[ Hi, everybody!! It's been quite a while, sorry about that! Good news though: I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month and have every intention of reaching my goal (30,000 words). So you know what that means: more updates are on their way! :) Thanks to everyone who reads, votes, and comments, and especially all of you who have continued to ask me when I would update again. It means a lot that so many of you seem to care about this silly story.

Also, this chapter is dedicated to HeroBreaker for helping me to finally name the other main character! Her name is now officially Jetta!! Thanks again for helping me with that, you're the best ^^ And be sure to check out her story, it's really good! Tons of super heroes in it, what's not to love about that :3]

Neo didn't allow any discussion on the way back up the elevator, through the store, and out the door. Even Link remained silent as all of you crossed the parking lot, headed toward the abandoned K-Mart.

It made you nervous and just like the other night you started to wonder just what these people were capable of, what they would do to you. They had unintentional revealed a great portion of their secrets to you tonight, surely they wouldn't let you get off scot-free. Was their secret worth killing to protect...?

You didn't know. You still had very little clue of the full story, just pieces. That made them dangerous and unpredictable.

Before you knew it, your rag tag group had made it to K-Mart's front doors. Neo pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and held it open.

"Inside," he said, simply.

Link was right behind you so there was nowhere else you could go. Everyone entered in single file, Neo locking the door behind you.

As soon as you step foot inside, an uncomfortable darkness surrounds you. It was not nearly as bad as the eerie dark of Walmart, but it was clear that the place had been devoid of light for a long time.

Neo leads all of you to a side hall marked "Employee's Only" which is even more dark and foreboding than the rest of the store.

"We don't exactly own the building," Link said. "So obviously, we can't pay to power the place. But don't worry, there will be some light soon." He smiled at you and you had to admit that it made you less nervous.

The hallway finally led to a big room that had to have been the employee lounge. There were tables and chairs everywhere and a row of snack and drink machines.

"Take a seat," Neo said to you then, looking at the other two, "Help me with the lights."

The three of them split up to other sides of the room and retrieved battery powered lanterns. By the time you had chosen your seat (on the corner of a table so you could make a quick escape if you needed to) the darkness was finally vanquished.

Neo stayed standing as he put the lantern on the table and turned to face you.

"You shouldn't have seen any of that stuff—why the hell did you follow us? I warned you in my shop."

"That only made me more curious. You really need to work on your threats."

You could tell that Neo was glaring at you from underneath his shades. How did he wear those things in this darkness?

"What was that place?" You ask. "Link said that Walmart was evil but, surely there's more to it than that..?"

"There's not much more, actually. But we don't owe you anymore explanations. You're going to forget you saw any of this. For your own safety." The way he said that last part...he really was concerned about your safety.

"Come on, Neo," Link spoke up. "That's ridiculous. How could anyone be expected to forget something like that?"

"Yeah, and she totally helped us," Jetta chimed in. "You said we've been 'behind schedule', well maybe she's what we need."

Link clapped his hands. "Yes! You should see what she can do she...can..." He looks at you as he tries to describe what happened in that aisle. "Uh, summon people that...make out?"

The other two looked at you quizzically. "That was just one thing—I can do more. I summoned a tower and even some swords."

"Wow, that sounds way cooler. Annnnd, super helpful!" He urged Neo on with his eyes, almost begging.

Neo grew silent as he thought it over. "We do have to finish this section before school starts..."

"Section? What makes up one of those?" You ask.

"Every five to ten floors there's a special enemy that appears," Neo explained. "One of the higher up employees, not just the fodder we usually face. In other words..."

"A boss battle!!" Link cheered and slapped you on the back.

His enthusiasm was infectious and you smiled despite the prospect of a dangerous foe. "Are they strong? How many have you fought?"

"Just one," Jetta said. "He was a souped up janitor."

"Dude was crazy obsessed with cleaning, tried to bleach my insides out. It was funny," Link smiled at the memory.

Funny, you thought, right...

"So, so??" Link asked excitedly.

"We do need the help. What we don't need is baggage. She can join...but only if she can prove that she can hold her own."

"Dude, we were separated, she totally held her—"

"I wasn't there to see it. I need to know for sure. You up for a test?"

Absentmindedly, you slip your hand into your pocket and touch the deck inside. You nod.

"Alright, then follow me."

#

Neo once again took the lead and steered the party even further into the the depths of the employee section of the K-Mart. But this time you had three lanterns lighting your way so the trip wasn't as scary. That is, until Neo and the others went down a flight of steps that could only end in a basement.

Did you dare follow? Would this be where they would murder you, forever keeping their nightly shopping a secret? You shook your head, realizing that you had already decided that they meant you no harm. You hurried quickly down the flight of stairs to catch up, almost running into the others as they had stopped not too far beyond the stairs.

You looked around them to see a wall with a strange metal door. And then to the far right of the room was a staircase leading to another door.

"Link, Jetta, you know what to do." Neo said as the other two nodded and set off for the other set of stairs. "New girl, you're with me."

He went to the metal door, set his lantern on the floor, then placed his hand on the metallic surface and the door slid open. He gestured for you and you both went inside, the door shutting behind you with a whoosh.

More darkness greeted you but only for a second and then bright lights clicked on in the ceiling, revealing a strange circular shaped room. Almost like an arena.

"I thought you said there was no power?" You asked.

"Only in this room. And the electricity doesn't come from a power company, that's for sure. You might say this lower level is powered by itself." He saw that you still had questions and finished with, "Let's do this first. I don't want to explain things anymore, there's no point if you don't pass this test."

Neo walked to the center of the room and you decided to mirror him, taking up residence directly across from him. He nodded, seeming satisfied.

"You guys ready?" Link's voice came from a speaker in the ceiling. You looked around and spotted him up higher on the right side of the room, him and Jetta behind a glass window in some sort of control room.

"Ready, power her up."

You don't know what he did, but you could feel that Link had pressed something, a change filled the arena. The air became thicker and more sinister matching the feel Walmart gave off perfectly.

"Okay, new girl," Neo said as he whipped his coat aside, revealing his twin scythes from underneath. "Here I come!"

He immediately rushed at you, weapons drawn.

"Hey! What are you—"

He wasn't going to stop, that was clear. Your body went into self defense mode, reacting on its own as you leapt to the side, barely dodging the scythes as they hit the floor with a metallic clank.

"Are you crazy?? You could have killed me!"

"Then fight back!"

He went for another swipe and you sucked in your stomach, millimeters between you and his blade. You back stepped away and instinctively went for your deck, pulled out a card. The Fool again. You grimace and take another and throw it without looking, Neo barreling toward you. In the moments before he reached you, your mind considered your action. How could you be so stupid? Expecting a card to save you? In Walmart, maybe, but here? Nothing would—

A giant coin popped into existence in front of you, bigger than your entire body. It filled the space between you and your foe just in time and Neo's weapons bounced harmlessly off its surface.

"Hmm," you heard him say from the other side. "Interesting."

You decided not to think about why the cards powers were working and focus on retaliating. You kicked off the coin and it toppled over, Neo had to jump back to avoid being crushed. It hit the ground with a loud bang but then it vanished, leaving no trace.

You draw your next card, your fingers automatically drawing two cards and you throw the second.

Two swords burst from the card. Perfect.

Neo rushes you, hoping to get to you before you can grab the swords. You anticipate this and go for another card, quickly glancing at it: The Tower again.

You go to throw the card face first and The Tower springs forward horizontally.

"Whoa!" Neo exclaims as he raises his scythes in front of him, using the blades to protect him from the tip of The Tower's spire. He saves himself from being impaled but the blow still knocks him flat on his back.

Without wasting a second, you move in for the kill. You jump on top of The Tower and run along it, snatching up your swords as you pass. With a battle cry you leap on top of Neo, your weapons at the ready. He sits up and brings his blades up at you but you catch them on your own weapon and press them down to the floor. With your other you press it to his neck. His sunglasses had slid down his nose from the fight and you could see the amazement in his eyes.

"Now, who can't hold their own?" You said, full of sass.

Neo presses his sunglasses back up on his nose and once again his eyes are lost to you. "You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, I see. But, so do I."

Something curls around your ankle and before you can react your feet are pulled out from under you and Neo is at your throat, the tables completely turned in an instant. You look down at your ankle, the chain from his weapons wrapped tight around it. How did he do that? Could he control the chains?

It didn't matter. He outclassed you and had just been toying with you the whole time, that much was obvious from the smoothness in which he brought you to the ground. Had this been a real fight, you might have accomplished knocking him down but that was it—taking his life would have been far from your grasp.

His weapons return to wherever he kept them inside his coat. He stands up and offers you his hand.

"You're in."

Link and Jetta cheer over the speaker as you take his hand, grinning.