The Twins stood on either side of Sage, who was a little worse for wear. The three of them faced the remaining members of Team Renegade, headed by Hachiman. Sage had voluntarily retreated towards the Twins as Hachiman seemed to be too much for her.

  On the surface, the battle between the six of them had devolved into Hachiman protecting Franky and Helena from the Twins as the Twins protected Sage from the others. Hachiman looked at The Twins and then at Franky and Helena at his sides,

  “I didn’t expect The Twins to be so formidable. I suppose that makes up for the disappointment.” Hachiman said as he looked at Sage.

  “Did you get what you needed?” Roisin asked Sage, ignoring Hachiman.

  “And then some.” Sage began to giggle as she walked in front of the twins.

  She had been very passive, focusing on recovering most of her stamina and healing most of her wounds. However, most importantly, she was observing. Her eyes never left Hachiman the entire time; she motioned for Hachiman to come at her.

  “What are you planning?” Hachiman narrowed his eyes as he stepped forward.

  “I only plan for those that I find threatening. You are no longer a threat.” Sage responded as two daggers fell from her sleeve and into her hands.

  “?” Hachiman had a look of disbelief on his face. Franky and Helena's expressions weren’t much better.

  “Your fighting style… it not only seamlessly incorporates your ability to control the wind but is also heavily based on its nature. It’s soft yet sharp, flexible, swift, and agile. However, just like wind, if studied closely enough, it’s ultimately predictable.” Sage smiled sinisterly.

  “What are you talking about?” Franky butt in.

  “I've always found it strange that wind is the symbol of freedom and unpredictability. Upon closer examination, it’s restricted by an obvious set of rules and conditions.” Sage shrugged her shoulders, and Hachiman gripped the handle of his blade and gritted his teeth.

  “And you know that better than anyone, don’t you? That’s why you’re so obsessed with growing Akiko. Fire is wild; it can be contained but never tamed. And with just a bit of wind, it can be nearly unpredictable. Akiko is already better than you or will be soon.” Sage smiled.

  “What’s your point?” Hachiman didn’t deny anything she said.

  “That’s why you’re so crazed for battle; you know the flaw, so you fight and fight, so others can poke holes so you can patch them up with duct tape to maintain this facade. However, you have forgotten something, we are not fighters, we are not warriors, we are hunters… Chasers!” Sage frowned.

  This was what Sage found frustrating about the Chasers. Their job was to hunt, yet so many of them neglected the simple practice of studying their target. Many Chasers looked at Hachiman with respect because of his single-minded focus on honing his craft. From Sage’s point of view, he was like the rest of them. Just a child lost in their own fantasy.

  “What’s your point?!!” Hachiman finally spoke.

  “My point is, you have been studied, you have been filed, and I find you boring.” At her words, she entered into a fighting stance reminiscent of Zac’s. And motioned her head for him to come at her.

  Hachiman held out his hand to signal for Franky and Helena not to interfere. He charged forward, drawing his blade, a gust of wind propelling him forward,

  “Parry 80 degrees to the left,” Sage spoke as she preemptively performed a parry; it was successful.

  “Quarter circle turn, resheath into drawing slash, possible implementation of pressurized wind,” Sage called out Hachiman’s following action out loud to everyone as if she could read his mind. She gracefully dodged under the pressurized blade of wind as she slashed the side of his extended hand, drawing blood with her dagger.

  She then jumped back just in time to avoid a gust of wind that surrounded Hachiman to push Sage away. As soon as the gust of wind died down, Sage had already zipped past Hachiman, slashing his legs, drawing blood once again,

  “Wind barrier, push back 1.38 seconds. Vision obscured 2 seconds. Location static.” Sage spoke louder, but her voice became more monotone, showing her boredom.

  “Frustration sets in…”

  “ENO-”

  “He shouts enough and unleashes a large-scale unavoidable attack.”

  Hachiman hesitated for just an instant; he didn’t know if it was shock or fear that had overtaken him at that moment. Before he could come to terms with what happened, that moment of hesitation cost him. Sage burst past him several more times at that moment and riddled Hachiman with wounds. Sage then stood about 5 meters in front of Hachiman. She whipped her dagger at her side, throwing the blood off her blade.

  Sage performed a specific action to force a specific reaction from him. This went beyond prediction; it was much more controlled and much more efficient. She moved him like a puppet. This was manipulation taken to its highest form. One Hachiman had only seen with one other.

  “It seems The Anomaly indeed taught you well,” Hachiman said as his wounds healed. He stared at Sage standing there with a bored expression.

  “Let’s go again.”

  “Let’s not,” Sage said as she sighed.

  Hachiman then felt his body weaken, and he dropped to his knees. He coughed a mouth full of blood, and that blood had a purplish sheen to it.

  “Your blades…”

  “Are coated in a specially made plant venom… yes. Just a scratch is enough to kill a whale. Unfortunately, Chasers are just too resilient.”

  “Coward!” Hachiman cursed.

  “Fool, we are not honorable warriors!!! WE ARE CHASERS!!! By picking apart habits, weaknesses, and traits, we hunt creatures countless times stronger and more deadly than we are. That is what my sensei taught me. Something all of you forgot. Just be happy the goal of this chase was to subdue and not kill…”

  The bracelet that the twins had left for Sage shook, and a black liquid flowed out from it and wrapped around her body. Dragon Scale Armor covered her, and a faceless mask covered her face. A thorny vine covered in roses adorned the mask’s surface. The eyes of the mask glowed as she stared at Hachiman,

  “Otherwise, your head would be rolling.” Sage pointed her dagger at Hachiman.

  Twin’s laughter echoed as they came to stand beside her.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Well… looks like you guys had everything covered.” Trigger appeared out of a ripple in space floating above Sage and the Twins.

  Hachiman looked up at the 4 of them clad in their Black Armor and masks. The palpations of his heart became more erratic than before. Franky and Helena quickly ran to his side to pull him back to safety. They were clearly shaken; why was Trigger here? Did that mean he had beaten Gladiolus? Before they could get the answer to that question, snow exploded in between the groups. Once the snow settled, The Anomaly stood before them.

  “Good job, kids.” The Anomaly spoke as he looked at the haggard appearances of Team Renegade.

  “Are Devin and Leo…” Franky hesitated to ask.

  “Leo, huh? You got rather chummy fast. Anyway, they're both alive and perfectly fine.” The Anomaly answered.

  “Any other questions you have can be answered by Devin. Trigger, we’re leaving.” The Anomaly scoffed as he walked towards the others.

  “Where are we going?” Trigger asked,

  “For right now… anywhere but here.” He sighed as he gave one last look at the source of his nightmares.

  “Alright…” Trigger didn’t ask anything else, and then five of them vanished from sight. Once they had left, Franky kicked up snow in frustration and then looked over at Helena, who was holding Hachiman, who was still suffering from the venom.

  “I expected Zac and Kenji to be difficult to deal with. I had no idea the Twins were that insane, and Ume… that girl is terrifying, and all of them have nano-armor. We have no idea what their goal is… what are we going to do?” Franky asked.

  “The easiest thing would be to detonate the Twins and Ume’s nanites.” Helena offered.

  “We can’t do that,” Devin spoke as he and Leonie appeared before them.

  “The Twins are pivotal to our success, and if you think they haven’t found a way to escape the kill code, then you’re naive,” Leonie spoke.

  “What about Ume?” Helena asked again.

  “She has properly put in for her leave of absence and has not violated any rules. Even fighting us now, it can be argued she acted in self-defense.” Devin spoke.

  “She even made it clear she intended to subdue, not kill me. She is very thorough.” Hachiman coughed a mouth full of purple blood.

  “So what do we do? Do we even know what Zac is planning?” Franky asked.

  “We know what he wants… but it will take some time. So we need to regroup and recover… and finish the acquisition of the Adders. After that… I have a lot to tell all of you. Let’s Go…” At his word, Devin vanished with the other 4 of them in tow.

  Trigger and the others stood side by side and found themselves on top of a snowy peak, looking at the sun setting on a white forest below them. Zac had just finished explaining what he had learned from Devin, and the five of them were in a deep silence for some time. It was Trigger that finally broke the silence.

  “Do you believe him?”

  “Yes…”

  “Should you?” Ume asked,

  “Of course, he shouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, obviously.” The Twins responded.

  “I believe him. He wouldn’t have come in his condition if he didn’t feel guilty about Shaila’s death..” Trigger added.

  “That’s naive. He could have just not predicted that we knew as much as we did.” Ume interjected.

  “It is naive, but Trigger’s right this time. Devin didn’t want to kill me or Shiala. That doesn’t make him any less responsible.” Zac frowned.

  “So what’s the plan?” Trigger asked.

  “The plan is obvious, I would say,” Ume said,

  “Yeah, super obvious.”

  “Why would you even ask.” The Twins added on.

  What?” Trigger asked, confused.

  “Zac wants revenge. There’s only one thing that would be appropriate.” Ume folded her arms.

  “I’m going to kill Devin’s mother in front of his father, or vice versa. It doesn’t really matter which.” Zac looked over in Trigger’s direction to gauge his response.

  Trigger was shocked at first, but immediately calmed down. It made sense, and he didn’t feel any pity for Zac’s potential target. These were the same people who had gone after him and his parents. However, there was something that weighed on his mind,

  “How are we going to find them? Also, Devin isn’t going to just sit around and let this happen.”

  “You’re right. More than likely, Devin will assimilate The Weaving Adders and reintegrate Chasers with Heka.” Zac explained.

  “That was his intention from the beginning. This situation just pushed up the timetable.” Ume deduced.

  “So we’ll be fighting not only Heka but all Chasers? Heka alone would be a hard task. I want to help you, Zac, but it is a hard ask to go against an army like that.” Trigger groaned as he folded his arms.

  “Don’t worry, kid; I’m not asking the 5 of us to go against all of them just for my revenge.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re giving up?!”

  “Yeah, there’s no way, right?” The Twins bellowed.

  Zac sat down in the snow and looked out into the distance. The events of the past week played through his mind. He closed his eyes and then whispered,

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

  “I get it… you’re going to make an army of your own. But how? And would they even follow you?” Trigger responded.

  “He is a cryptid himself. From my studies, there is a certain hierarchy among them. I can’t imagine sensei’s species being low in the hierarchy.” Ume added.

  “True, but we don’t even know what he is, so how can we leverage that?” Zidane asked.

  “Just go ask his mom stupid.” Roisin blurted out.

  “Is it a good idea to go to his mother right now? With everything going on?” Trigger asked.

  “We don’t have much of a choice. Besides, Heka hadn’t fucked with me until they felt it absolutely necessary. Even then, they didn’t target me but Shaila. They are terrified of my mother. We need to know why.” Zac looked at the group, and the four of them nodded their heads in agreement.

  Zac then walked towards the twins and pulled a vial out of his pocket. In that vial were several strains of hair. Roisin looked at the vial,

  “Devin’s hair, I assume?”

  When he gripped Devin’s head and threw him to the ground, he made sure to get a bit of his hair in the process. Those tracking devices the Twins made tracked DNA. From his point of view, it made sense to be able to track a parent using a child's DNA.

  “And you want us to use it to track his parents, not him?” Zidane added.

  “Can you do it?”

  “Of course.”

  “Obviously, but we’ll need a general area to track effectively.” Roisin frowned.

  “One thing at a time; just make what you need to track them.” Zac then turned his attention over towards Ume and Trigger.

  “I know the Twins will follow me anywhere, but you two have your own lives to live. I won’t ask you to follow me further than this.”

  “Save your breath sensei. I’m with you. This is far more interesting.” Ume waved off Zac’s concerns and then everyone looked over towards Trigger.

  Trigger had been drifting in and out of the conversation since the beginning. He knew what Zac wanted to do, and understood why he wanted to do it. He can’t say that he wouldn’t want to do the same thing. However, as things stood, this would spill over past just Heka. All the Chasers he knew would be drawn into this; Akiko and the others could be forced to fight. Could the same be said for his father?

  Could he bring himself to fight them just for Zac to achieve his revenge? At the same time, if he didn’t go, what would have happened? The Twins and Ume would enable Zac to do anything he wanted; he didn’t sense any hesitation from the three like all of this was just a game. But could he even be the voice of reason? Did he have the right to be? Trigger let out a sigh. He didn’t think he had much of a choice right now,

  “I’ll go with you. Besides, it’ll be a lot faster getting around if I’m here.”

  “You going with me isn’t important, kid. I’m asking, are you with me?” Zac asked him.

  Zac’s pupil’s turned into slits as his dark purple eyes gave off a slight glow. Trigger's pupils turned into slits in response, and his light brown eyes began to glow as well. He felt an unknown pressure exert itself on him. He pulled back from Zac’s stare, and that pressure immediately lightened. Trigger let out a deep breath and responded,

  “As long as you can listen to reason, I’m with you.”

  “Fair enough,” Zac responded with a smile.

  “What now?” Ume asked.

  “What time is it?” Zac asked.

  “6:40PM,” Ume answered.

  “She should be getting ready to open her shop right now. Trigger, take us to Seattle, Washington. We’re going to talk to my mom.” Zac smiled.

  “Cool, awesome… which way is Seattle?” Trigger asked with a smile on his face.

  “Seriously?” Zac groaned and pointed in the direction of Seattle.

  The 5 of them then vanished.