It’s a given we’ll have to move. Neil is at a level of sicko that I wouldn’t put it past him to want to rush over here and be a bastard now that they think I’m dead.

I hum all while Paige paces about the house, she’s still yet to wrap her head fully around the fact that I’ve been nearly mortally wounded and now I’ve got to be on the run.

Suddenly she stops, arms set akimbo and her breath uneven, “But where would we even go? What would we even do?”

Her concerns are valid. There aren’t any good options in Xoxia and leaving the city would be just as dangerous, I’m not sure if I can leave the city. I’ve never tried and I’ve never met anyone who has and came back either.

So that might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the perspective you look from. Either way, being put out from the Vertigo gang meant my employment options were down to begging off the street or those orphanages that most definitely sold children to the abundant creep audience in this city.

That doesn’t mean I’m entirely broke though. Living in a city like this would teach even the dumbest of folk the value of saving up for emergencies, emergencies just like this.

“For now, we should just get into a Hotel.” I offer, “I’ve got enough to hold us out for a month at least, by then Vertigo should be done with whatever mischief they have planned.”

Paige shakes her head, pacing once again, “Do you know of any Hotels in this part of the city that aren’t part of Vertigo’s racket?”

Right, shoot. I facepalm as I realize I’ve actually been to one of said Hotels under his racket. A simple drop off and pick up job, I didn’t ask what I was dropping off or picking up but, in all likelihood, it was some synthetic drug or another.

If we check in to any of Vertigos Hotels it’d be the same as giving the man a phone call and telling him the good news of Christ.

So what’s left then…

“What about the suppressors? I mean, it’s their job to attack people like Steve, and I’ve got a ton of insider info up here.” I tap my noggin, “The stuff I’ve got in here is worth a ton of money, shelter and food. We’ll be safe.”

Paige stares so intently at me I think I’ve got something stuck in my teeth or something. She walks up to me and presses her hand up against my forehead, her face scarred with worry.

“Well, you don’t have a fever, and there aren’t any bruises or sores near your head so…what’s up with the terrible ideas today?” She huffs.

I let out a dejected sigh as I realize just how pink my thought process has been. “Right, the suppressors aren’t our friends.”

“Worse,” she scolds, “They are our enemy’s friends, meaning they aren’t people we want to approach, even if we weren’t metas. Are you sure you’re alright?”

I put her soft, tender hands aside and put up a smile, “I’m fine. I’m just...”

She nods, “Lost? I get it.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been this lost, four to five years to be exact.” She chuckles, understanding my timing, “Before you I was so used to drifting about in the fog, not knowing what tomorrow holds for me, prepared to give up my life even for some scraps of food. I hate to say it but, you and Vertigo gang gave me purpose.”

That’s right, I had plans, I had a future painted clearly in my head, a future with Paige and I and…

It doesn’t matter now. What matters is getting out of this mess.

And to do that…I’d need to get into another mess.

“What if…” I trail off, pausing to think over on this thought again.

Yes, no doubt she’d call this a terrible idea, but I think that’s all we’ve got left now.

“What if?” she urges, thumb playing over my palms.

“What if we went uptown?”

She blinks. “Why not just walk back to Steve then?” She scoffs, tossing my hands away.

“Okay, I know it sounds like a bad idea-”

“Sounds like? I think you should just leave the thinking to me for now.”

“But it’s actually one of our only options.” I sigh, snatching her hands back. “We can’t stay here, they’ll come for you, Neil surely will and I’m not sure I can use my powers as I am right now.”

Stopping time – in a localized manner – puts a strain on my body, one I don’t think it’ll be able to handle as it is now. I’d more than just have a headache and empty stomach if I try it.

“We can’t go to the Suppressors because they’re more likely to turn us over to Steve or even force us into joining rather than give us the help we need.”

The Suppressors, as the name implies, suppress aberrant persons or objects from causing undue harm to the environment, the environment being government property.

They mainly take down rogue metas or products of rogue metas. They’re officially called rogue metas but the truth is they’re Supervillains drunk on their powers, a lot of them are newbies though, at least the ones shown on TV. The more sinister ones you witness first hand or hear about it briefly on the news like the anchor is trying to skip over it.

The Suppressors defeat at the hands of a Supervillain is never paraded on TV like it is with their victories over minor villains.

I guess that makes sense, wouldn’t show off my many losses either.

“Don’t forget that the Suppressors best friend is a Death Droid.” She adds curtly, “Those things are worse than metas.”

Right, she’s got her own trauma with the killing machines.

Time traveller she is, Paige has been through many rough patches, actually, she’s been through all of them in the last two centuries.

Worse of them all is the war between humans and the nameless Alien Invaders that nearly subjugated the entire planet.

The Death Droids were created from stolen scraps of said Alien’s technology. A miracle – or tragedy – occurred when the Droids were born. They did help win the fight, albeit at the cost of nearly half the previous population, but they also couldn’t differentiate between friend or foe, just commands to kill and destroy in anyway capable.

Come to think of it, I doubt those droids that came out at the factory were the real thing. Probably just knock-offs, far too weak to be taken out by a few crazy metas.

“Yes, that too. So, can you see how we’re being backed into a corner here? Uptown is our only hope.”

She rolls her eyes, arms folded, “And how exactly do you plan on surviving there? We can’t get a job without one of the other three gangs knowing about it. If they-”

I cut her short, “I’ll get a job at one of them then.”

“What?” she looks horrified. “You know they aren’t anything like Steve, right? They won’t look at you as a kid, probably just a commodity or a weapon.”

“I’m fine with being a weapon.”

It’s not like I haven’t thought about it, it’s not like I haven’t been offered the choice either.

T.V gave me a chance to earn far more than the crumbs I’ve been living off of with Paige, a chance to give her a better life than this shank of mine, a rusty fan, a bed with bugs and a dirty couch I pulled off the street when I was eight.

But she wouldn’t have it. Said she’s been through worse and in comparison, I was living it up.

“Are you insane!” she all but screams, her voice so high-pitched I fear the mice in this dinky apartment might scare.

“We’ve got to get better than this Paige.” I retort, gesturing to the place we call home as whole. “And if Steve succeeded in killing me, you’d need a generous amount saved up to keep living, even like this. Do you honestly think this is good enough for us? For you?”

She shakes her head all the while, not agreeing with a word I’ve said, “No. You shouldn’t worry about me, I’ve told you countless times that we don’t need to be here, I ha-”

“Oh, here we go again.” I roll my eyes.

“Here we go again?” she repeats, outraged.

I ignore it, “You always go on about this guy you say owes you some favour from a century ago. You know very well that guy isn’t alive.”

“He is! I don’t know how many times I have to say it but he is! He’s a meta, one of the firsts to appear here!”

“Fine, let’s say that this guy is still alive, chances are he’s some hundred and twenty years old.” I cringe at the number, realizing the girl fuming before me is far older, “Meta or not he’s senile Paige, his neurons are busted and he can’t likely can’t pull together memories from a century ago.”

She scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief. “So, you just want to throw away that option because you think he’s senile.” I stare right back at her. “Mind you, I haven’t even told you his name, or who he is.”

“If it’s someone that doesn’t look like a hundred-year-old mummy, then you’re confusing your centuries too.”

She gives me a bitter smile, chuckles and shakes her head in dismay, “I think you’re just jealous. You don’t need to be, he aged, I didn’t, would be way inappropriate for both of us.”

I snort at her naivety, “You don’t have any idea what people are into these days, which is strange because you live in Xoxia.”

She stares at me and I stare right back, our eyes locked in an inadvertent staring contest.

Then we burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry, I just…I don’t want to risk it.”

She nods, “Right, comfort zone.”

If you could call Xoxia comfort…

“So, Uptown?”

She shrugs, “Our only choice.”