Through the broken door, the house had a lobby with a granite floor, and to both the right and left of the lobby were entrances into different rooms. Ahead of the lobby was a wooden hallway which led into another room with cabinets along the wall, and on the edge of the hallway were several distinct wooden square platforms below a gap through the ceiling leading to another floor visible from the lobby, those platforms suspected to be elevation pads leading to what was suspected to be the second floor.

The house was well lit from the light gray walls, and appeared vacant as there were no voices and any other indication of life. Through the opening on the right side of the lobby was a carpeted room with several floating white couches along the corners, and in front of them was an oval shaped coffee table with a single red mug along the edge.

On the opposite side of the lobby was a room with a darkwood floor, and above the floor was a long rectangular wooden table with smooth edges and a glossy surface. Surrounding the table were six brown chairs with fabric cushioning. Above the table was a floating silver chandelier with yellow lights looped around, hovering right under the ceiling.

By the door stood Furcifer, his double barreled shotgun in his right hand aiming at the dining room, and his left arm crossed over his chest with his black blade extended, ready for anything. He surveyed the opening of the house, hearing nor seeing any indication of life as he stalked through the red cross on his helmet. He took a step forward, although it was completely silent, as he stepped into the granite lobby.

He then slowly raised his left arm up with a closed hand, and took another step forward. After checking the entrance once again, he then opened his hand and waved it subtly twice.

Behind the leader, Tachyon stepped forward, walking on the tips of his toes to reduce as much sound as possible. He entered the house on command, and then dashed straight forward into the living room with the red mug to begin his search, moving only on the tip of his toes yet at such speed that he still could effortlessly outrun a laser.

Behind him followed Eidolon, who reduced her own opacity to the point where she seemed more ghost than physical, which was helped by the fact that her steps made no sound as if she wasn’t truly there. She casually walked into the house, first checking the dining room while hardly visible, her body in a purple ghostly hue.

Now that the first team was set, Furcifer began walking down the lobby, his footsteps also completely silent, the invisible mark of a master assassin trained from birth. He lowered his arm to prepare for combat while cautiously walking down the hallway towards the end, moving to the room with the cabinets.

Accompanying him was Intrepid, whose feet hovered just a couple inches off the ground, but enough to completely avoid the need for steps which also in turn silenced her movement. She slowly hovered behind Furcifer while observing the house, her arms by her side as her hair waved from the consistent use of her abilities.

Watching the second pair sneak into the next room, the last man remained by the opened door hole before taking a step in, that being Meditat. He took a glance at the house, watching Eidolon meticulously analyze the room, kneeling down to check under the chairs in case there was anything hidden. He then witnessed Tachyon pulling back the sofa cushions with quick blurry snatches, searching for anything under before placing it back and dashing to the next one for further investigation.

Meditat then faced forward, watching as Furcifer entered the room far down the hallway, turning his head and moving his aim to seek enemies before proceeding, leading Intrepid who also observed the room, eyeing the cabinets.

Last to begin, Meditat strolled down the hallway with silent steps, a feature of his well designed boots which prepared for any type of situation whether it be ones demanding great exhaust of power for high speed chases or complete silence for stealth. He used these boots to walk to the side of the hallway, standing right in front of the distinct wooden elevation pads.

He then raised his head to face the gap where the second floor was, understanding that it was his station to investigate, which he was given alone with no companions.

It was reasonable to send one person upstairs, in these houses the second floor was the smallest in terms of area, composed usually of a few relatively small bedrooms, perhaps a bathroom or two, and then a vacant hallway that couldn’t be used to hide in.

Whereas a basement is nearly always the largest room of the house along with subrooms, and the main floor has several large rooms with much filling it to use as cover, there weren’t many places to hide in a second floor besides perhaps the bed as most houses didn’t have a closet that could be entered due to the lack of necessity of one.

It made complete logical sense to split up the search the way it was, which was the best sense to use for a mission, especially one with the gravity it had.

Yet something about the split felt bitter, knowing that one teammate would be singled out to search on his own. He was not afraid of searching by himself, nor did he feel the need for an ally, he’s lived in this line of work for about a decade and has done near perfect alone. In fact, perhaps it would be best to conduct his work alone, that way he would know exactly what was and wasn’t checked, and there would not be any victims in case a violent altercation were to take place. It was best for the mission and the best for him, nevertheless he felt stung by it.

Disregarding his own grievances to put priority where it belonged, a cable fired out of each of Meditat’s shoulders straight up at the ceiling past the gap. His body was then reeled up past the opening, avoiding the use of the elevation pads, which could potentially compromise his position. Instead, he only used his own tools, and reeled himself over the gap onto the second floor, namely the hallway beside the entrance.

Still on the first floor, Furcifer and Intrepid roamed the room past the hallway, as Furcifer analyzed the room intently. His eyes wandered to a hallway extending from the right side of the room, and he began to walk down it, to which Intrepid noticed and followed.

The two moved down the short hallway, which connected to another room with cabinets along the walls as well as another set right above, and a long table in the center full of junk with there being tablets, pouches, and a stack of circular plates. There was a black executive-styled leather chair on the far end facing a long corner table, and above the table was a stronger light that seemed to be usable for studying, as the room appeared to be some sort of office.

Before entering that room however, Furcifer turned to face the wall of the hallway, noticing a white door baked into the hall between the two rooms. He stared at the door for a few seconds, confirming what he believed, and then retracted the blade from his left hand. He then stretched his hand towards the door, and an odd dark metal rectangular box materialized in his hand, held on its large face. He placed the box on the door, which suctioned straight on immediately before a red light appeared on the center of the box.

Without taking a step back from the door, Furcifer curled his fingers and placed his left thumb on his finger in the motion of pressing a button, and at that exact moment the door behind the box suddenly flashed red before completely vaporizing along with the box, which apparently was some sort of breach charge he carried.

He then looked past the doorway, seeing that past the door was a white carpeted platform, and past the platform was another room below with carpeted floors the same shade of white, seeming to be the basement.

Furcifer aimed his left arm up at the ceiling past the elevation pad, and fired his grapple hook on the bottom of his gauntlet. The anchor flew straight into the ceiling, stuck tight as he leaped over the platform, narrowly dodging it to avoid possibly giving out his location and instead carefully unreeling himself down into the basement, using the grapple as a rope.

After he reached the carpeted floor, the anchor lost its grip and was reeled straight back into his gauntlet. He then extracted his blade again, and began searching the basement which was fully encased in a dark gray wall with no windows.

Still on the main floor, Intrepid levitated higher to hover past the elevation pad, and once she reached the hole she then descended carefully, observing the open basement floor which had crates and cabinets scattered along the walls and floor.

Touching down a few inches from the ground before stopping, Intrepid noticed a raised circular silver platform with a rubber surface several feet in radius, and surrounding the platform was a circular table besides an open slit that allowed for entry on the rubber. After glancing at the rubber, she then noticed a long metal bar with a metal ring attached to each side, seeming to be a barbell, as there was a small personal gym in the basement.

Upstairs, Tachyon dashed back and forth around another lounging room, this one having a long sofa facing a black board on the wall likely to be used for hologram projections, and next to the sofa were tables that had silver cups littered around.

He checked behind the sofa, then under each of its cushions. After finding nothing under any of them, he walked up to a door at the end of the lounge, and closed his hands. His body then began vibrating intensely, so fast that he didn’t even seem solid. Maintaining the vibrations, he then stepped into the door, straight through it also like a ghost.

On the other side of the door, Tachyon phased into the next room, which was smaller and had white tiled floors. In front of him was a white hovering seat with a bowl underneath, and beside it was a platform protruding from the table at chest length next to a silver faucet.

Seeming to be inside a bathroom, Tachyon glanced around the room, seeking potential hiding spots once again, although finding nothing intriguing.

On the other side of the house, Eidolon roamed another room with white tiles, although it also had black tabletops along the end as well as another in the center. There were cabinets both along the floor and wall, and littering the tables were bottles and plates with small chicken bones, seeming to be the kitchen.

She silently walked down the kitchen, searching for any suspicious activity, or any activity at all for that matter. However, there was nobody in the kitchen, as she just found herself walking around another empty room. Sighing in discontent, she pursued onward, walking into the next room which was darker than the others, filled with windows along the walls.

Stepping into the next room, she observed as there were three couches all forming an incomplete square around another coffee table, and in front of the missing face was a wide window which gave a perfect view of the backyard, although right past the empty backyard was the gigantic stone wall, not giving much to gawk at.

Still, Eidolon walked around the room, looking over the couches for anyone potentially hiding behind them, but to no avail. She stepped on the wooden floor, glancing at tables along the wall. She walked through the couch, also phasing through but more naturally as she was simply just constantly faded, and stepped in front of the table.

On the table was not much but a few empty silver cups, but also what seemed to be a small action figure of a familiar character. She reached her hand to pick up the character, her arm becoming more opaque to be able to collide with objects again. She scooped up the action figure by its black soft cape, bringing it up as she observed its mostly blue body except for its black boots and golden shoulders.

Unexpectedly, she found herself staring at a figurine of one of her teammates, which stared back at her with shiny blue parallelogram-shaped eyes on the white mask. She inspected the figure, which was surprisingly accurate with the central pencil emblem and streaks, admiring that the suit was not simply made of cheap materials but rather the suit felt like cloth as did the cape and hood, while the mask did feel more metallic along with the golden shoulders, boots, and the pads on the gauntlet.

She gazed at the figure for a few more seconds before then placing it back on the table where she found it, interpreting the presence of the figure to infer that a child either at the time did or used to live in the house. It was surreal to see a commercial figurine of someone she knew in person, especially one that looked so freakishly accurate.

She walked through the couch again, continuing her search unsuccessful, and leaving the toy of Meditat left on the table in a standing position, its head straight.

His head straight, Meditat stood in the hallway, staring ahead at another room. He stepped inside the medium sized bedroom, its wooden floor completely smeared with piles of clothing which he felt could be enough to hide under. Stepping on the clothing to further explore the room, he noticed that the clothing on the ground seemed to be that of a woman as indicated by the randomly scattered dresses and bras. The clothing was adult sized, potentially either an older daughter or a mother, although he knew this was not the master bedroom.

He looked up to see a hovering bed about queen sized along the wall with a white mattress and embedded pillowing, and next to the bed was a nightstand which had several bottles, so much that they were nearly tipping each other over.

Probing the room, Meditat glanced at cabinets and a white table by the corner with an accompanied black chair. He walked past a full body mirror reflecting himself, which had a few scratches. Meditat noticed a tall wooden box the size of a wardrobe behind the bed, with a reflective chrome pad where the door handle could be.

Next to the wardrobe box was a long cabinet, and on the surface of the cabinet were miscellaneous bags, containers,and a batch of long roses which was laid out, although its petals were detached on the surface as the roses were dead.

After analyzing enough of the room to understand that nobody was hiding in it, he walked back to the exit of the bedroom, disappointed. He kicked his leg backwards after noticing underwear getting caught around his boot, and then stepped out, slightly concerned about the state of the room even if it didn’t have the target.

He then faced down the hallway, and continued walking down towards the far other end, exploring the upstairs floor. Down on the opposite end of the hallway was a wide open doorway, and through the doorway seemed to be a larger white bed straight forward, the proportions of a king sized bed. None of the other rooms held the target nor any vital information for where he could be, so now he was onto the last one of this uneventful search.

Multiple stories below inside the basement, Intrepid hovered through an open doorway inside a small room cramped with tubes along the wall entering the ceiling. She scoured the room, finding racks along the wall with holographic boards, and on one of the boards were trays holding an array of beakers. Below that board were several others which held large transparent jugs that contained differently colored liquids.

Her curiosity peaked as for the first time she was looking at something that didn’t seem completely ordinary to be in a suburban house, she approached the rack, and further inspected it to find that on a different rack was another tray full of rectangular containers which had the size and proportions similar to that of a deodorant stick, all of which had transparent casing except for a black strip on the bottom. On the tray were many of them haphazardly piled on each other, nearly all visibly empty. That was except for one, a container filled with a turquoise colored liquid, randomly assorted with the rest in the messy tray that lacked any organization.

Scrunching her eyes to closely analyze the odd substance, Intrepid began to feel uneasy. She understood that she was in the home of a psychiatrist, yet what she found still didn’t feel normal given that fact. She relaxed her face, letting her sight go of the container and instead hastily gliding through the exit of the small storage room.

In the main open basement room, Intrepid exited through the same open doorway, glancing around before her eyes set on the far end of the room, which she promptly glided towards with haste.

Ahead of her were multiple black couches, a long one next to two personal sofa chairs accompanied by two other long couches along the wall, but past them was the back of Furcifer, who was staring ahead past the sofas.

Elevating herself to float over the couches, Intrepid raced to Furcifer and gently whispered, “There’s something off about this place, there were syringes back there-.”

“Wait…look,” interrupted Furcifer in a dreadful tone, which immediately shut Intrepid’s warning. She faced forward where her ally was looking, to which her face fell into shock with a hanging jaw.

In front of both of them was a large table, and on that table was a container full of empty cylindrical vials next to a couple large white metal box-shaped machines with silver frames, all of which had the fine print on the side reading: ‘RESTRICTED TO AUTHORIZED LABORATORY ONLY.’

The white tabletop was stained with various colors, and on the ground next to the sofa were a pile of small cages large enough to fit a pet, similar to a dog cage with blue bars of energy constantly running.

Against the far wall of the basement was a larger cage more akin to a pen, but between the blue energy bars on the white carpet were crimson stains.

“What was going on here…?” Intrepid inquired slowly, knowing her ally was wondering the exact same thing.

Multiple stories back up, Meditat reached the far end of the hallway, and silently entered the master bedroom. He stepped on white carpet which covered the entire room, and he began examining the room, observing wooden cabinets along the wall with bottles and ties littered about. Past the cabinets was another doorway into another room which had white tiles, seeming to be a room bathroom which Meditat took note of.

Next were more cabinets, and then on the side of the room across from him was a white wardrobe-sized compartment with a chrome pad. Beside it was a bedside stand next to the king sized white bed that he saw peeking through the doorway, and next to it was another stand.

On the right corner of the room was a windowsill which displayed a view of the distant tall walls keeping the infected far from the house, and finally on the close side of the room was a white table next to another windowsill, and in front of the table was a black office chair. On that office chair sat an elderly man dressed in a white coat, staring at the window which gave him sight of the body-littered street.

The man’s neck and head were wrinkled, and he had a familiar style of hair which was noticeably reclining even from behind.

It matched the portrait.

Finally breaking his stealth, Meditat openly catechized, “Doctor Frank Stein, is that you?”

Without turning away from the window, without exchanging glances, the man spoke in a voice decayed by senility, answering “That is my name, yes. It seems you’ve barged in without asking. I was worried that The Shield would come for me…but this…this is unexpected. I never thought I’d see my son’s hero breaking into my home.”

Having to hear the actions taken in brutal simplicity which highlighted the ambiguous morality of the mission, Meditat sighed softly and lowered his head. He admitted, “I know this is sudden, but this was an urgent matter. You know about the pandemic going on right now, this world is trying its best to slow it down but I was given reason to suspect that you could be the answer to a cure. I don’t want to immediately incriminate you, that’s why I’m asking you now to come with me so we can know if you have any relation to what’s happening.”

“Well, I wouldn’t suppose you have a warrant for this, I always thought you were the one who upheld the law, not broke it,” callously remarked Doctor Stein, refusing to face the one approaching him.

Meditat shook his head and took a step forward, exonerating “I would’ve tried a different approach if it were up to me, but this isn’t my world, and it wasn’t my call to make. But I’m asking you now, turn yourself in, and we can resolve this peacefully.”

“Hmm, that’s right, this wasn’t your call. So, should you not be alerting the rest of your band here now that you’ve caught me? There is no other reason to raid my house but for me, is there not? Then you won’t need to blame yourself,” Doctor Stein prodded Meditat’s skin, his face still focused on the window.

Meditat tilted his head in perplexion, and extended his right arm out. In a curious tone, he then queried, “Why would I need to call them here just to escort you out? I might be working with them, but I’m more than capable of completing a simple task like this on my own. Thank you for your concerns, doctor, but please follow me.”

Oddly obedient, the Doctor stood up from his seat, and swerved around to face Meditat. Now it was clear that he precisely fit the portrait, there was no denying it. He nodded his wrinkly head, and slowly stumbled towards Meditat. He placed his hands inside his deep coat pockets, and followed Meditat who turned around and began strolling towards the bedroom exit doorway.

While Meditat approached the exit, having acquired the target cleanly himself, he heard the Doctor mutter, “You too are a slave.”

Befuddled by the sudden and bizzare comment, Meditat turned around to face the Doctor and uttered, “What-.”

Right as Meditat looked eye to eye with the Doctor, he staggered backwards, but not before the Doctor plunged the deodorant-shaped tool filled with turquoise colored liquid visible by the clear casing down onto Meditat’s upper strayed right arm. Striking the arm with the side of the black strip, the Doctor stuck the device on Meditat with a tight grip, and the device began to hiss with an odd sizzling sound as the liquid inside started being drained.

Immediately upon the injection, Meditat stumbled backwards before falling to the ground with a loud thud, initially seeming to have fallen unconscious as the Doctor stood over him with the emptied syringe.

On the main floor at the time, Tachyon was inspecting the office room near the basement entrance, looking under the tables and inspecting the cabinets. While peering at the normal personal office interior, he heard the thud from upstairs, and he immediately raised his head as blue streams of energy began sparking off his body.

Following his fearful intuitions, he zoomed off in a blue blur, and reappeared not a full second later upstairs, stopping right after entering the master bedroom through the open doorway. He staggered forwards, having moved so suddenly while he hadn’t even fully caught up to what was happening, but all he knew was that there was reason to be worried.

Those reasons were verified as in front of him lay the body of Meditat, flat on his back, as though deceased. Slowly raising his head in terror, Tachyon then met eyes with the man standing over the teammate, the doctor in the white coat holding the syringe.

On instinct Tachyon raised both of his fists in a fighting stance, even though he was facing an elderly man. Still, no matter who that man was, an old man, his hero of the science world, Tachyon seemed to regard him at last as a threat, facing off with him in a serious pose.

First to speak, he aggressively interrogated, “What did you do to him?! And give me one reason not to knock you out right now, I will beat a senior if I need to! Even if he’s a…supposed to be a good person…I’ll do it!”

Completely nonchalant, the Doctor waved the empty syringe in the air, tempting “Oh, you can do whatever you want with me, I’m not a threat, the only thing that would pose one has already been used. But I appreciate your respect, I assume you’re the fast one. But I’m not your enemy anymore.”

In the blink of an eye, Eidolon appeared in a purple flash right next to Tachyon, having been next to react. She immediately cast a downward glance to see Meditat on the ground, staring in horror as Tachyon kept his gaze up on the doctor. She stepped forward and extended her hands towards him, only for the Doctor to warn, “Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t recommend doing that,” to which she froze and raised her head up at him in perplexity.

Tachyon tightened his fists and catechized, “What do you mean?!”

From the doorway both Intrepid and Furcifer enter simultaneously, Intrepid hovering and Furcifer sprinting. They both stop behind the two who got their first, and they both glance at Meditat’s limp body, to which Intrepid is struck with a petrified expression.

After making a brief assessment of the threat, Furcifer aimed his shotgun straight between the Doctor’s eyes, his finger coiled around the trigger as he was prepared to press down at any moment’s notice.

Intrepid, noticing Furcifer’s brash idea, coaxed “Wait, not yet! We need answers from him, remember?”

Not moving his red cross glare off the Doctor, Furcifer then demanded viscously, “Tell me what you did to him, or you’re not going to have a head next second.”

Taken aback by the sheer monstrous rage of the leader, the Doctor made an exaggeratedly surprised face, and then lowered his arm holding the syringe. He then nonchalantly tossed it behind him as if having no purpose for it, throwing it on the windowsill as he didn’t seem truly terrorized.

“Don’t worry, it should've happened any second now,” he answered.

Given a vague answer, Furcifer tightens his grip on the trigger, ready as ever to fire it regardless of if he wouldn’t get the answers he initially planned to extract. His glare, even hidden by the face, was burning as he was clearly enraged, filled with hellish anger with no tolerance for ambiguous responses.

Before Furcifer could pull the trigger, Meditat’s neck straightened in an instant, catching the attention of the leader as well as the other three. In the next second, his right arm then stretched next to his body, also with an instantaneous jolt, and then his left arm. His legs snapped together, as though he was being rearticulated like an action figure.

Eidolon leaned forward to inspect Meditat, but she staggered back as he was suddenly rotated upward by the unexpected blue burst exerted from his back, helping him stand now on his feet as he had a perfectly straight, almost inhuman posture.

In another jolt, he tilted his head towards Furcifer, and then promptly pivoted his body to face him, moving oddly as if he was having difficulty piloting his own body. He stood frozen in front of the team for a few seconds as Eidolon stood up to her feet, stumbling beside Intrepid as Furcifer and Tachyon kept their aim on the Doctor.

Still unthreatened, the Doctor laxly explained, “You know, all creatures are controlled not by intellectual decision but by irrasional emotional urges. And not just the simple animals like rats and dogs, that’s hardly a discovery, but even us humans who pride ourselves on our intelligence, on our civilized advancements that make us the ‘ultimate specimen.’ But really, that’s so far from the truth it’s depressing, people might talk with big words like they’ve grown over the decades of life they experienced, and yet they really never change from the baby they started off as, whining constantly and needing basic necessities. But people don’t want to accept the truth that is their incapability to control themselves, they want to sustain the lie that they’re developing, they’re mature, their world is mature, and yet all throughout history up to this exact second the world is controlled by emotionally unstable children. So since they don’t want to accept the truth in words, I’ll prove it in action. Don’t be so worried, Meditat here is not under some mind control, in fact he’s completely in control of himself. They all are. All I did was…let them act true to themselves. Not the extraordinary humanity that is driven by intelligence, but the one driven by primal urge: anger, anxiety. Unfortunately, I am the only one who is not bound by these urges, not my colleagues, not my family, and not even my hero.”

With one stomp forward, Meditat caused the four members of his team to stumble backwards, all now concerned. Even Furcifer lowered his shotgun and Tachyon lowered his fists, and both of them moved all their attention to Meditat.

Another stomp forwards, and Meditat slightly hunched his back, and through his voice modulator he began to softly growl. Behind him visible through the clear window, the colossal stone wall protecting the street suddenly burst into blue flames, and evaporated at an instant later, being erased. Past the vanishing flames far in the distance, hordes of silhouettes became visible, waiting patiently behind the walls. Now, unobstructed, they began to move into the street, pouring in with immense quantities like a flood breaching a dam.

Eidolon raised her hands as her body became more translucent, hiding herself more in a purple hue. Furcifer retracted his left blade, and held his hand out towards Meditat, urging “Meditat, control yourself!”

“He is,” retorted the Doctor.

Meditat extended both of his arms, and as he grunted heavily, blue flames burst out of his hands, morphing into steel blades with sharp, lethal tips. Clinging tightly to both of them, Meditat stared down at Furcifer first, his eyes blazing blue, as it was clear what his intentions were without a word said.

Standing in front of the rest of the team who cowered behind him, Furcifer relinquished his shotgun, and extracted both of his black blades. He drew both arms over his chest as his new enemy began charging at him with heavier footsteps, to which he tried to stand his ground even if reluctant to.

Meditat leaped at Furcifer and brought both blades down on Furcifer’s, clashing as sparks flew between them. Furcifer stood his ground without moving an inch back, staring up at Meditat as he exhorted, “Meditat, wake up!”

Instead, Meditat thrusted forward with a blue burst, which threw Furcifer far back into the wall, which he crashed straight through, leaving a massive gaping hole as he was thrown out of the room.

Without a second to hesitate, Meditat began marching towards the rest of the team, growling as he had been fully consumed by the infection.

Knowing what he had to do and needing to reject any hesitancy, Tachyon lowered his body into a runner’s stance, staring straight up at his one target, and it was not the Doctor. Streams of energy began sparking off his body standing in front of Intrepid and Eidolon.

He then took off as Meditat relinquished both of his swords, and instead manifested a single long metal bar which he held with both hands over his shoulders. While the choice was at first unexpected, Tachyon found himself grabbing onto the bar instead of Meditat’s shoulders when attempting to tackle him. The immense momentum of the tackle however was sufficient in bringing Meditat down to the ground, as both of them crashed on the floor.

Wrestling Meditat, Tachyon gripped the bar tightly as Meditat thrashed and growled. He tried to cling on as Meditat tried throwing the bar, and he shouted, “Meditat, please!”

Behind Tachyon, the front crystal of Meditat’s right boot began to glow brighter, humming as though being activated. Meditat then brought his leg up with a boost, quickly kicking Tachyon hard with his foot. A flash of frosty blue light erupted on impact, and Tachyon’s body flew straight out of the bedroom, also crashing through the wall.

Both Eidolon and Intrepid began to back up out of the bedroom as Meditat boosted back on his feet, and let the bar evaporate. He then cast a glare at both of them, and began sprinting for them like a feral zombie, just like all the infected they had fought together on the street.

Intrepid held her hand out at Meditat, causing him to freeze in place. She maintained her hold, staring at him as her emerald eyes began to glow from exertion.

She then desperately commanded, “Eidolon, grab him.”

Beside Intrepid, Eidolon nodded reluctantly, and faced Meditat. She then vanished and reappeared right behind Meditat, wrapping her arms around his to restrain him. She held him back as he growled beastily, trying to push forwards but unable to.

While his hands weren’t able to move, he summoned blue flames from both hands, which formed a large cylindrical device that he gripped by handles on both sides, a device which was one massive metal barrel that aimed straight at Intrepid. The gaping interior revealed several rings inside, and they all began to light up blue as the device started making a whirring sound, activating even without movement.

Intrepid’s eyes shot wide open, but it was too late, as a massive explosive burst shot out of the cannon straight at her, throwing her straight through the floor and leaving a gaping hole.

Having used the cannon, Meditat once again let his weapon vaporize, and in his right hand another flame burst, this time smaller as it created a metal hilt that curved around his restrained hand, aiming straight at Eidolon’s eye.

Given two options, Eidolon immediately phased more as her entire body became more faded, right before a blue energy blade activated, piercing straight through her head from the hilt. She managed to pass through it unharmed, horrified that had she hesitated for a second sooner her head would’ve been penetrated.

However, in that instinctual act, she accidentally lost her grip of Meditat too, as he was able to step straight through her arms now that they weren’t physical enough. He then faced her with a glare, and in a moment of fear she vanished, unable to face him herself.

He then turned to the hole in the floor, and stepped through, letting himself fall into the main floor as his blue energy sword went up in flames.

Landing straight in the center of the storage room, Meditat found himself surrounded from all three exits of the room. Standing over the doorway to the kitchen stood Tachyon, standing over the doorway to the office stood Intrepid, and in front of the hallway was Furcifer. All three rang him, and yet he didn’t seem fearful, as he growled ferociously while glaring at each of them.

Tachyon made the first move, aiming his right arm at Meditat and spinning it in circles so fast that its movements were blurry. From his arm a funnel of wind was produced, being projected straight at Meditat, who stepped towards him as a steel wall manifested in front of him to block the wind.

Meditat then manifested what appeared to be a silver revolver with six golden bullets in his right hand, and aimed it normally at Intrepid. He then fired all six shots in quick succession, but they all froze midair a few feet from Intrepid, being suspended as her eyes continued to glow green.

Staring forward with keen emerald eyes, she noticed all of the golden bullets make a single beep, and before she could react they all self-detonated in front of her. The unexpected blast cast her backwards into the office room, and in vengeance Furcifer pounced at Meditat from behind, curling his right arm back as his blade was already extended. He then threw his arm forward, aiming his blade for Meditat’s back, a spot that wouldn’t be fatal but still greatly damaging.

Meditat swiveled to have his left hand aim at Furcifer, and the revolver was erased. In its place however was the silver hilt with the disk, and both blue blades extending off it. The blades then began spinning around the disk at rapid speeds like a fan, moving so fast that it created the illusion of just being one wide blue ring.

What was once a clear shot now became impossible as Furcifer’s black blade struck the fan, causing a spark on the tip of his blade to which he leaped backwards, knowing he couldn’t penetrate the wall. He instead retracted his head, and made a low tossing motion with his hand as several pellets appeared the moment they were tossed.

All of the pellets rolled past the fan, right under the wielder, and a moment later they all flashbanged what was behind the fan.

Ears were ringing from the flashbang, but Furcifer kept his gaze ahead, where there was no longer a fan. He stared blankly as there was also no person, but before he could comprehend what happened, behind him flew Meditat in a blue residual trail.

He then grabbed the back of Furcifer’s head, and spun in a circle before using all the built up momentum to chuck Furcifer straight through the corner of the room, which he crashed straight through as he flew into the lounge rooms. His body flew straight through several couches, causing them to all collapse before he ultimately crashed into one of the coffee tables which shattered on impact.

Tachyon let out a hesitant sigh and cracked his neck, watching his two allies fall. Needing to act quick before Meditat could prepare another attack, he took off, sprinting tight circles around Meditat. Moving at such speed created a blue light ring around Meditat, and in the eye of the storm Meditat glanced around, initially perplexed.

Then when it was unexpected, Meditat was dealt sudden quick jabs from all angles, unable to perceive where they were coming from due to the rapid nature of them. He staggered back from the lightning quick punches, groaning as he was being overwhelmed just as planned. He felt punches in his shoulder, in his stomach, and in the face, but he couldn’t precisely retaliate when he couldn’t even set his eyes on the target.

Unable to attack his assailant, Meditat instead placed his hands in front of himself, and secreted blue flames between them. The flames formed handles which were joined together by a metal device facing down slightly resembling a jackhammer, but rather than its bottom having a drill it instead had an open barrel with a large disk weight visible on the top of the barrel.

Meditat then tightly gripped the handles and leaned forward, and the disk suddenly plummeted, forced down by an explosion that was exhausted through the openings in the barrel, which pushed the disk down into the floor with tremendous force. So forceful in fact was the explosive pumping drill that it broke a circular chunk of the floor surrounding it, which included the blue ring that Tachyon was running in to throw punches.

As the wooden floor cracked from the heavy push, the ring dispersed as Tachyon was revealed in free fall, caught off guard as Meditat dropped down with him.

Both of the men fell down through the floor into the basement, landing on the white carpet accompanied by wooden shards. Tachyon fell on the ground while Meditat landed on his feet before abandoning the jackhammer pump, as he had gotten his use from it. Using the little time he had as Tachyon laid on the floor, Meditat threw his arm at Tachyon as he fabricated a black whip with a long coil, which he slashed at Tachyon immediately.

The whip slashed Tachyon, but furthermore it automatically coiled around his body, trapping him in place on the ground. Tachyon groaned in pain as he tried to break free, but the whip was surprisingly tough, squeezing tightly on him without an easy way to escape.

To the rescue, Eidolon reappeared between Meditat and Tachyon, and with an open hand she made a downward wave motion in front of the whip. Parallel to her hand, a purple streak slashed in the air, cutting straight through the whip.

Suddenly the wire was no longer tight around Tachyon, allowing himself to rummage out of it hastily as Eidolon stood in front of him protectively, turning to Meditat. She held her hands out and curled them, to which rings of air began vibrating with a purple hue around his wrists and ankles, forming restraints that held him in position.

Meditat tried to thrash himself forward but to no avail, and he watched as Eidolon walked around him and stood behind his back. Eidolon then calmly placed her hand on the back of Meditat’s head, and softly assured, “I’ll just put you to a calm sleep, and when you wake up this will all be over.”

Finally freed, Tachyon raised his head to watch Eidolon gently hold the back of Meditat’s head. He then raised his head higher as he noticed a blue jut off of Meditat’s body and soared to the ceiling, and suddenly up in the air a razor sharp buzzsaw appeared but furthermore in the center was a filling mechanism with a blue light, and the buzzsaw began to spin automatically and extremely rapidly. The buzzsaw then fell from the air, plummeting straight towards Eidolon’s wrist.

Tachyon desperately cried, “EIDO!”, to which Eidolon raised her head too to see the falling buzzsaw. She immediately yanked her arm back the second before it flew past her, striking the ground before vanishing into a blue flame.

In the moment of her surprise, Meditat spun around and dipped down, grabbing her ankle before facing Tachyon to which he threw Eidolon’s body straight at him.

Right before Eidolon crashed into Tachyon, her body froze midair, and she began hyperventilating as she stared right in front of Tachyon, who did the same after narrowingly knocking each other out.

Another hole breaks through the basement ceiling, but this time intentionally as from the hole slowly descended Intrepid, holding her left arm up as she was prepared for another round. She extended her arm, carrying Eidolon next to Tachyon before gently placing her on the ground.

She then thrusted right arm towards Meditat, who then suddenly flew off his feet several feet backwards as if being badly shoved by an invisible force. He flew straight through the black couches, crashing also through the table as the vials shattered upon impact with his body. He continued smashing through the ominous white machines, and slammed into the pen.

His back smashed against the gray wall, and was held up off his feet, growling louder with discontent as he tried to move but was unable to.

Intrepid gradually began approaching him, still hovering as her hair flowed from her overwhelming strength. She began making circling motions with her hands, and strands of the white tabletop started to be pulled off the table, being dragged up towards Meditat and wrapping around his wrist.

She continued to restrain him as she ripped the table apart, holding him against the wall while keeping a safe distance. Soon his entire arms and legs were wrapped around by the coiled table strands, remodeled into cuffs that cut through the wall to hold him tightly as best as she could.

Now that Meditat was completely unable to move, Intrepid commanded assertively, “Tachyon, knock him out. Just one punch, and we’ll get him contained and find a cure.”

Standing up behind her, Tachyon got up as did Eidolon, who both stared at her concerned and apprehensive, especially Tachyon who was given the order.

“Now, Tachyon, don’t make me hold him like this…I want this to be over,” Intrepid directed, although her order then began to sound like a beg by the end, as she clearly wasn’t enthusiastic about what was going on but instead sounded deeply mortified.

Understanding the need to put a swift end, Tachyon looked down at his right fist, and watched as it began to spark with blue streaks of energy. He then lowered his fist and bent his body, making a runner’s stance in preparation, placing his hands on the carpeted floor. His entire body began sparking with energy as he built up potential energy still, filling himself to have enough momentum to make the hit perfect.

Tachyon raised his head as he sparked with excessive energy, and then took off in a streak, racing straight at Meditat with all his built up energy. He sprinted past Intrepid and down the basement towards Meditat, whose feet released a blue flame that immediately spread on the carpeted floor that Tachyon ran on.

At once, silver disks appeared all over the floor between Tachyon and Meditat, little under a foot in diameter and so closely packed that there was hardly any space between them. Each of them had a blue light in the center, and there were so many that the very next step Tachyon took happened to land on one of them.

Upon contact between the sole of his shoe and the disk, the blue light flickered red, and it suddenly detonated itself. The mine exploded, sending a chain reaction that discharged every other mine between them in fiery galore, throwing Tachyon backwards.

As the smoke of the explosions dissipated, Tachyon was revealed to be laying on the ground, groaning in fatigue and seemingly out for the count.

Both Eidolon and Intrepid leaned forwards as Intrepid’s eyes widened in shock and terror at the ruthlessness of their ally, staring right at Meditat who struggled to move his body but was tightly constrained. Without aiming his own hand, a blue cable fired out of his calm angled directly at Intrepid’s shoulder.

Moving at such immense speeds due to its energy based composition, the cable anchor struck Intrepid’s shoulder before she could react, and her body was suddenly yanked forward against her will with a shriek.

Due to the complete loss of concentration, all of the cuffs made by strands of the table holding Meditat loosened and fell off the wall, and he no longer was being held by her invisible force either. Completely free, Meditat placed his right foot on the wall, bending his knee as it flashed blue.

He then pushed off the wall with such speed that he flew straight as the head of the blue comet, leaving a thick trail as he flew straight at Intrepid. He roared as he threw his right arm back, and the crystals on his knuckles brightened as they became filled with energy.

Filled with fear and acting on necessary impulse, Intrepid brought her arms over her face, shielding herself as best as she could as Meditat threw his first forward. Right before his empowered fist could make contact with her face, she froze him midair again, suspending all his force at once.

However, while she did stop his body, all of the force put into the punch was still released, as a frosty blast of current blasted Intrepid backwards regardless, smashing her straight into the ground even without being physically struck.

Intrepid’s body slammed into the ground and slid several feet down the carpeted floor, ultimately stopping right next to Eidolon, who staggered back in fear after gazing at her defeated body, who used all she could to try restraining their feral friend.

Eidolon then faced Meditat, who now stood unresisted, staring straight back at her. She watched helplessly as he slowly dragged himself towards her lifelessly, and extended his right arm out. Out of his right hand burst a blue flame, and from that flame he erected a long dagger with a crystal blade the same material as the ones on his knuckles, although less refined as the blade was not perfectly straight, which he held upside down, its nevertheless sharp tip facing the floor as he creepishly approached her.

Stumbling back again, Eidolon held her hands out as she beseeched desperately, “Please Meditat, I know you’re stronger than this, please don’t do this!”

However, that didn’t slow down Meditat, who continued to trudge towards her with the dagger, no longer resembling his former human self, but now a destructive monster who dropped all of his allies as though they meant nothing to him.

Eidolon stumbled back again, but she backed up into one of the crates scattered in the basement, cutting her escape. Entranced in fear and unable to move, she watched as Meditat sauntered up to her, watching as she leaned against the crate, holding her hands in front of her as it seemed clear that none of her words would get through to him, as if he was truly lost.

She watched as Meditat stopped right in front of her, and seemingly unhesitant, he raised his dagger up with a tight clench.

Above Eidolon’s cowering body, the dagger gleamed brighter and plunged down at its victim, as Meditat struck at Eidolon. She faced away from him, unable to bear the sight even if she’d felt the wound, and as the sharp tip of the dagger drove towards her, the ceiling above them broke into another gaping hole, and from the hole dropped Furcifer.

He landed in between Eidolon and Meditat, and immediately grabbed Meditat’s hilt, holding it over the assailant’s hands. Tightly holding the handle, he suspended the dagger’s plunge, saving Eidolon at the last second.

Groaning in stress as he held back against Meditat, Furcifer ordered thoroughly, “Eidolon, go check on Tachyon and Intrepid! I’ll handle this!”

Behind him, Eidolon nodded silently, and her body became more translucent with a purple tint. She then stepped back through the crate, and ran around towards the two fallen teammates, taking the order without question.

Now left facing his comrade, Furcifer clung onto the blade’s hilt, tightly holding Meditat’s hand to hold the dagger back. The tip of the dagger was just a few inches from Furcifer’s chest, as the little space between Meditat and Eidolon by the time of his intervention gave inadequate room for him to keep the blade any further from him.

That was not a concern however, as while Furcifer struggled to hold the blade back, he ultimately professed, “Meditat, look, I know somewhere you can hear me. And wherever you are in there, I want you to hear me say: I understand what’s been hurting you, more than you might know. I want to first say, I’m sorry, I know I’ve been the cause of it too, to be honest I still haven’t gotten used to leading a fifth person, even when we’d partner together it was different than me leading you, and I know my inability to do so leaves you out. I know that.”

Maintaining hold of the dagger, Furcifer stared straight into Meditat’s eyes through his red cross visor, not breaking contact. He gazed through the mask’s parallelogram lens, and through the gaping wide blue eyes underneath, and through the black pupil.

Through black pupil into the dark abyss that shrouded the man’s soul, there was a glass cage, and inside that glass cage kneeled the body of Meditat himself unhooded, unmasked.

Kneeling inside, Meditat gasped heavily, struggling to breathe as if he was being drowned. His eyes were on the black floor, his vision slightly fuzzy as he heard distant voices in front of him. He gulped, and raised his head to face the glass walls, to which he saw that past the walls stood Razi, Juno, Flynn, and Calypso, all standing together in a circle, facing each other and speaking to one another casually unmasked.

Staring at the team, Meditat tried to scream, “HEY!”, but neither of them seemed to notice him as they continued their conversations uninterrupted.

Seeing that the first attempt did nothing, Meditat shouted again, “GUYS, HEY!!”, and yet no response, for it seemed they didn’t even acknowledge his existence.

Clutching the dagger steadily, Furcifer elaborated, “To be honest, I don’t think I ever really got to know you. I always saw you in the image everyone did, but I realize that would never work as a team. But I understand, Meditat, I do.”

Eidolon slowly helped Intrepid off the ground, carefully holding her up as she placed her hand on her forehead, fatigued. Her eyes were barely open as she fought to regain consciousness, and turned towards the clash, hearing Furcifer continue, “To believe you can’t have people close to you, to believe you’re meant to stay alone. I understand that feeling, and it’s a painful one. And it’s so unbelievably hard to get rid of, you’ll persist to make that the only truth even if you need to push people away to keep it intact. I know what that’s like, and it takes so long to change that feeling because that means rejecting the biggest truth of your life.”

Marooned to the glass cage, Meditat began banging on the walls, which thudded upon every hit. He struck the walls repeatedly, crying “HEY, GUYS! HELP ME, GUYS! HELP ME GET OUT!!” But even with all his calls, the four just kept conversing with each other, laughing at each other’s jokes, relaxed beside one another and completely ignoring the man in the cage.

He started banging the walls with both fists concurrently in hopes of a better effect, yelling “PLEASE, SOMEBODY!!”, but nothing changed.

Meditat growled savagely as he tried to push the dagger into Furcifer, who persuaded, “But that’s not true, not at all. You deserve people, and people want you. And they’re not wrong for doing that, they’re not trying to lie to you or themselves, that’s the truth. We don’t string you along out of chore, we do it because we want you here, with us. But one other thing I know is, trying to tell you all this does nothing. I know that no matter what you hear otherwise, it just sounds like lies, and you’ll tune them out.”

After slipping her arm around his back, Eidolon helped pull Tachyon off the ground, who groggily observed his surroundings, still disoriented. Both of them turned to Furcifer, and they heard him decide, “So if I can’t make you accept the truth in words, I’ll prove it in action.”

Clenching over the hilt, Furcifer boldly wagered, “I’m going to count to three, and when I do, I’m going to let go of you. And if you still want to stab me, you will, and nobody is going to stop you. I’m doing this because I trust you, and because I want you to know that I’m not trying to hold you back, nor am I trying to torture you.”

Slamming the glass wall repeatedly, Meditat shouted and screamed, but to no avail. He watched helplessly as the group had their backs on him, laughing back and forth, gleeful without his presence. As he kept slamming the wall, the distant voice echoed, “I’m doing this so you know that you matter to me, and you matter to us all. So I’m going to let go, and whatever you do next, know that I’ll always understand. Three….”

Intrepid raised her hand forward as she laid on her knees, tears falling from her eyes as she reached helplessly, but she knew she couldn’t stop the process. She just held her hand out as it shook uncontrollably.

“Two….”

Furcifer gazed eye to eye with Meditat, the tip of the crystal dagger nearly touching his chest.

“One.”

At last, the leader let go, and let the dagger impale him.