Tisane looked at the final line up. The Qualifying Tournament was officially over. She was at the Tournament office to check the list of the final teams. She was sure that the other team managers had either come or would be coming to the Tournament office to check the list. She would not be the only one.

She had also asked Juran to come with her. Juran had said he would catch up with her. Tisane did not want to wait for him. She went up to the administrative clerk and asked for the list of winning teams. The clerk smiled as she saw who it was asking for the list. Tisane also took another copy of the list for Juran.

As she was reading the list, Juran came in. Tisane hugged him. She knew that his team had already made it as he had been in Block 3 of the Qualifying Tournament and had a fight before her team. Wizard had also made it. Both Juran and Tisane had seen his team’s fight.

Juran said, “You look rather happy today.”

“And you are not because?” asked Tisane.

“Come on, we already know we are in. We have been partying for a week now.”

It was true. The official list came out a week after the final match of Block 8. Juran, Tisane and Wizard had been celebrating a lot, especially with their teams.

“Yes”, said Tisane, “But today it is official. Let us look at the list together.”

They did what Tisane said. The final teams they read were

Team Illusionists from Block 1

Team Havoche from Block 2

Team The Angels from Block 3

Team Chronos from Block 4

Team Incognito from Block 5

Team Tandem from Block 6

Team Tharrer from Block 7

And Team Valhalla from Block 8.

“I still can’t get over the fact that Wizard and his team members named their team Tharrer. What sort of a name is that?” said Tisane.

Juran said, “It is a Wizard sort of name. Now come on then. What are your plans for today?”

“I was planning a team meeting. Official results are out and then maybe we party.”

“None of that”, said Juran, taking her arm, “Today, you are spending time with me. Just the two of us. Come on then.”

“But I have made plans. I need to cancel-“

“Already taken care of. Now come on”, Juran steered Tisane into his car. Tisane giggled as she complied.

A figure watched them from the shadows. The figure did not just watch them. It watched each and every manager that came to the Tournament office. It was time to make his move.

***

Marcus woke up to the smell of bacon being fried. He frowned. Today was his day for making breakfast. Then who was making it? He looked at the time. It was 8 a.m. Oh dear. He slept till late. Usually he was up by 6 a.m.

Careful not to wake up Taylor who was sleeping beside him, Marcus got up from the bed and got dressed. He went down to see Brock frying bacon and making freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Good morning”, said Marcus, “Sorry, I woke up late.”

Brock grunted but did not say anything. Marcus could see that his friend was lost in thought and was mechanically making breakfast.

Marcus said, “Taylor is here. I hope you are making extra.”

Brock grunted again but did not say anything. Marcus did not comment on this peculiar behaviour of his friend for some time.

Then Brock said, “Marcus I am worried.”

Marcus nodded, encouraging Brock to continue.

Brock continued, “Before the Qualifying Tournament, Detectives King and Gregory invited me to the police station. There they told me that they had heard from reliable sources that something was going to happen during the Qualifying Tournament, something that would ensure the presence of a particular team in the final eight. They did not know the name of the team, but they thought that either the manager or the team members might sabotage some other team to win. They asked me to keep this quiet and to keep an eye out. However, the Qualifying Tournament is over. The eight teams are out, and it seems that their concern was unfounded. However, I feel like we are missing something. Something is going to happen soon. I believe that the team which was supposed to be in the final eight is not there and someone is going to do something about it.”

Marcus said, “Are you saying that there would be some political pressure on one of the final teams to back down?”

“Maybe”, said Brock, “maybe not. I really don’t know, and it worries me. I just hope nobody gets hurt.”

“We are power fighters Brock”, said Marcus, “We are bound to get hurt.”

Brock finished preparing the breakfast. Taylor came down soon after that. The three of them had breakfast, Marcus and Taylor talking, Brock thinking in silence. After breakfast, Brock said goodbye to the couple and left. He was going to the police station. He needed to talk with the detectives again.

As he left the house, Brock had a sense of foreboding. He hoped that he was wrong, and everything would be all right. Things do not have the way of going as per plan and Brock did not realize the mess he was going to step into.

***

Trent looked at his partner and then at Brock who was sitting in front of them. Brock had come to visit them, troubled because he was still under the impression that something was going to go wrong.

“It was a false tip, Brock” said Dorian, “We get that sometimes. It just doesn’t hurt to be cautious even though we get a false tip. And this Qualifying Tournament was a big thing. We could not afford to take chances. You were not the only power fighter we approached; you know.”

Trent nodded to what his partner had said, “I understand that we asked you to be cautious during the tournament and when nothing happened you are feeling a sense of, how do you put it, emptiness, I believe, no. Whatever the case, you should not be concerned. Celebrate. I hear your team made it to the final round. So, first party hard then focus on your training. You will need further training if you wish to survive in the World Tournament.”

Trent could see Brock was still not convinced. Dorian said, “Let us do one thing. You think something is wrong, something bugs you regarding these results, then bring us something concrete. We can do nothing regarding this until we have something to work on. And we shall also ask some of our officers to keep an eye out near the Tournament office. I hope it allays your fears.”

Brock nodded and stood up. He said, “I will look around a bit. Maybe I am being paranoid, but something does not seem right to me. If I find something concrete, I will contact you. Till that time, goodbye detectives.”

Brock left. Trent looked at his partner who simply shrugged. Trent said, “Now, what the hell are we going to get into? Dorian, at least have someone check out the Tournament office for anything suspicious for the next couple of days. If there is nothing, we will pull them out.”

“Is it necessary?” asked Dorian.

Trent nodded and Dorian proceeded to do as Trent had told. Trent went to get coffee. He needed it after the discussion with Brock. He hoped nothing came out of Brock’s fears.

***

A week had passed after the official results of the Qualifying Tournament were out. It was now the 15th of September. Emma Knight woke up with a smile on her face. Today was going to be a good day for tonight she was going on a date. Her name was Willow Matthews. Emma had met Willow during one of the celebratory parties her team was having.

Willow was a member of the team Illusionists, the winner of Block 1 of the Qualifying Tournament. Emma had made an instant connection with her and was glad that she was at a stage that she had moved on. They had chatted over the few days since they had met and had decided on a date that night.

Emma hummed as she got ready, made her breakfast and ate it. Then she wondered what she would do for the day. Her team had now started to train. The World Tournament was supposed to start on the 8th of January next year. Incognito needed to be in tip top shape if they wanted to have a shot at the cup. However, they had no team training planned today.

Emma decided that she would go and meet Marcus. He would probably be training Selena in that abandoned warehouse where he always trained her. She would help Selena and get some training in return. Marcus was strong and a good teacher. She had already improved a bit under his tutelage.

As she was exiting the building, she got a message from Willow. Her face split into a grin as she started to read it. Then her grin fell as she read the contents of the message. Willow was cancelling her date due to some team emergency. Emma was a bit disappointed, but she messaged back that she was okay with it. Then she messaged whether she could help Willow.

Willow called. Emma picked up the phone, “Hello Willow.”

Willow’s voice was a bit panicked as she said, “Emma, do you know someone who knows the Authorities?”

Emma said, “Probably my manager, Tisane. I could ask her. What is the matter?”

Willow replied, “One of my teammates, Judy, has suddenly become Unstable. She is being held in the detention centre, but this is all happening too suddenly. They are saying that she is going to explode soon but I do not understand. We want someone who is an expert on Unstables to examine her, but the authorities of the detention centre are saying no. I don’t know how much you can help but can you help us, somehow, please.”

Emma could hear how Willow’s voice broke. She said, “I will talk with Tisane. Let us hope she can help.”

She cut Willow’s call and called Tisane. Tisane picked up on the second ring, “Hello Emma. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

Emma explained the situation to Tisane. Tisane said, “I will call my father and talk with him. Till that time, go to Willow and find out in detail what is happening. I will call you back.”

Emma was already out of the door. Outside her apartment building she ran into Marcus and Selena. She was surprised to see them. She asked what they were doing there.

Marcus said, “Oh, we cut our training short. Some down time. Wanted to know if you wanted to hang out.”

Emma hurriedly explained the situation. Marcus frowned at that. He said, “Come on then. This seems suspicious. Selena, I am going with Emma. Will you be alright heading back alone?”

Selena asked, “Can I come?”

Marcus shook his head, “No, too many people. Willow might be okay, but her team might not be. They would not want many strangers at the detention centre watching her team member.”

Selena did not protest but she did not look happy. Marcus and Emma took a cab to the detention centre. There they were refused entry. However, Marcus talked with someone on the phone and they were allowed.

At the reception desk they asked where team Illusionists was, and they got the information. They went down in the elevator to the holding cell block G. Unstables were kept in special holding cells where the general population would be kept safe if they exploded. Unstables always exploded, dying in the process. It was not a good way to go. And full power fighters normally did not go Unstable. This was a highly rare case.

Marcus and Emma reached block G, cell no 20. Judy’s team was sitting outside Judy’s cell. It seemed that Judy’s parents were also there. Emma saw Marcus looking through the one-way glass into the cell. Judy was pacing nervously.

Emma was however focused on Willow who had seen her. Emma and Willow started towards each other.

Willow said, “What did Tisane say?”

Emma said, “She said she was going to talk to her father and get back. She has not called back yet. I am waiting for her call.”

Willow nodded and introduced her team members. The Manager and Statistician of team Illusionists were brothers, Thomas and Frederic Warrow. The other fighters were Zoe Zalan, Joe Wright and Geoffrey King. Illusionists did not have a spare fighter. The fighters nodded as the introductions were made. Willow also introduced Marcus and Emma to Judy’s parents, James and Jane but they seemed to be in shock and they simply made a polite exchange.

After the introductions, Marcus moved towards the cell and Emma stayed with Willow, grabbing her hand, not knowing what else to do. Marcus was not doing anything, just staring at Judy with a thoughtful expression on his face. Thomas joined him and they started discussing something that Emma could not hear.

Then, a man entered with detention centre guards trailing behind him. James stood up as the person entered while Jane remained sitting, in the same shocked state. Zoe went to sit beside her to comfort her. Thomas made his way towards the person who was coming who Willow told Emma was the director of the facility, Hugo Murphy.

Emma could see that Hugo was tall and balding and looked more like a scientist rather than the director of a facility which detained Unstables.

Hugo made straight for Marcus and Emma stepped forward to listen to their conversation.

“Marcus McKnight”, said Hugo, “To what do I owe the pleasure. I did not expect you to ever step foot in here, or any Unstable detention centre for that matter.”

Marcus’ eyes narrowed but he said, “I am here for Judy.”

Hugo looked at Judy and turned back to Marcus, “She is an Unstable.”

“And till yesterday, she was a full-fledged power fighter”, said Marcus, “Full-fledged power fighters do not become Unstable overnight. There is something wrong over here and you know it.”

“Maybe”, said Hugo, “But you know the rules. I cannot let anyone examine her. The risk, if she explodes, is high. Two lives would be lost instead of one.”

Thomas and James tried to say something, but Marcus raised his hand to stop them. Marcus said, “I want to examine her.”

Hugo gave a short laugh, “And what makes you an expert on Unstables?”

Marcus said, “You and I both know what makes me an expert. If you need further convincing then wait a minute.”

Marcus pulled out his phone and called someone. It was Jian Chan. Marcus talked for a bit explaining the situation. Then he gave the phone to Hugo who went out of the range of hearing of the people present. It was a short conversation.

Hugo came back, his teeth gritted, gave the phone to Marcus and said, “You know the drill. I will send an escort to get you in the room.”

“Thank you”, said Marcus pocketing his phone and then to the confused present people he said, “I am an expert on the Unstables. If you do not have any issues, I shall examine Judy. Is it okay?” The last question was directed at James who simply nodded.

Willow said, “Wow, I did not know you had such capable friends Emma.”

Emma eyed Marcus who was walking away with a guard and said, “Me neither, Willow, me neither.”

And they all waited, for Marcus, to tell them what was wrong with Judy.

***

Every power fighter had an Angel inside of them. It depended upon the power fighter as to how harmonized they are with their Angel. Every power fighter harmonized with their Angel. The level of harmonization varied from power fighter to power fighter. A strong harmonization led to power fighters receiving their Angel form. However, there was another level of harmonization that very few power fighters knew of. A level of harmonization beyond the Angel form was when you could talk to the Angel inside of you.

Those who had achieved this level of harmonization did not share this knowledge with others easily. It was their secret; their power and they did not wish to share this knowledge. Marcus was no exception. He was also a unique case. He did not have a single Angel form. He had three Angel forms with ascending levels of power. He had harmonized with each of his Angel till the point that he could talk with each one of them. He called them White Angel, Dark Angel and Cosmic Angel or WA, DA and CA in short.

As he made his way to the cell where Judy was held, Marcus communicated with his Angel forms. He could multitask, talk with Angel forms and also with others and carry out normal activities simultaneously.

Marcus said to his Angel forms, “What do you think?”

Cosmic Angel replied, “Feel her energy. Then we could tell you more. There is no point speculating as of now.” The other Angels agreed with him.

The guards and Marcus now reached Judy’s cell. They opened the cell door and had instructed Marcus beforehand to get in quickly. Marcus complied. He entered Judy’s cell and the guards closed the cell door behind him.

Marcus looked around the cell. Even though it was a cell to hold Unstables, it looked like a prison cell. There was one-way glass opposite to the door Marcus had entered. The single bed was to his left and the door to the bathroom was to his right. The walls and doors were made of reinforced steel and Marcus could see that at the top there were two funnel type structures constructed on the roof. He knew their purpose. When an Unstable explodes, the energy will be sucked in by these funnels and directed to a containment chamber where it would not harm anyone.

Initially they used to keep Unstables directly in the containment chamber. That led to Unstables viewing other Unstables exploding. It was traumatizing. This practice was stopped and holding cells were created. These holding cells were also used to hold power fighter prisoners, which were once in ample numbers, but had reduced over the years because of stricter laws and regulations.

Judy turned to Marcus as he entered and said, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know it is dangerous? I can feel it. I am going to explode any moment now. You should not be here.”

Marcus said, “I am going to check on you. Understand why you became Unstable. Fully fledged power fighters do not become Unstables overnight Judy.”

“I am sorry. Who are you? And what makes you an expert on Unstables?”

“I am Marcus”, said Marcus and he considered the other question. What made him an expert on Unstables? Because he knew why a power fighter became an Unstable. Researchers had studied long and hard to find out the reason a power fighter became Unstable. They had figured out that a power fighter became Unstable if the Angel inside them decided not to harmonize with the power fighter and rejected the power fighter completely. An Unstable is a person whose Angel is basically exploding because he has rejected a power fighter. The process takes some time as the body of the power fighter is resisting the Angel’s rejection.

Marcus knew all that and he knew something else. If you have harmonized to a level that you can talk to your Angels, then with the help of your Angels you could talk with Angels of other power fighters.

Marcus however said, “You just have to trust I am an expert. Now give me your hands.”

Judy said, “I am sorry. You need to go”, then she shouted, “Hey guys. Guards. Anyone. Can you get this guy out of here? I do not want his death on my conscience.”

Marcus said firmly, “No one is going to die. Not if I can help it. Now stop being an idiot and give me your hands.”

Judy did not know why she did it but the way Marcus talked; his confidence made her extend her hands forward. Marcus grabbed her hands gently and closed his eyes. Then he said to his Angels, “Do your thing.”

Marcus felt White Angel probe Judy’s Angel. Nothing happened for some time. Then he felt it. It was Judy’s Angel. Judy felt something too because she jumped a bit as White Angel made connection with Judy’s Angel.

White Angel said, “What is wrong? Why did you reject your power fighter suddenly? Why did you make her an Unstable?”

The reply came from Judy’s Angel, “Argh! I did not reject her. Too much pain. Something in her system. Something painful. Trying to resist. Can’t resist much longer. She is poisoned. I am poisoned. Poison making me explode, making her Unstable. Can… help?”

Marcus could sense the pain of Judy’s Angel. He asked White Angel, “Can you understand what he is talking about? What poison?”

White Angel probed the energy in Judy’s body. Marcus could sense some foreign energy. He did not know what it was, but it seemed to be the source of Judy’s problem. He asked White Angel to analyse it, but Judy’s Angel’s scream tore through him. Judy was also screaming now.

“Oh shit!” said White Angel, “They are going to explode.”

Marcus made a split-second decision. With the help of his Angels he cast a divine shield net. This net protected each and every cell of Judy’s body except for the exploding Angel. He created a path through this net such that the energy of the exploding Angel would pour out of Judy’s mouth. He put a divine shield on himself too.

Judy’s Angel exploded. The energy poured out of her mouth, getting sucked through the funnel on the roof. The light from the energy blinded Marcus and he had to close his eyes. When it was over, he released Judy’s hands. She collapsed. Marcus checked her pulse and heaved a sigh of relief. She was alive. However, he knew what the missing Angel meant. Judy was not a power fighter anymore.

The door opened and a team of guards and medical professionals entered. They checked Judy’s condition and wheeled her out of the cell. They checked Marcus who simply told them that he was fine.

He had done it. He had saved Judy’s life. But he had learned something disturbing. Someone was poisoning the energy of power fighters to make them Unstable. This was not good. He needed to find that person; and fast.