Fight or flight was a bitch of a concept. Whichever fool-hardy bastard had come up with it was clearly the flying type. Why else would they justify flight as an option? Flight was how you got shot in the back.

Fighting is the alpha decision.

Addy sat on a wooden pier of his own craftsmanship, holding a fishing rod with one hand. The butt of the rod lay tucked in the crook of his elbow for support. Damn thing was uncomfortable and needed adjusting every few minutes. But he was proud of how it had turned out. Wooden with thick plant fiber for the fishing line.

Sixty or seventy feet down the coast was the sand bar, which jutted out of the island like a tumor. Addy glanced back and forth between there and the water.

Flight is a mark of weakness.

Addy waited for the osprey to touch down on the narrow stretch. Wisps of sand rippled out in all directions, masking his view of the aircraft. The air pressure from the rotors tossed the waves, sending his wooden bobber up and down, back and forth, and possibly dislodging his bait. Addy clenched his teeth.

They're scaring away the goddamn fish.

The rotors began to slow, meaning his guests would soon be upon him. Addy remained seated. Confident and casual. Hinting at his underlying power and ability.

Fighting is what separates the strong from the weak. The alphas from the betas.

Flight wasn't an option anyway. The osprey was armed to the teeth with artillery. Running for the treeline would give the pilot an excuse to open fire.

The whirlwind of sand gradually fell back to the beach. The black silhouette of a man stood behind the gritty cover of dust, patient and unmoving. The pilot. Once Addy had a clearer view, he took stock of his opposition.

The pilot was Asian, late 30's or early 40's, crisp black suit and conservatively gelled black hair. He kept a hand at his waist, poised for the draw. Addy glimpsed two holsters under the coattails of his suit, but couldn't make out what types of guns he was packing. His posture spoke of years of experience. This was a man who could annihilate someone in a back alley between sips of coffee.

A fellow alpha, if I've ever seen one.

The passenger was also an alpha, but of a different variety. There was nothing physically intimidating about Teddy Lax, apart from his famous golden bowtie. Still, Addy had immense respect for the self-made millionaire. He was one of his idols. An honorary alpha.

But what the fuck is he doing here?

Both were out of the aircraft now, which meant Addy could stand. Any sooner and they would judge him as weak. Any later and they would take him for a fool. Rising now was the ultimate ploy. A trade secret among alphas.

The Asian watched him, keeping a hand close to one of the hidden guns. Addy waved at him like a jackass.

The two men ignored him and exchanged words.

Addy had talked to Teddy Lax in the Pillars and had sold him on the idea of boomsticks. Now Teddy was here with an attack helicopter and an assassin. Why?

Pure fucking nonsense, that's why.

Addy knew the guy could teleport, so the helicopter seemed redundant. Why not teleport here with a fucking tank? Or a squad of drones? Fuck it, Teddy Lax could drop an entire fortress on the beach if he wanted too.

Addy considered the base builder in his pocket.

Actually, why teleport in a fortress at all? He could give base building stones to a hired crew and have them make a fortress on the beach in seconds! And then they could make the fortress fly! A helicopter just didn't seem like the way to go.

The Asian nodded to Teddy and stood guard while Teddy reached into the helicopter to get something. He pulled out a pathetic boy in a green shirt and dropped his limp body in the sand.

Ok, how the fuck did they get Brad?

Then, after thinking it over...

Did Brad try to escape? Why am I not surprised?

Alec was an alpha by nature, but Uncle Addy still needed to step in every now and then to steer him back on track. For example, Alec wanted to use the base builders to build airships and fly across the ocean. Not only was this a bad plan, but it was also the pinnacle of choosing flight over fight. To prove this point, Brad, the king of all betas, had come up with the same plan, tried it, and been caught by the men in charge. Now they were here to return his sorry ass, dead or alive. Goddamnit!

The two were approaching now, tracing the coast, abandoning the body behind them. Addy dropped the fishing rod on the pier and stepped onto the beach. He kept a hand in his pocket, clutching the base builder. As he waited for the men to reach him, he tried to get a read on them.

Teddy was giving off a multitude of signals. Confusion, exhaustion, contempt...

Bewilderment?

No, that didn't capture everything.

Unhinged? Demented?

Demented was a good word for it, but that might have been taking it too far.

Disturbed?

Yeah, now there was a word that fit.

The Asian was unreadable, apart from his general aura of complete confidence.

They stopped ten paces away from him. Addy berated himself for not using his time more effectively. He should have been coming up with a plan. Instead, he had played goddamn Pictionary with Teddy Lax.

The Asian stared him down, waiting for him to say something.

Fuck it. Guess I'm winging it.

Addy cleared his throat, and said, "Hey, Teddy. It's been a few days since I've seen your cheerful face! Who's your friend?"

The Asian answered for him, "Tell me who you are."

Dick. Pulling a power move right out of the gate.

Addy clicked his tongue playfully while shaking his head, "Nice try, but I asked first. I've been playing your games for days now. You can at least introduce yourselves."

"Games?" Teddy spoke, feigning confusion.

The Asian offered a slight nod of the head, and said, "I am Kioshi. We have already met. Explain who you are and what you are doing here. Your mind appears to be more intact than your green associate."

Addy smirked, and a laugh escaped.

That's a hell of a way to describe Brad. Also, fuck this guy. We've never met.

"Don't try and get chummy. I've never been graced by the presence of the Asian John Wick. And you should definitely know my name by now. It's Addy. Not Andrew, like your computers kept saying. And right now we're setting up a base on the island so we can eliminate the competition."

"Whoa, boy. What competition?" Teddy said, quizzical, "First you drop all of our clients, and then you go for our competitors? Mine was a business of charity and good will! Do you not see that? And why in all the Earth are you building on one of my tax islands? Especially this one!"

Nevermind, fuck this guy, too.

Teddy was spewing nonsense and Addy detested people with poor communication skills. Anger was stabbing through him, and each sentence drove the knife deeper.

"I'm sorry if we're not doing what you wanted us to do. Your fucked up instructions weren't exactly clear," Addy said, pulling the base builder from his pocket, "What kind of autistic-,"

"Drop it," Kioshi warned, one of the magnums out of its holster.

Drop what? The base builder?

Addy smirked.

Nice bluff. They wouldn't shoot their most cooperative player. Not after the lecture I gave Alec about escaping.

"No," he snarled, decisively.

A loud pop cracked through the air, and the sand between his feet exploded. Addy involuntarily leaped backward and shouted, "Fuck!"

"I rarely give warning shots and I never give two. Drop it."

Ok... no. This is still bullshit. If this is a game of chicken, then he just lost. Pull that shit again and I'm charging, buckaroo.

Then,

'You gotta take a moment to think before doing something clever. Your first good idea won’t always be your best.'

Addy had to force himself to let go of the impulse to charge. He had to admit, it was beginning to feel less like a game of chicken. His arm had miraculously healed from the space station disaster, and he wasn't fixing to get hurt again.

New plan.

"I know you wanna fuck me," Addy said, widening his stance, "And I don't blame you."

Two bullets slammed into the expanding wall of stone. Addy drew more stone from the base builder until the wall wrapped all the way around him like a two-meter high doughnut.

"But I wanna get down and dirty in a different way!" Addy said. He began to charge, and the wall moved with him, connected to the base builder by a thin cord of stone, "I'd rather go dancing!"

There were two thumps against the wall, softer this time. Addy looked up just in time for Kioshi's heel to connect with his jaw.

Addy collapsed backward under Kioshi's weight and felt something in his thigh give. He tightened his grip on the base builder, refusing to let it slip.

The taste of iron filled his mouth, and he could distinctly feel some of his teeth wobbling in their sockets. An indescribable pain in his thigh was causing tears to creep in from the edges of his vision. They distorted his view of Kioshi, who stood over him, aiming the gun down at his right arm-

Addy covered the arm in a layer of thick stone. The bullet still succeeded in flooding his system with piercing pain.

Fuck! That's a bruise.

Addy didn't stop with the arm. He let the stone envelop his entire body, including his eyes. A moment later, there was a sharp impact against his protected throat, enough to block his airways for a few seconds.

Wait a second. Shit.

The suffocation wasn't from the blow. He had just sealed off his oxygen supply.

Meanwhile, he felt his body leave the ground. Kioshi tossed the rock-encased Addy against the inner walls of the stone doughnut. Addy felt cracks and chinks manifest all across his armor of stone.

Addy repaired them effortlessly and then flew up and away from his opponent, using the quirk of the base builder that Alec had discovered. Flight.

Tactical flight.

When he was high enough, he let the stone around his face recede, and turned it away from Kioshi. He took a second to survey the battlefield.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kioshi could be seen bounding out of the circular arena. He tossed one of his pistols to Ted and said something to him. Addy temporarily removed the stone around his ears to listen.

"-if you see an opening."

Two versus one? Feels like I'm at the fucking ballet. Guess its a Pas de trois.

Without the ability to fly, Addy would have been forced to surrender. There was no way he'd be able to walk like this; all of his joints were rigid from the stone casing. Pain tickled his jaw and throat, but nothing compared to whatever Kioshi had done to his thigh. There was something else, too.

An antsy feeling bubbling under the surface. Boomsticks. He really wanted to use boomsticks. But they were in his pocket and he couldn't move his arms without removing more stone and exposing his shoulders to gunfire. His arms remained locked to his side, his legs pointing straight down, trapped in the unflexible armor.

Trapped. Traps.

The traps in our base. Those have boomsticks.

Promising, but-

No, slow the fuck down, kid. Out strategy doesn't have to involve boomsticks.

Goddamnit, I really wanna use boomsticks, though.

Then...

Maybe I can make a new boomstick? Metaphorically.

Yeah... Yes. Fuck yes.

Done with hesitation, Addy dove in Kioshi's direction head first. As he flew, eight stone spikes sprouted from the top of his armor, covering head and shoulders.

He missed Kioshi by a wide margin, the spikes lodging in the sand. If he was being honest, he hadn't really expected to hit his target, but fuck it. He re-sealed his face and floated half a meter off of the ground, spinning in the air so that he was upright. Unlike flying in space, the blood could still rush to his head if he wasn't careful.

Time for Operation Boomstick. Welcome to the spike-pit, pledge, you're about to explode!

He began making spikes all over his arms, legs-

Noise.

A period of blackness.

When he came to, there was a howling pain in the back of his skull. He was on his back, sealed away in a dark prison, a haunting ringing in his ears.

The fuck is this?

Shot in the back of the head. The damage had been mitigated by the armor, but it had still given him a mother of a headache. Possibly a concussion.

He was still encased in stone, and there were bits and pieces of gravel in his mouth. A clinking sound could be heard, and focusing on the noise sent his ears ringing anew. There was a constant tapping on the other side of his nose...

Addy flew away with a random trajectory and coughed out the debris. The sudden acceleration was a mistake, and his aching head thundered its rebellion. His stomach turned, and he held back the bile in his throat, swallowing it back down.

Someone had been chipping away at the armor so that he could breathe. Chiseling, scraping.

So they wanted him alive after all. At all costs? Or only if they could manage it?

It didn't matter one bit. He would win this.

Fuck a Pas de trois. I'm taking you out square-dancing!

Addy exposed his face again, ready to replace the stone if Kioshi or Ted had a line of sight.

They didn't, but a new problem arose. He wasn't even looking directly at the sun, but it felt like he was. His head already felt like two thick bitches were sitting on it and bouncing, and the light's intensity added a third bitch to the pile. Three thick bitches pummeling his head with their asses. The strain threatened to pull him back under, and he shut his eyes to re-focus.

"Urghh, get off my damn head, you beautiful bitches...," Addy moaned. He reoriented to face the beach, but the light reflecting off of the sand still bothered him. Painfully bright. Definitely a concussion.

Square-dancing. Need my partner.

Addy flew downward at an angle, into the shaded jungle, being mindful of his acceleration this time. It came as a surprise that he wasn't being shot at. Once he was in the thick of the trees, he spun to see if he was even being pursued.

Kioshi was closing the distance fast and raising a gun-

Addy whipped back around, spluttered, and then vomited into the air. The queasy feeling didn't subside.

He continued into the jungle, weaving between the trees and the foliage. Without access to his hands, he couldn't wipe the vomit from his lips. He tried using his tongue to scoop it into his mouth. Once he had it, he tried to spit it out - dispose of it - but the air resistance was unkind to him.

Lost my partner, what'll I do?

He needed to get to Alec. Turn the tides of this battle. So far, this had been a graceless and embarrassing fight, and it didn't help that he had puke plastered to his face and fucking nursery rhymes playing through his head.

The wooden fortress came into sight. Alec had expanded a lot, adding all sorts of winding hallways. It looked like something out of a Skechers painting. No, Sketchers. Etcher?

As he drew closer, flying nearer to the ground, he could hear Kioshi's feet trampling through the grass. The maniac was gaining on him, despite being on foot and having to push through the overgrowth. Addy tried to fly faster, but he wasn't sure how.

The entrance loomed ahead. A square doorway in a two-story section of wall. Narrow, and...

And then there were two of them, side by side, sliding in and out of each other. Blurring. Addy tried to blink the illusion away. Tried to discern which doorway was the real one. He knew he was seeing double, courtesy of his achy breaky brain. And damn was it confusing.

When nothing worked, he grit his teeth and aimed for the spot between the two doors. A section of wall, becoming narrower as he drew nearer. When he reached it, the two doors merged, becoming one, and he slid into the maze.

The maze.

Fuck. He didn't know the fucking way! Alec was supposed to tell him, but there hadn't been time!

"Alec!" Addy called out, coming to a stop at an intersection. He immediately re-sealed his mouth.

No response came.

Lost my partner, what'll I do?

Kioshi's footsteps thundered behind him. Addy looked between the two paths. Left or straight. Left took him down a slope to an underground tunnel. Straight-

Pain blasted through his hand and down his left arm. Shot. Another bruise to deal with later.

Fuck me.

Addy was still upright. His body tilted through the air and flew down the slope.

A gamble. If he got unlucky and reached a dead-end, he would be captured, tortured, and maybe killed. High fucking stakes, but Addy could deal. Hell fire and shenanigans was his element.

The tunnel was dark, with barely enough room for navigation. But Addy was at ease. The lack of light was like a pillow for his eyes. He let the earthy smells flow in through his exposed nose, approaching another-

"Fmmph!" Addy swore, unable to move his lips.

Another bullet had struck in the same place. His left hand. The one which held the base builder. Rock fragments fell away from where the bullet had smashed into his defenses.

Addy patched the hole, then turned right at another intersection.

Up a slope, back into the wooden labyrinth. Then around a bend. More gambles. Playing a game of random chance.

The walls had a weird look to them. Smooth and unblemished. The wood pulp had been evenly distributed. No cracks or splinters, no ridges. Just a creepy, creamy brown.

Addy rounded another bend and nearly slammed into a wall. He rotated, left, right. Glanced up.

Dead-end. Kioshi came to a stop behind him. Addy heard the gun click.

"Your impulses betray you. Follow them no longer, else I shoot to kill," Kioshi warned.

Addy didn't dare turn to face him. Didn't move a muscle. His vision was swimming, causing the walls to appear grainy. Ghost images overlapping, tumbling, dancing while the rest of the world spun.

A dead end. Or one where he survived. Decisions, decisions.

He needed a game-changer. An ace up his sleeve. Where was the cavalry? Where the fuck was Alec?

"Lst muh pttnuh whudulluh, dh?" he mumbled, wet lips smacking against stone.

"Doesn't matter. Submit," Kioshi stated.

This derailed Addy's train of thought.

Had his gibberish been understood? What level was this guy on?

No, stop. Need a plan. The base builder... the walls...

Sure. Why not?

Addy thickened the layer of stone around his head, making it feel top-heavy. Then he flew forward, directly into one of the walls blocking his path.

He didn't have enough momentum to bust through, but that didn't matter. With his body pressed firmly against the wall, he exposed a fraction of his hand, allowing the base builder to make contact with the wall. The contents of the maze began to distort and funnel into the object, being re-absorbed.

Remove a wall, place it behind me. Just some minor editing...

Sound exploded in Addy's ear. A crack, a swish, and a chorus of pops. Defeaning.

The crack was the sound of Kioshi's gun going off at point-blank range. Pain bit into Addy's head. Like teeth tearing at the skin. Tearing at the very fabric of his brain. The last dredges of Addy's sanity fell away and he screamed. He screamed. Savage, primal. The roar of all of his ancestors, crying out in barbaric disharmony.

The swish was-

Swish was-

"Fckk!! Muthufck! Sht!" Addy swore. He couldn't think. A thousand ghostly images of the same picture were spinning around him. A white haze surrounded his vision.

The swish. Everything gone. No more walls or ceilings. Sucked furiously into the game stone in the span of a second.

Half a dozen Alec's stood before him. Half a dozen spinning, faded images of Alec. The images swirled violently around him. Shaking. Each Alec wore a face riddled in indecision.

So fucking dizzy. I'm gonna... pass out.

Alec needed to... needed to move. Get away... Escape.

Addy felt sick. There was fresh vomit running down his chin. He didn't remember puking. Didn't remember uncovering his entire head. Why had he done that?

"Skip to my lou, my darlin,'" Addy told Alec. Fight or flight, and... flight. Alec needed to run. Kioshi...

Alec put two hands up in surrender. A decision, and yet... he still appeared indecisive.

Kioshi stepped between Addy and Alec, touting his gun. The three of them stood in a cleared section of forest. The grass and dirt floor still showed creases and depressions from where the maze walls had been.

The light was stinging Addy's eyes. He could no longer count the number of bitches bouncing on his face. Ten? A million?

A million would hurt.

"Why?" Addy spoke, and it took a second for his brain to catch up with him, "Why aren't you... point the gun at me and make threats?"

Four Kioshi's met his eyes. Cold and critical eyes. So fucking serious.

"No need," Kioshi explained.

No need. Addy wasn't... he wasn't a threat?

Yeah. Addy is fucked.

Fucked then. Ok.

Ted finally caught up, stepping into Addy's vision. The businessman was stained in sweat and carrying a gun.

Or- or perhaps the sweat was stained in businessmen? Con- conspiracy theory.

"Right-o. Looks like you have things handled!" Teddy exclaimed, joyful.

Alec twitched his lip. Then he did it again.

Oh, fuck. Alec was pissed.

Addy had only seen-

Addy's head dropped, and more vomit flowed out of him, staining the grass.

Fuck. Gross.

Addy freed one of his arms so that he could wipe the puke from his lips. His focus was still limited to the grass.

To his left, Kioshi began to speak, "Of course-,"

The grass at Alec's feet suddenly flattened. Something invisible was spreading across it. A dozen thick shards of glass sprouted from the ground all around him. In less than a second, both guns were knocked from their attackers' hands. Teddy shrieked.

Addy unleashed another wave of vomit.

When Addy was done puking, he looked up.

Glass protruded through Teddy's and Kioshi's gun hands, with blood slowly dripping down the clear material. Staining it crimson. Each of the men had a sharp spike held to their throats.

Did that just-

Addy hung his head again. The scent of blood and vomit was getting to him. He could feel another wave coming...

His eyes drifted across the grass. That's when he glimpsed it. The base builder, half buried in the earth, hidden under Alec's bare heel.

Wow. Bravo, Alec. I didn't think you... had it in you.

Had he turned a flight response into a fight response? Or had he always planned to make a stand?

Something about the scene seemed off. Alec stood, shoulders rising and falling, looking... not himself.

Wait a sec... Fuck, is he alright? He's not... he's not going to kill them, is he?

Alec was breathing hard.

Way too hard.