it. I cut the corner and rushed into the reception where Nicole stood behind the counter with her hands raised above her head and opposite her was discount Danny DeVito holding a shotgun at her chest.

"HEY!" I shouted quite stupidly, getting Danny's attention and now the gun was pointed at me. "Do you feel strong with that in your hands."

He looked down and smile. "Yeah, predy' damn strong. I bet chu don't." He said cocking the barrel back.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" I asked Nicole, her hands still suspended in the air, pretending that there wasn't a man with his finger on the trigger of a shotgun that could make a basketball-sized hole in my chest.

"No, he hasn't touched me." She said shakily. "But he's a giant racist pig!"

"Shut up whore!" He turned back to her shake the gun towards her face.

"Look at me!" I shouted at him to get his focus on me. "What is your plan?" I asked him.

"What?"

"I mean , you came here with a gun, you must have a plan right? Or was it just come in, kill a teenager and walk away." I asked.

"Actually yeah. You're just scum in the world, removin you will make do everyone a fayva'." He scoffed.

"The only scum I see here is you. Killing kids because of the colour of their skin is low."

"You think you are so entitled to everything, try and do that when you are dead." He moved his finger over the trigger.

I panicked trying to think of anything to get me out of this alive. "You're better off keeping me alive you know." I blurted out.

"Really now, why is that?" His gun lowered slightly.

"I'm sure you've heard the name Oliver Stark around." His eyes lite up and the gun was then pointed back up at me.

"Are you trying to tell me you are a criminal?" He laughed. "I knew all you folx were the same, committing crimes everywhere you go."

"Coming from the man holding a gun up at two teens. One of which hasn't done anything but live there life, the other wrongfully convicted of a crime."

"All I'm hearing from you is yap. Why shouldn't I shoot you and her both right now?" I could see down the barrel of the shotgun now.

"Besides it being wrong, I'm worth a lot of money to Transgress alive."

He paused for a moment, weighing his options in his head, Nicole behind the counter looked at me with sadness and anger. "Okay, so I'll just kill her then and call Transgress on you, tell em you killed her and get a reward as well as walking away with killin another one of yas." He turned towards Nicole and got ready to pull the trigger. Adrenaline took over my body and from behind I grabbed his hands managing to point the gun to the floor before a shot went off, I struggled with the man trying to take control of the gun. He managed to make me lose my footing causing me to fall on my back with the weight of the man added to the fall, leaving me winded. I struggled to gasp for air as the man got to his feet and turned to cock the shotgun pointing it at my head. I kicked the barrel away letting off another shot that hit the wall of the reception, his grip loosened letting the gun fly out of his hands in the process. My breath slowly came back as the man scuttered towards the gun, as I got up I forced a fireball out of my hand that hit the gun knocking it further back. The man looked back at me in horror, "You're one of them. Those MONSTERS!"

"Just stay down, no one needs to get hurt," I said to him as I stood up, my hands freshly coated in flames.

"No! Get away!" He shouted again as he picked up a plate from next to him and threw it at me, I ducked out of the way to see him shout in pain as he loaded two bullets into the heated shotgun.

"WAIT!" I shouted at him, but it was too late as the shells inside the shotgun exploded, launching the man into the wall behind him. With a thud he hit the floor unconscious, I looked up around the room and saw the room in shambles, shrapnel laced the walls, paintings had fallen from the nails, some of the potted plants cracked and tipped over spilling the dirt all over the floor. "Nicole, are you okay?" I shouted as I walked over to the counter, her head peaked over the counter and began to scutter back.

"Jesus Christ, you're an Amp." She stuttered staring at my hands that were still lit.

"Nicole listen-" I started before the bell violently rang, I turned around ready to ignite whoever was at the door.

"Oliver, what the hell!" Stephy shouted at me, proceeding to punch me in the arm. Stephy had run inside with Adam, Meg and even Ellie who still looked like she had no energy. "Can you turn your hands off." She said to me, her cross voice compelled me to do so

Adam pushed past me and looked around the room, then turned to me with a smug face. "Are you going to explain, or do I have to guess?" He asked to which I explained how this started from when I came in to get rooms to now, but I left out my conversation with Meg. Every one of them stared at me with shock.

"You were being selfless, that's new. Did you get hit in the head back in the lab or something." Stephy snarked.

"He did it for the girl, let him be." Ellie moaned.

"WHO IS STILL IN THE ROOM!" Nicole shouted from behind the counter, her panic filled the room. For a second I had forgotten she was in the room, but now we were all staring at her. "What is going on? Are you going to kill me?"

"Hey, relax," Stephy spoke softly, using her powers to try and soothe her. "You don't need to worry, none of us are going to hurt you."

"He's a criminal, he's wanted by Transgress for killing his mother and he's an Amp." Nicole began pacing behind the counter, I wanted to say something, but Ellie grabbed my shoulder and shook her head.

"He's my brother, I know everything you hear on the news is compelling, but my brother and I haven't killed anyone." Stephy began to take a step towards her, my chest started to pull downwards at her comment. "From what he said, he saved you from this human trash. Does that seem like a criminal, someone who would stand up to a racist dick instead of keeping quiet."

"No, but-" Nicole started she was quieter and paced less. She tried to continue her point but Stephy cut her off.

"He's an Amp, I know. So is everyone else in the room but you. Even if he has powers, it doesn't change the fact that he used them to save you. Does that really sound like a criminal."

"Well no." She said with hesitation.

"We can take care of this guy for you and Oliver can help clean up the reception," Adam suggested.

"I'll help him out." Ellie offered.

"You should be resting." Stephy started.

"I was shot, not crippled." She protested. "I will be fine with a little manual labour. I need it."

Stephy was ready to fight her on it, but Adam took her by the shoulders and directed her to the door. "When she sets her mind on something, nothing's going to change it. I'll get chunky here and meet you in my room." He said as he walked over to discount Danny DeVito and, somehow, slung him over his shoulder without breaking a sweat before walked out of the reception leaving me with Ellie and Nicole. 

For the next hour, Ellie, Nicole and I cleaned up the reception while I told Nicole stories about how we ended up here.  Nicole for the most part found everything I said to be crazy, fighting leaders of a cult, running from Transgress and breaking into a secure facility to free a prisoner. By the time we had gotten where we were now most of the room was basically clean. We tried to cover up the holes made by the shrapnel the best we could and used duct tape to patch up cracked plant pots, nailed the paintings back into the walls bringing the room to near-perfect state. As I hung up the last painting in noticed a light bounce off a lens in the corner, at first I didn't pay any attention to it, but it stuck out in the corner of my mind. I took another glance, with a little time I realized what it was.

"Ellie, there's a camera." A brief jolt of dread hit me, Ellie turned around looked up at the camera and swore under her breath.

"Is the footage saved on a server or a hard drive?" She spun around to Nicole.

"I think it all stays on the computer in the backroom," Nicole spoke nervously. "I don't know, my boss is the only one who ever touches that computer."

"It's fine. Oliver!" She spun back around towards me. "How good is Meg with a computer?" She asked.

"I mean you've seen what she can do. I mean she researches ethical hacking during her spare time."

"I'll take that as a pretty damn good. I'm going to go get her to do some about this issue." She said as she ran out the door. Leaving only a jingle in her wake and an awkward tension in the room so thick not even one of Juan's stupid jokes could have cut through. Just thinking about my friends was a stale reminder that my life, my old life was over. I didn't even get to say goodbye him or Pepper. Now I'm a wanted criminal, how could they ever look at me the same as before.

"This might be the worst day of my life!" Nicole sighed as she dropped onto a stool behind the counter.

"I've had six of those this month. Yours isn't that bad." I said nonchalantly.

"I could lose my job!" She shouted.

"Someone nearly drowned me yesterday ago." I named.

"I was shot at!"

"I've been shot today and yesterday. By multiple people."

"Okay, you have had worse days." She caved.

As I looked at her, I realized I was being an ass. "You won't lose your job. None of this was your fault, and I'm sorry that he started shooting. I'm glad you didn't get hurt." I walked up to her at the counter.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Were you flirting with me to get a free room earlier?" She seemed very shy as she asked.

My heart started to beat faster, I felt caught off guard. "I'm sorry. We have been really pressed with money and I didn't know what else to do." I lied. I didn't want to, but I knew if told her that I wasn't doing it for the room, she would become just another girl I would ultimately disappoint. Whatever joy there was in her subtly faded away leaving my heart crushed in its weight.

"Oh, don't worry." She stammered. "I would have done the same in your position." As the words left her lips the only thing that could be heard was the buzz of the light bulbs before a jingle rang through the silence bringing Meg and Ellie in with it.

"Where's the computer," Meg asked, not wasting any time.

"Behind this door." Nicole pointed to a door behind the counter. As Meg and Ellie started to make way to it Nicole spoke out with courage. "After you're done, all of you need to leave."

Meg, Ellie and I looked around at each other. "Alright, we understand. We've caused enough trouble for you." Ellie said soothingly

"What are we supposed to do with that man, or how are we getting out of here?" I asked.

"You can not leave that man here." Her voice forcing the point.

"Tell Adam and Stephy about the change in plans. We should be done soon." Ellie said to me just before she and Meg walked into the backroom. Nicole looked at me as I walked to the door, the look in her eyes were painful to look at, they were cold and distant so different from when we first meet. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn't. So, I walked out the door knowing she was watching me leaving hoping I wouldn't back in.

The room wasn't in any better shape then the reception, before even walking in I could hear my sister shouting at the top of her lungs, I started running towards the room and I shoved open the door thinking I would walk into Adam beating the hell out of Danny DeVito but when I stormed in she was screaming at Danny DeVito who was equally shouting back at her but with very inappropriate racially explicative words. He was tied down to the couch like a pig to slaughter, he had blood slowly dripping out of the back of his greying head, the red and silver seemed to merge like paint. On the bed, in the corner of the room, Adam slept peacefully, somehow able to drown out the sound of people yelling at the top of their voices. Their voices became so loud, I got tired that I smacked my sister across the back of the head and punched Danny in the stomach.

"What the hell?" Stephy punched me in the arm.

"Adam's sleeping. You could have woken him up." I said sarcastically. "Why are you even talking to him." I pointed at the groaning man.

"I forgot you had a pea brain. If you can't tell he is bleeding and probably has a serious concussion. I'm trying to heal him, but he keeps moving away and saying things that I would kill him for if I wasn't a pacifist."

"You just punched me."

"Mostly a pacifist and you're my brother, you don't count."

I sighed and looked at the man in the chair. "She is going to heal you, if you move away, try to attack or say something racist I will set you on fire without hesitation," I said sternly, the man's eyes spoke his distaste, but he allowed it as my sister walked up to him and placed her hands on his head. "So, what have you guys been doing for the last hour," I asked.

"Well besides shouting, we've been trying to talk to him. So far we know his name is Vincent and he hates Amps and 'us'." She said with air quotes. "He came here to enlist into Transgress. He has a lot of anger and resentment towards Amps, I can feel his aggression towards us."

"How can I not hate all of yous." He muttered. "Do you know how normal people like me have been this month. We tried to live our lives pretendin that you don't exist for the first week, but then by the second there were gangs and attacks. Them Vortex people destroyed my home."

"Vortex?" Stephy gave in.

"I thought you criminals would know each other."

"Watch it," I said sharply.

"They're terrorists that've been growing and gaining grounds around da country. They've always in this town. How could you not know who they are?"

"You haven't said why you hate us," I said avoiding the question.

"You super-powered freaks took over cities, turned places into ghost towns, abused the power that you have to make us normal folk terrified and you're askin why I hate y'all." He spoke with so much anger.

"You have to know that we're not all the same," Stephy said as she walked to the bathroom and emerged with a wet towel.

"Comin from two of da most wanted criminals in da country." He scoffed.

Stephy started to wipe the blood off the back of his head. "Fair, but even that isn't completely true. We haven't killed anyone, and our mother would be the last person we'd even think of killing." I could feel the ease in the room begin to set. It was probably my sister using her powers or maybe Vincent had begun to relax.

"By the way," I remembered, "I came in here to tell you that we are going to leave in a few, Nicole wants us out and we have to do something about him because she obviously doesn't want him here. You should probably go get your stuff."

"Okay, you should probably wake up Adam."

"I've been up this whole time." He said out loud as he bounced off his bed. "How was I supposed to sleep with you two screaming at each other, no wonder Meg left so quickly."

"Okay then, I'll be back." Stephy exited the room and I started to stuff whatever I had pulled out of my bag.

"Vincent, right?" Adam asked rhetorically. "Do you have a car."

"No." He looked away from Adam's gaze.

"I'll ask you again, but this time I will tell you that I can make enough electricity to power the entirety of New York City for a month come out my pinky without even trying. " He said as he stroked the side of Vincent's face gently with the very ends of his fingers, a spark crackled between their skin.

"Right pocket, it's a 2012 Ford Fusion." He panicked, Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys.

"See. Was that too hard." Adam tapped his head and grabbed his bag. "I'm bringing the car around, be ready." He announced as he walked out the door.

Only Vincent and I were left in the room, I honestly wanted to punch him in the face, but I've done enough punching for the day. He just sat quietly as I finished up my packing, in the back of my mind one thing still bothered me. "Why?"

"What?" he asked confused.

"Why try and kill Nicole? She doesn't have any powers so it can't be that, and if it is seriously about the colour of her skin then you would be the worst person I've had the displeasure of meeting, and in the last few days I've met some shitty people." He was silent, the silence was irritating. He just stared at me with these uncaring eyes. All I wanted to do was ignite my hands and turn him into a brisket. "Wow. You are just a dirtbag. Now a teenage girl has to live with knowing she was randomly targeted for a racial attack." He looked up at me, but he kept quiet.

"She's no teenage girl. She's a demon." He whispered, just loud enough for me to catch.

I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up high. "You are lucky my conscience is screwed up right now because I swear I would have burnt you to the pile of pathetic dust that you are."

"That girl is a literal demon. I've been here long enough, I've seen what that she-bitch can do. She got all nice and sweet when you showed up but that girl is a monster."  

Outside a loud honk echoed through the room, I peeked out the curtains and saw a bright red Ford Fusion with Adam in the drives seat looking very anxious to leave. I looked back at Vincent whose face was showing an emotion other than fear and anger. Worry. "You're not even worth it. Our rides here." I tied his hands up and legs up while unbinding him from the chair, then I led him out the door after gathering my things to the car which was not big enough to fit six people. I took Vincent to the back of the car and hit the trunk twice trying to get Adam to open it up.

"You can't be serious." He struggled as the trunk opened up and I shoved him in.

"If you would prefer we can just drag your body behind the car as we drive at 80 miles an hour," I said to him. He looked at me with a scowl, ready to speak but slam the trunk door shut before he could even utter a word. Stephy walked out of her room as I forced the trunk door down, she looked concerned, but she decided not to pay any attention to it. The only thing left was to get Meg and Ellie. When I walked into the reception, Meg and Ellie were just exiting the back room looking stressed like they just made an IMAX quality movie in there.

"My greatest work is finished." Meg exasperatedly.

"Good news is that, managed to make this seem like a hate crime at most. The bad news is that we couldn't take you out of the video at all. It just looks like you ran in, stopped the guy and took off with him. Also switched the cameras off just in case." Ellie seemed confident about Meg's work.

"Okay good, the car is outside. You should get your stuff."

Meg turned to Nicole, "I'm sorry this happened, but I made sure that in the video there isn't anything that could get you fired." Then walked out of the reception, Nicole sat in her chair behind the counter with her nimble hands combing through her hair.

"I'm really sorry about all of this." I watched her look up at me, clearly on the brink of tears. It took a lot to not walk up to her and do whatever I could to make her feel better.

"Just leave." Her voice was raspy, I could feel the cold daggers from just those two words stick into my chest. Against everything inside me I left, and I didn't look back. Adam looked very impatient, Stephy was sitting in the front seat playing with the radio which was clearly making Adam more annoyed to the point he started honking the horn having it go off like a smoke detector. By the time I got into the car, Meg and Ellie were just getting out of the room and Stephy had still not found a station that she liked. I ended up being pushed in between Ellie and Meg, the middle seat for some reason was sticky and the seat belt looked like it got into a fight with a racoon. When Adam was sure everyone was in the car and had their seat belts on, which was very considerate seeing as he was ready to run someone over, he sped out of the parking lot, leaving it in the past.

"Any side quest you want to tell us about Oliver and Meg, or can we actually do what we set out to do?" Adam asked condescendingly.

"No. Let's just get to Bloomington." I said.

"It's a 6-hour drive so we should get there at 5ish," Ellie said as she adjusted herself in her seat.

Suddenly I remembered something important. "Crap, the notes from Transgress!"

"I have them all," Meg said calmly before Adam could slam the brakes and turn around, "we have everything."

"The notes don't give us too much though," Ellie started, I'm guessing she read them when she woke up, "they are using our blood and spinal fluid for something, for all we know it could be a cure. Maybe it's for weapons against us. Roboro was only mentioned a few times, maybe it is an enhancer like Adam said. Hopefully, if Silver Fox is still alive he can clear things up for us."

"We also have to get Vincent out of boot somewhere far from here," Stephy said still flipping through radio stations, she finally stopped on a station that was playing her favourite song 20 Dollar Nose Bleed by Fall Out Boy.

"That can be dealt with later," Adam said as he made a sharp turn, you could hear the rumbling in the trunk as Vincent got thrown to the wall, "due to the last time they drove we got sidetracked, Meg and Oliver are not allowed to drive so you two can sleep and we'll wake you up if we need you."

"We don't have a plan to sidetrack the mission again," Meg said.

"Doesn't matter. Sit in the back and think about what you did."

"Yes, dad," I said sarcastically, there was a burst of slight laughter that filled the car, even Adam let out a chuckle. That was the first time we had laughed as friends. The car seemed a little less, of to the end of this suicide mission, and more, friends off to save some lives. With that, the atmosphere in the car changed and I felt a lot more relaxed. I started to drift off as music in the background lulled me to sleep, into my dreams.