She’s always stuck by me… Hope. She always puts up this front that she doesn’t agree with relationships in the workplace. It’s been eight years. Eight years I was in that lab. Eight years since I last saw her. After I escaped a few months ago, Hope was so glad to be around me again.
But why didn’t they seriously try to find me? I did leave the team after the war ended nine years ago, but I was still friends with all of them. I got on with them. Especially Hope. Did they even care? Do they still care? And then Cairo did the same thing… he left the Lab for a bit to join the Nightfall Team… apparently he was around 6 months, no doubt to figure out a way to obtain the Swords with no issue or just to crack his way into our personal lives. They never went to go find him when he disappeared a year prior to all of this.
I hate him so much.
I’ve noticed… Kai went missing the day after the Amalgamation situation, and we only spent a week looking for him. I hope he hasn’t been taken by them as well.
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4PhH5sBxu
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPjZJWfrYe
He teleported away. Cairo went. Me and Hope were practically clinging on to each other. He just stared at me, Absolute Toxin, or Mark, according to one of those files. I was just hoping Skye wasn’t going to shoot him. She seemed ready to fire, but he is a dangerous thing.
He was coming for us. To power the clock… and remove the biggest threat to Cairo. Me.
Why did I have to kill Anthony? He was just doing his job. And now, they all think I’m a threat to Cairo. They changed me to the point where his blood was splashed on my face. But it’s their fault. They’re the ones that made me this way, so why would they make me so powerful to the point where they want me dead because they’re scared of my capabilities?
But then something really made me curious. He had two children, Mark. The other child’s name was redacted, but Cairo was still there. Might be a crazy coincidence but… I know Anthony wasn’t my real father. I still loved him as mine though, until they forced him to work with the Labs. I never knew anything about my birth family, and when I was going to, I ended up… there. They couldn’t have just wanted me just because I worked for the Team. There has to be… some reason.
Something. Anything. I just can’t figure it out.
There must be a reason why that name was redacted.
It’s ridiculous, really.
I can’t tell if the two people that were responsible for completely ruining my life… are my real family.
I will get to the bottom of it.
…
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzLqVYvm8D
I’m just crossing my fingers that the Team will protect me and Hope.
Nobody moved a muscle. Josh was hiding his face as much as he could, Cynthia and Zhen were standing still and Skye was focusing on her aim.
“Joshua. Do not hide your face.”
“How do you even remember me..?” It felt like Josh slipped up, but was just in shock that he would’ve been remembered. He probably would have kept his identity hidden but was caught off-guard.
“I’d remember anyone who decides to leave us and join the organisation destined to destroy us.”
Skye spoke up, saying “You better watch your mouth, old man. That was in the past. 12 years ago.”
Hope was next to me whispering to herself. “That’s why he wanted to keep his identity hidden.”
“He never told us that, did he?” I whispered back. I don’t think Hope meant to say that out loud.
Skye, tightening her grip on the trigger, spoke up again when she saw Mark about to speak.
“You caused too much trouble for him. You made him believe in all of that bullshit because you thought he was a good fighter for you to ABUSE. And he was lost for so long.”
“STOP.” He shouted, raising the Venomshank. Skye immediately blasted, but it was immediately absorbed by the Venomshank.
“Just stop. And listen. My son and I are trying to save our people. Bring them to Sunrise when our purpose of killing deniers is fulfilled. And you, Joshua, can be part of it. It is not too late. You know you heard that voice. You had that vision.”
Cynthia stared at Josh. “You worked with them? Wh- what visions?”
Josh didn’t seem to know what to say. Hope shouted across to her. “They always say they have visions. Visions of Telamon and their Heaven. Sunrise. And it's bullshit!”
“This is ridiculous!” Skye began charging up another shot, and everyone already started preparing themselves to fight.
I think… I knew what they were talking about. It’s happened to me before, multiple times. Not the vision from an Amalgamation, but
Cynthia had shouted at us to stay back.
“So you’re choosing to fight me?”
Josh immediately began charging as Skye shot him again, distracting him as Josh pummeled his side with the fists. The Venomshank still absorbed all of the hits. It was like a protective, constantly healing shield. But I’m sure they were aware that the Firebrand is the only one that can penetrate it, right?
It was like he was refusing to fight back though, until Cynthia and Zhen actually started running at him. He knows how to manipulate magic better than anyone else of the Terror hierarchy. That’s why he was the Leader after all. The Venomshank just makes it so much worse for anyone that gets hit by the blasts.
All he had to do was slash the sword upwards, and everybody was knocked back.
“Zhen, swap.”
Cynthia had passed the Illumina to Zhen, and Zhen gave her the Firebrand. She blasted herself upwards with the Illumina to stand back. I think they both knew just what to do to take him down. I think they had to handle this themselves though, so I got my dark arm and grabbed Josh and Skye with my fingers, dragging them to me and Hope.. Josh obviously questioned.
“What are you doing?”
“Look, Cynthia is the one with the Firebrand. She’s the only one that can penetrate the Venomshank’s shield properly. Once we get our hands on the Venomshank, then we strike.” I think my plan was good.
“Bell is right. We’re just gonna keep getting our ass handed to us if we keep trying to attack. She’s the Guardian for a reason, let her do this.”
But Josh added “So how are we getting the Venomshank back? Even if we penetrate the shield, he’s strong enough to keep hold of the sword. Not to mention… look.”
There was a slightly dark aura radiating off of him. Skye seemed confused, so I had to explain.
“He stabbed himself with the Darkheart. It’s one of those weird unexplained phenomena where the wielder stabs themselves and gains the abilities of the sword in human form. He’ll just be able to recover from his wounds in an instant, no matter how much we try to hit him, even if we destroy that shield…”
That’s when I realized.
“We can’t win.”
Hope suggested that we retreat, but I needed to see them pay for what they did to me. I did, however, forget one thing. He wasn’t completely invincible, and I only remembered when Josh had pointed it out.
“Unless… Zhen has the Illumina, so there has to be some way the Illumina can counter it, right? If it can counter the ACTUAL sword, then surely…”
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchqDkqjJRC
Then we saw Cynthia and Zhen charge again. Mark saw that they were charging with just the Illumina and Ghostwalker so he probably wasn’t worried yet. The Firebrand was the one that needed to break the shield. He unsheathed the Venomshank and began sluggishly clashing with the two swords. It’s the biggest sword out of all of them, there's no wonder it was able to parry them both. But he did it almost… lazily. He did eventually begin to attack though, launching more shockwaves at them.
I heard Cynthia say to herself: “Wait one second.”
She must’ve remembered by then, because she was looking at the Firebrand in a peculiar way. She charged forward once again and lunged straight into him. Mark actually flinched, and the Firebrand made contact with his body.
“Hah! Got it! Zhen, come on!”
I saw Skye spin her Hyperlaser around her finger before charging a shot, but Josh wasn’t so keen.
“What are you doing?”
The bullet shot.
“We need to keep him overwhelmed I think. He won’t be able to defend against the Firebrand and Illumina if he’s constantly being pushed.”
“Yeah, except we have no Firebrand and Illumina to defend us with.”
Hope grabbed her dagger and put it in her pack safely. She grabbed a replacement that Skye made. I think it would be safer to use that than the original one right now, but Mark immediately noticed. He began dashing towards us, ready to charge a punch of energy at Hope, but Cynthia and Zhen were able to catch up to him.
They dragged him back slightly and he went back to fighting Cynthia and Zhen. I thought there was a way to contribute, so I told Skye to shoot while I summoned zombies and got them to target Mark. Until I looked to my left. I was so busy focusing on the fight that I didn't realise that Josh was rushing to activate a teleportation on his D.F.E. I nudged Hope to get her to look and she immediately spoke up.
“Josh, stop. I know you’ve been through a lot with him, but you can’t just go! You’re not a coward.”
Everyone turned around to Josh, and I think Mark wanted to plead with him one last time.
“Josh, wait-”
“What are you doing? You aren’t going anywhere!” Cynthia shouted, interrupting Mark.
I looked at Skye but she seemed frozen. Couldn’t even say anything. I couldn’t tell what was wrong with her but she looked genuinely upset at Josh. She might’ve taken it personally because she just defended him… for what?
Cynthia tried to run to Josh and grab onto him, but Mark blasted her away and began chasing her with the Venomshank. They clashed, with her slowly overpowering him with the Firebrand, and Zhen ran forward, flew herself upwards with the Illumina and slashed it across Mark. He finally began bleeding, and if they kept keeping that up, maybe we could defeat him. Skye turned from Josh and shot three rapid-fire bullets at Mark. The Venomshank’s absorption wasn’t working, and he genuinely began to feel pain, but then he spoke.
“You’re making a grave mistake. Josh saw that vision, and so did Bella. You two can still…”
COUGH!
“You can still…”
I didn’t know what was going on, but he turned the Venomshank towards him. His own neck.
Click.
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFHDdKwPXX
We all turned back to Josh. Only to find that he wasn’t there. He didn’t even say goodbye or warn us. Cynthia let out a roar of anger, and I looked at Mark, and he looked at me. I think he was just as shocked as I was, and for a split second, I saw a weird humanity in his eyes. Like he was being real. Acting real. I don’t know how to explain it. I think if anything, I was just observing now. It was the worst possible time for him to leave us though. I looked around and saw Hope, looking worried as anything. She knew there was something wrong with him. I think maybe he's just running away to figure himself out, but it was hard to come to a conclusion when we’re in a situation like this. Maybe he tries to block the visions away but can’t help but think about it and when it’s brought up, he panics.
I was thinking about it for a weirdly long time while the battle carried on. Mark had… stabbed the Venomshank into his neck, and suddenly his entire body shrivelled, his eyes turned green like mine and the Venomshank’s poison began to leak from all parts of his torso and face. With the Darkheart’s power he created vines and covered them in the poison he was emitting before trying to attack us with it.
I turned around to Cynthia. She was too angry with Josh to actually comprehend what was going on. A vine wrapped around her and threw her across the arena into one of the blown up pillars. She dropped both the Firebrand and Ghostwalker, and I think she got knocked unconscious.
He was practically unstoppable at this point. Hope taps me and tells me that we need to retreat, but I am not going to leave Cynthia here.
“You’re gonna get yourself killed! Cyn can handle herself-”
“She’s literally unconscious! What are you talking about?” I needed to snap Hope into her senses. Was she seriously going to leave Cynthia here because of their conflict?
I called for Zhen and she nodded her head before charging with the Illumina. Since the vines are powered by the Darkheart they should just disintegrate when they make impact with the Illumina, so as long as Zhen keeps parrying them away, it buys me time so I can get the Firebrand and Ghostwalker.
“Skye! Start shooting!” I shouted to her, but I didn’t get a response, she just started shooting. Furiously.
Mark rushed towards us, specifically me, so I had to hold him back as he headbutted into my staff. I can’t tell if he’s just targeting me because of the vision the Amalgamation gave me, and he’s still afraid that I’ll kill Cairo, but they need Hope’s Dagger aswell… so why isn’t he going for her? Yet, at the same time, every time he went to go and attack us, his eyes would focus on her for a just a split second.
Vines began sprouting out of his back and tried to grab me, but Zhen launched herself into the vines with the Illumina before spinning it into Mark’s torso.
He coughed up a mix of blood and poison before he began fighting Zhen. A lot of swings and vines and punches and energy blasts, but Zhen was eventually weakened by him. Me and Hope couldn’t really do anything because he still had his eyes on us and Skye just looked like she was too angry to even contribute, thinking of Josh no doubt.
I turned to my right.
The Firebrand and Ghostwalker weren't too far away from me. This was the only thing saving us now.
“Hope.”
I gave her my staff and told her to protect me while I run.
I rushed towards them, but a vine immediately slapped into my face as I held the Ghostwalker for a split second.
…
Why did I think that would work..?
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51ORkuzvYC
The next thing I remember.
Me, Zhen, Skye and Cynthia were the only ones in the Arena. We all got back up at similar times.
Hope was missing.
Mark must’ve taken her.
And her dagger.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufH4ELBQ0U
and then Add to home screen.