"So what's the plan?" Marissa asked Ellie Rae once everyone was done hugging each other and being happy. Ellie Rae looked down at her wrist and nodded.

"The plan is we get out of here before they realise the guards are unconscious." She nodded enthusiastically. Marissa couldn't argue with that logic and motioned for Ellie Rae to lead the way. The three followed after her into the hallway and Jax was the one that stopped to take in the sight of the six unconscious guards that were sprawled out in the hallway.

"You did all this?" Ellie Rae nodded. "By yourself?" She nodded again. Jax's face slowly broke into a grin. "My man."

"Daniel took me to the labs they have and they were able to figure out why I was so sick looking and feeling." Ellie Rae explained as she bent down to grab a gun and a knife off of one of the guards. She handed it to Marissa and continued her story. "Apparently, some of the mutated cells in my body were defective. The ones our parents inadvertently exposed us to." Ellie Rae motioned to Marissa. They knew that story. Marissa noted, as Ellie Rae talked, that she did look better. Healthier. There was a healthy glow about her that had disappeared once they had gone on the run. "So they did some things that I can't even name, gave me an injection and then monitored my condition. They were happy when I went back to normal. And Daniel was great, he was the one who told them I was sick and all that." They were walking down the hallway and Marissa almost stopped walking.

"Daniel? That prick is still around?" Someone smacked into her behind her and she heard a murmured apology from Lincoln but she was too busy staring at Ellie Rae, bewildered. Ellie Rae turned around completely and stopped walking.

"He just needed the right person Mar. He's helped me."

"He got you in this mess."

"He's not a bad person."

"He's the one who-"

"Yes, I know but people change!"

"Not in a week they don't!" Ellie Rae frowned and shook her head.

"It's been a month, Mar. We've been here a whole month." Marissa's jaw dropped. How was the possible? How was any of this possible?

"What do you mean... It can't." Ellie Rae nodded solemnly. She cocked her head suddenly and looked somewhere past Marissa. She cursed.

"We have to go. Daniel's losing control over the cameras. They'll discover your gone in a few minutes and then this place will be swarming with guards. We'll talk after. I promise." She reached out and gave Marissa a reassuring squeeze on her arm and then turned around. The four of them got into a run, following Ellie Rae who seemed to have this place seared into her brain.

They reached a set of doors and came to a stop. They were barely out of breath but the shock of Ellie Rae and Daniel had left Marissa baffled and out of breath. There was something odd going on there but she would have to investigate later. Getting out was important. She raised her gun over Ellie Rae's shoulder, knife in hand for ease of access. The boys positioned themselves, prepared for whatever was on the other side.

There was a click and the doors unlocked. Ellie Rae pushed them open and the four ran through them. They were in an atrium and it was void of all life. Marissa came to a stop and looked around.

"I've been here before." She murmured to herself. In the back of her mind, she could feel the itching of a memory scratching, trying to get out. She shook her head and turned to look at her friends. "Where now?"

"We need to get to the control rooms, get Daniel and go to the basement. Then Jax steals a car and drives us the hell out of here." Jax's face lit up.

"I get to steal a car?"

"Of course he gets to steal a car." Lincoln muttered. Marissa couldn't help but smile as she looked around again at the deserted atrium.

"Control room is that way." Marissa pointed to the left staircase. Her friends looked at her oddly.

"It is. How did you know?" Ellie Rae asked, voice filled with curiosity. Jax patted her on the arm.

"That's a story for a later time, E.R. Let's go bet your boyfriend and steal a car." He gave a gleeful laugh at the last part. Ellie Rae and Marissa took the lead up the stairs, Lincoln and Jax covering their backs as they all went up. There was a series of unconscious guards in the hall, laying on their stomachs. Marissa looked at Ellie Rae who frowned in confusion.

"What?" Marissa found herself whispering.

"They weren't unconscious when I left. These guys all wanted to help me." A chill went down Marissa's spine and she knelt down to press a finger to a guard's throat, feeling for a pulse. His body was warm but there was a stiffness to it that confirmed what the lack of pulse also said.

"He's dead."

"Should we roll them over and take a look?" Jax piped up. Ellie Rae's bottom lip trembled but she shook her head.

"Whatever killed them clearly went down this way." Marissa stood up, but not before grabbing a weapon from the solider she had just checked. It wasn't exactly a gun but it wasn't exactly anything normal looking. Marissa looked at the other three who looked just as confused by what she held as she did. "Well, I guess I'll figure out what this does at some point." She murmured to herself.

They picked their way through the bodies on the floor until the stopped at giant metal doors that read CONTROL ROOM.

"This must be it?"

"Well unless they changed the signs around, it's the control room." Ellie Rae retorted. Jax snorted at her response.

"Nice one, E.R." He shook his head at her and then turned his attention back to the corridor.

"Are we going in?"

"We kind of have to." Marissa sighed. She placed a hand to the metal door and, with a small grimace, pushed it open. The door was heavy and was clearly made to be one of those automatic ones but there was no button for them to push from the outside to let them in. Marissa put all her weight into it and slowly, the door opened. Ellie Rae and Lincoln slipped through when there was a gap big enough and then Jax followed. Marissa came last and the heavy door slammed shut with no one to hold it open.

"Well, it seems you've joined us just in time." Maarkus's cool, collected voice filled Marissa's ears. She hissed and aimed her gun thing at him and sneered.

"Well, I do like to be punctual. I take it that's something I inherited from you?" She quipped. Marissa didn't anticipate him being pleased at statement but she didn't let that deter her from aiming at him. He shook his head.

"Please, there's no need for weapons. Especially one you don't know how to use!" The four friends were back-to-back now as guards surrounded them. Marissa felt Ellie Rae dig an elbow into her ribs and Marissa bumped her back lightly.

"Shall we find out what it does then?" Marissa looked down and rested her finger on the trigger. With her left hand, she placed the knife between her teeth and pressed a few buttons that were on the top. The weapon whirled into life and she hefted it up so it was at a better vantage point. Maarkus looked undeterred but the guards who were closing in on them seemed to falter.

"Now, now, Marissa-." Before he could continue his sentence, Marissa pressed down on the trigger of the weapon and a hot, fiery beam of red light shot out and hit at the first ring of guards that were in front of her. Marissa's face warmed as she released the trigger and the beam stopped. Everybody paused to see the damage produced from Marissa's newfound weapon.

"Duuuuude." Jax said approvingly. "You've gotta let me try."

"Happily." Marissa handed it to him and took his gun instead, armed now with what she knew best.

Where the guards had once been, there was now nothing but a smoking pile of shoes and the disgusting smell of burnt hair on the wind. The rest of the guards looked back at Maarkus who merely looked at the area where his people had once been, then back at Marissa.

"Well that was rather inconvenient of you. Get them and bring them to my office." He whirled around and disappeared into an open elevator. Marissa heard the Chancellors voice and she knew that whatever happened when they got up there, it would not be pleasant.

"Jax, you need to get to the garage ASAP. Get a car and get ready to drive." Jax grinned and shifted the laser beam gun into a more comfortable position. "We'll clear a path, distract the guards and meet you outside by the s=city gates."

"And where are the city gates?" Jax inquired.

"Look for big gold gate looking things." And then they attacked.

Not for the purposes of getting away from the situation but to get Jax out and towards the garage. Marissa sliced a man's arm and then used her swinging momentum to send him falling onto his butt on the ground. She used the butt of her gun to hit him across the temples just in time to see Jax turn a corner and disappear from site. Marissa aimed her gun but Lincoln fired first, knocking a woman to the ground who was about to chase after Jax. Her kneecap now gone, the pain knocked her unconscious.

The three of them kept that up for another few minutes but the sheer amount of guards that kept flooding the room was overwhelming. Marissa's gun was knocked out of her hand and a fist smashed into the side of her face. She retaliated with a blow to the abdomen and a headbutt into her assailant's jaw. There was a disturbing crack as he brought a fist into her side and smashed into her ribs. Marissa hissed and pulled back, dazed. Arms grabbed at her and she was in the air again, each limb tightly secured to stop her from fighting. Jax was in a headlock and looked to be near passing out. Ellie Rae was yelling, tears streaming down her face as a guard pulled her arms behind her. Marissa tried to squirm but it did nothing to deter the grips had on her.

Marissa found herself, once again, going into an elevator in a crowded room to who knows what. All she could hope was that Jax had been smart enough to get a car and leave.

Their only hope of escaping was to break through the windows of Maarkus's office and hope to all things good and helpful that the metal tower was sloped. Then they could slide down the building and cross that bridge on how to stop when they got there.

The elevator binged and the doors opened. The three were escorted out and Marissa heard Jax cursing. There was a thump and silence, followed by a groan of pain.

"Set them all where that can see everything." Maarkus commanded. Marissa felt her being lowered to the ground, now standing but she was just as securely held. Ellie Rae looked like she was about to pass out herself now, face bloody and bruised. Lincoln's nose was definitely broken.

Maarkus stood with his back them, his crisp white suit bright in the sunlight that streamed in through the windows. Marissa's stomach both froze and began to boil when she saw who stood beside him. She counted them off in her head.

Pestilence.

War.

Famine.

Death.

All facing the three of them, faces unreadable under their masks.

"Did you find the fourth?" Maarkus asked. Marissa didn't know who he was talking to.

"No, Master. But he can't be far." Maarkus made a sound of disappointment. He turned around to face Marissa and her two friends.

"You've made quite a mess of this, haven't you?" His question was directed at Ellie Rae. She said nothing to him, just stared past him and out the window. He Shook his head and moved to Lincoln. "But you have all shown me that you have potential. There is chance for you yet. You probably haven't noticed but you are stronger than the average human being. Faster. Smarter. I'm sure that's how Miss Johnson managed to convince Daniel here to swap to the 'good side'" He even used air quotes when saying the good side. He stopped in front of Marissa.

"You have no idea what you are capable of but I'm afraid, I'm going to have to put an end to it. I can't have you four running around. Not when you know what I need to finish my ultimate plan."

"Maybe you should stop liking the sound of your own voice then." Maarkus hissed and gave Marissa a backhanded, hard slap across her face. Marissa winced internally as her face stung but didn't let him see that he had hurt her. "I know what you want, Maarkus. I know what you need. And I can assure you, I will stop you." She spat blood out of her mouth at his shoes, tainting the white red. Maarkus looked down at his shoes blankly before nodding his head.

"You won't leave this room alive, daughter. None of you will. Starting with the traitor." The Chancellor scurried forward, a shock of familiar red hair coming into view. Daniel looked like crap. In fact, that was an understatement. He looked like he had been beaten, dragged through a bush, left in a desert, and then beaten again. His injuries looked like they had been sustained over days, not hours.

Ellie Rae trembled where she stood.

"We have a very handy torture device that slows down time for the person in the room. It allows us to do days upon days upon days' worth of torture in a short span of time." Maarkus walked over to his desk and pulled his chair out. He sat down. Smiled. "But he has given me everything we need to know, isn't that right, Chancellor?"

"Yes, Master. Everything."

"Can't say that means much to us." Marissa said but there was uncertainty in her voice. Maarkus noticed it and smiled. He looked to the Horsemen and motioned towards Daniel. They stood like statues for a moment and then one came forward. Pestilence. Marissa wanted to throw up, she knew what was going to happen. She had seen it before with Adonis and her husband.

Pestilence walked forward silently, eyeless mask focused on Daniel. Daniel didn't even look up, the fight completely taken out of him. Pestilence bent down and grabbed Daniel by the throat and lifted him into the air. Ellie Rae choked on her sobs, eyes glued to what was happening.

Silently, Pestilence commanded his swirling tendrils of disease to slither through the air towards Daniel. They crept up his legs and slid under his clothing. The ones that whirled up his arms shot under his button down top and began to throb.

Daniel groaned in pain. Maarkus smiled more widely where he sat, the Chancellor's expression just as maniacal as his. Ellie Rae started to cry. Marissa relaxed her limbs but stared at the ghastly sight in front of her.

Daniel screamed as another black limb dove into the back of his neck. There was a cracking noise and Marissa watched as Daniel jerked awkwardly, face distorted in pain.

"Now, Pestilence." There was another series of cracks as Maarkus spoke and Daniel went limp. The black tendrils that had been attached to him disappeared back into its master, coiling around his abdomen. Daniel fell to the floor, skin a ghostly, leathery white. Lincoln, Ellie Rae, and Marissa stared in shock, horror and disgust.

"We didn't like the guy but jeez, did you have to kill him?" Marissa couldn't help herself, the words just falling out of her mouth without second thought. She looked at Maarkus, disgusted.

"A lot of things are necessary, child. Now, shall we start with your best friend or your boyfriend?" He tapped his finger to his chin. "I wonder."

"My lord, there's something heading this way." The metallic voice of Famine pointed towards the sky. There was a black speck in the sky, headed in the direction of Maarkus's office.

"We have a no-fly zone unless directly authorized by me." Maarkus stated simply, as if shocked that there was something flying. A guard ran into the room at that moment, his face an array of colours and his nose most certainly broken and in a place it should not be.

"Intruder.... Coming here..... Helicopter." Everyone turned to stare blankly at the young man, his words barely legible amongst the gurgling and sniffling noises he was making.

"Come again, Solider?" The Chancellor shuffled over to stand by him and nodded as he whispered in his ear. He nodded a few more times before standing, turning to face his Master and pressed his fingers to his chin.

"My lord, I believe now would be a good time to take cover. This young gentleman-." There was a whistling noise and the sound of glass shattering. It was like it was happening in slow motion. Marissa turned her head to watch as a long, pointed cylindrical object broke through the glass, piercing the air with its high pitch sound. Marissa felt her captors' hands relax and used that to break out of their grasps, quickly turning and ducking, leaving the two men to punch each other square in the face. Marissa ducked under the swinging arm of another and grabbed that arm, pressed down and felt the bone snap. Her heart thudded. She grabbed Ellie Rae's hand and pulled her out of the grasp of her captors. Ellie Rae disappeared into the throng and Marissa reached around for Lincoln. He grabbed her first, having used most of his energy just to get up off the ground. Marissa pulled him, going headfirst into the crowd. As they reached the other side, the room around them began to buckle and shiver. Marissa grabbed Ellie Rae and the three dived behind a solid marble beam, crouching together as the torpedo exploded amongst the main throng of people in the room. There were screams.

"Who the HELL got a hold of my HELICOPTER!" They heard Maarkus yell.

From where he was, he couldn't see Marissa and her gang anymore but he knew they were there.

"This isn't over, daughter of mine." He hissed. He turned towards his Horsemen.

"I would hope not, Father dear." Marissa spat back, getting to her feet. Maarkus barely had time to respond before a second torpedo ripped through the building.

"Okay, I think it's time to go." Lincoln suggested. Marissa nodded and looked to Ellie Rae, her tear-streaked face swollen and with tears still running a new.

"Where?" She managed to croak out, her voice thick. Marissa smiled.

"I think our ride is just waiting for us to jump." She pulled at Ellie Rae and they got to their feet. Lincoln was staring at the space Maarkus had been.

"They're gone!"

"We'll find them!" The wind was roaring, loud from their high vantage point. Ellie Rae squeezed Marissa's hand. Behind them, someone yelled but it was too late. The helicopter flew closer, close enough that Marissa could see Jax's bright smile through the windscreen. Marissa looked between her three friends and without a second thought and jumped.

It was fortunate that Jax had chosen a helicopter with one side already closed. Jax turned the helicopter on its side and caught all three of them, Lincoln letting off a loud hoot as he smacked into one of the seats. Marissa landed on the opposing window steadied herself on the ground of the helicopter as Jax rightened it. Ellie Rae had landed closer to the door and slammed it shut, encasing them just in time for the guards to open fire on the helicopter. Bullets slammed into the metal casing.

"Shall I light them up?" Jax yelled. Marissa barely heard him but that didn't seem to matter. As she, Lincoln and Ellie Rae got themselves settled in their seats, pulling on the headsets, Jax returned fire. He took the opportunity as they ducked for cover to move the helicopter around and began to fly away, putting as much speed as he could into it.

"What took you so long?" Marissa asked through the headset.

"I had to learn how to fly a helicopter." Was all Jax responded. They laughed. A real, soul aching laugh. Ellie Rae's laughs dissolved into tears. Lincolns turned into a question.

"So what now?" He asked, looking at Marissa. "What do we do now?" Marissa lapsed into silence and stared at the sky as Jax flew through the air.

"We defeat the Horsemen. Kill Maarkus. Save the world." Jax snorted.

"You make that sound so easy." Lincoln saw Marissa's eye twinkle.

"What?"

"I know what we have to do." She looked at them, a sad smile forming on her face as she recalled what that part of Pestilence had told her.

"We have to become the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

End