The air was tense and heavy. Nick looked around at the faces of the militia, men and women, all looking afraid. They likely hadn’t been told what was going on, they were just organised and got told to be ready for a fight. People were anxious and worried, they weren’t aware of what they were going to be matched against.

Tony wasn’t helping with the morale, he was pacing back and forth frantically. He had the 72d Roamers surrounding him and was holding some rocks in his hands. Nick recognised them as the same kind of stone he’d seen the militia use to alert Tony about Nick coming back up a floor the other night. Tony was fully geared up and his attention was fully focused on the stones.

There was a deafening silence throughout the lobby, all the non fighters had been shooed back off towards their rooms. They weren’t given an explanation but it wasn’t hard to tell that something bad was going to be happening today. Tony had moved everyone he possibly could out into the room that had the door to the car park. All the sofas and tables had been thrown into other rooms to make space for the standing troops. Tony and the Roamers were at the back of the room, arguably the safest spot.

Nick did notice that Jacob was missing from the group though, he wasn’t sure if the man had just cut and run. He tried quietly asking Maddy if she had any idea but she just shrugged. Logan and Joshua looked tired, they had deep bags under their eyes and it seemed like they hadn’t slept in a while. Nick wondered if Tony had kept them up all night, and for what purpose?

Nick kept stealthily checking his clock, the time was slowly counting down towards ten. The tension was growing in the room with every passing moment, each minute their opponents didn’t show up was just adding to the atmosphere. That was until nine o’clock. Both of the stones in Tony’s hands emitted a red light.

“We’ve got people coming up from both ramps.” Tony said somberly.

That meant it was totally more than just a singular team, though Nick doubted if Doyle’s lone team would have been enough at this point. That’s when Nick saw Tony squeeze a different stone. Nothing happened but it was a similar stone to the others. Who was Tony contacting? Tony then took out his dagger and began playing with it nervously.

“Move out into the car park. We can mobilise everyone from there.” Tony made the call.

The militia began flooding out into the car park, the full force of about 150 people formed up into a loose mob. Gareth stayed on the steps, watching impassively. Tony didn’t even try to rope the man into his fight. Then something shocking happened. Jacob came out of the hotel with a group of children. The children had a link of rope tying them together. There were three of them, all under the age of 12, Nick’d blood ran cold when he recognised one of them. It was Benny.

“What the hell are you doing?” Gareth yelled.

“Cool it big boy.” Jacob snided, pointing his knife at one of the kid’s necks.

Gareth looked like he was fuming, his yell had attracted the attention of everyone in the mob. Nick had a pretty good idea who the other two kids were when he saw the faces of Joshua and Logan. The Roamers froze, their gazes turned to Tony. Tony was trapped between Nick, Joshua and Logan. He certainly had some explaining to do.

Before any of them could make a move, Tony spoke.

“If any of you lay a hand on me, your family will be losing a member.” He spoke coolly.

He then stepped out from the group and towards Jacob. Nick saw Joshua’s hand tighten around his sword's hilt, the veins bulging. Nick felt pretty similar, he was close to seeing red. Whatever Tony’s plan was, he wouldn’t be escaping scot-free. There were three very angry men grouped together. Nick scanned Benny but thankfully didn’t see any injuries. Benny had tears running down his face though and looked very distressed. Nick could feel his blood boiling.

“What’s going on here Tony?” He asked.

Tony ignored him and spoke to Jacob. “What about the girl?”

“Goth bitch put up too much of a fight, couldn’t hold her down.” Jacob replied.

Tony frowned.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?” Maddy screamed, charging towards him.

Tony stepped into her pathway and shoved her back. Jacob snarled at her.

“Damn bitch is licking her wounds in that boobytrapped room of yours.” Then he grinned. “It’ll take a while for her to recover from that one though.”

Maddy fummed and fumbled with her bow, trying to take aim at Jacob. Tony slapped her.

“Daft woman, if you ever want to see her again you’ll listen to me. That goes to the rest of you as well.” Tony turned to the other Roamers. “I need you guys to fight to protect your families, I just need to make sure you remember what you’re fighting for.” He gestured to the kids. “Whoever comes up here, you’re going to put everything on the line to make sure they’re nice and safe.”

This guy. Nick’s blood was boiling, what had Benny done to deserve any of this? What had any of the kids here done to deserve to be treated like this? Nick was also panicking, Tony’s stunt was also jeopardising Nick’s plan. How was he going to get Benny safely out of Jacob’s clutches? Would the team Doyle was sending up be enough? Nick had to consider his options. Could Tony be killed quick enough to make sure he couldn’t harm the kids? How would Jacob respond? The whole situation was looking worse and worse for Nick.

The tense stand still was interrupted by the marching of boots on concrete. Light began to appear from within the distant car park. Nick watched as hundreds of people marched in formation towards them. Their gear was matching and they all held uniform shields. There was absolutely no contest. The 72nd floor couldn’t win this fight.

Nick’s thoughts were only confirmed as the numbers grew. The people just kept coming, it went from a couple hundred to at least a thousand armoured men coming towards them. The army stopped a couple of hundred metres away from them, their formation bearing down on the militia. The 72nd floor’s army couldn’t match them in any way at all, their gear was worse, their formation was worse, and their morale wasn’t even close. It was going to be an absolute slaughter and everyone here knew it. Nick turned back and looked at Tony and Jacob, they were sweating buckets. Nick didn’t think they expected such a large force, he doubted anyone had. No wonder Doyle hadn’t mentioned anything, this was a massive scale project.

Five people stepped forward from the PPM’s army. One of the people stepped forward, clearly the leader of the force, their gear was pristine and they held a spear. They removed their helmet and blonde hair cascaded down around, revealing a stunning woman.

“I am Bethany, representative of the Parkland People’s Militia and general under the command of Zayn. The 72nd floor is now under the rule of the PPM. Lay down your weapons and you will be spared. All will be welcomed into our fold, your families will be safe.” The woman called out, her voice easily projecting across the distance.

After her statement she began to walk towards the militia of the 72nd floor. She was flanked on either side by two equally armoured folk. As they got closer Nick could feel their auras billowing out. He could feel it from the back of the group, the people at the front couldn’t bear it and were dropping to the ground.

“Attack her!” Tony screamed.

Nobody moved, Nick doubted they even could if they wanted. The woman’s eyes snapped to Tony.

“Tony. Your rule ends here.” She spoke as if she was simply stating a matter of fact, there was no room to question her.

Tony panicked and lunged, not towards the woman, no. He lunged for one of the kids, grabbing the nearest one and holding his dagger to their neck. It was Benny. Jacob grabbed the other two each with one arm, a knife in each hand.

“What are you doing?” The woman asked.

“You’re going to let me leave. Or I’ll kill these kids.”

“Oh, okay.” The woman replied, turning away from him. “Who here is Maddy and Nicholas?”

Her reaction shocked Tony and Jacob, and they began edging away from everyone. Nick and Maddy stepped forward.

“Good. I have guaranteed Doyle that I would assure you and your families safe passage to the 71st floor. Please gather your families and return.”

Nick then spoke up. “He’s holding my brother.” He pointed at Tony.

Her aura was overwhelming and Nick found it a challenge to even speak. The woman noticed this and instantly her aura had vanished. She then turned to Tony.

“Unhand the child.”

Tony’s eyes were burning with rage. “How dare you! After everything I did for the two of you! Especially you Maddy! How could you betray me you whore!”

His grip tightened around Benny and Nick began to sweat. The man was delusional, what did he owe Tony at all. This wasn’t a betrayal.

“No. I’ll be leaving this floor with the kid. If you try to use your aura or attack me, I guarantee I can take the kid with me. I bet my class on it.” The man said with an evil grin.

“Tony you scumbag, leave him out of this!” Nick yelled.

Tony just grinned in response and continued to move away from the two armies. Him and Jacob were moving along the edge of the car park. If anyone attacked them they could easily throw the kids off the edge. The woman frowned.

“Tony. Give up the child. We will let you leave the floor unharmed.”

Tony didn’t answer her and just kept walking away. The woman’s frown deepened. Nick was getting antsy, what could he do? Tony was literally just walking away with his brother and there was nothing he could do about it. The two men made it further and further away and Nick could only watch. He then turned to Maddy.

“You get my family down to the 71st. I have to follow Benny.”

Maddy pulled him into a hug. “Okay. be careful Nick.”

The woman then spoke up. “I will send a Scout after them. We’ll find out where they head and we’ll return your brother to you. You have my word.”

Nick appreciated the woman’s effort but he had no idea who she was, or how truth worthy her word actually was. He was also very suspicious of the way she was talking, she didn’t sound human. So Nick took off after Tony. He wasn’t going to let the man just get away with this. Nick needed to look after his brother. Nick chased after them but couldn’t seem to find where they went. This is where the Scout came in handy, one of the four people had split away from the woman’s posse and accompanied Nick. They hadn’t spoken up until Nick seemed lost.

“Follow me, I can track them.” A masculine voice came from behind their helmet.

“Thanks.” Nick replied.

The duo then started running in a particular direction. The Scout’s pace was fast but they were clearly slowing themselves down for Nick’s sake. The two of them quickly made their way to a ramp. This was the ramp opposite to the one Nick used, as there was a set of ramps on either end of the car park. There was only one militia man sitting here, looking shocked. The Scout didn’t stop to question the man and simply ran down the ramp.

Why had Tony gone down instead of up? That’s when Nick was shocked again, the scout didn’t stay on the 71st floor but wrapped around the ramp and went down the next one. It was Nick’s first time going down to the 70th floor, since he’d run past it, and it certainly wasn’t under the circumstances he expected.

The first thing he noticed was a large wall. It was lit up and filled most of the height of the floor. The wall was set about a dozen metres off into the car park and wrapped around where the ramp was. There were a couple of sofas and chairs littered around the open area with some people just lounging around. Once again, the Scout didn’t stop to question anyone. Nick didn’t even get the chance to take the sights in before the Scout was looping around again.

“Didn’t stop here either. Kept going down.”

Nick was now confused. Where the hell were Tony and Jacob going? He thought they might be trying to run off into the Parklands, Jacob seemed to have some sort of connections over there.

“Are there any bridges to the Parklands below the 70th floor?” Nick asked as they were running.”

“No.”

So Tony and Jacob were just running deeper into the car park. What was their plan? Was there even a plan? Nick didn’t care at this point. Tony and Jacob be damned, he just wanted to make sure Benny was safe.