The Nightcap Agents arrived at the casino horse racing track. Arber located where Jim and Zero had previously landed by approximating the distance and general area. They were led to this location after the sudden influx of people running away from the establishment. "Why would people be running away from this place? It's closed." Kane said as she got out of the car, pulling Savage with her. "I'll scope things out. You look for anyone that may know anything about this place." Arber said as he got out as well. "We'll keep watch, call if anything comes up." Marcel said as she and Hanes remained at the vehicle. Arber nodded and started scanning for anything suspicious, while Kane was pulling Savage along. "You know... you have potential..." Savage said to Kane. "In what?" "Becoming like me. A hitman, a hunter! Think about it…" "As fucking if, you goddamn sociopath!" "You don't know what it's like being a hitman. Trained since childhood. Living for the thrill. Isn't that what you want? To be a great combatant, soldier, mercenary, killer..." "Yeah, like I ever want to be like you! I follow orders from the superiors and do them." "So young, so naive. Your loyalty is misplaced…" "What do you mean by that?" Savage went silent with a smug smile on his face. He was trying to get in Kane's head. Being a liability in the team though, Kane knew better than to allow him to get to her. "Fine. But last I checked, I'm in charge of you! So don't expect your damn mind games to work on me.” "Guys, over here!" Arber called out. The team assembled near him as he was looking at a metal door. "I don't need superhuman vision to see that this door was left open. The people running away earlier went though here, there's too much dirt kicked up here for a closed track. They were running away from here alright. Look alive. Who knows what could be in here. I don't see anyone inside, but get your guns ready in case." Arber placed a hand on the door, readied a Beretta 92FS handgun in his other hand. looked back to the team, nodded to confirm entrance, and slowly opened the door. Soon, the team found themselves at the entrance tunnel in the wall leading to the elevator. "This is getting interesting..." Hanes said. "Proceed with caution." Arber told the team. "That's good." Brooks said while in a call. "Make sure she’s constantly monitored, we can't have her create a disaster." "Understood, General." "But if any harm comes to her, I'll find out who did it and have them court-martialed." "Understood, General. And don't be concerned, my team will take care of her properly." "Do update me when any new information comes up. You have my direct contact information. That is all." "Yes, General." Brooks hung up and exhaled while reclining in her chair as she drank from her flask. "Another day..." As she took another swig of rum, she received another call, this time from the Nightcap Agents. "Agents?" "General, this is Kane reporting. We're at the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. There seems to be a hideout of some sort here. The rogue, as well as another Neo-Human, were spotted by Arber flying to this general area. We're currently going underground." "Flying? How?" "Unknown means, but we hope to find answers here. We request backup to our location." "I'll send a few nearby teams to aid you. Good luck, Kane. I'll await further updates." "Than- ou- neral. Over and o-ou-." All Brooks heard was static after her contact with Kane broke up. "Lost connection? Must be pretty deep underground. I’ll have to send backup." Brooks took out a laptop and turned it on to look for the closest search team to send as backup. "So, what did the General say?" Arber asked Kane as the team rode down in the elevator. "Backup will arrive shortly. And good luck." She replied. “Alright, good.” Arber said in response. Almost 2 minutes later, they reached the bottom and got out of the elevator. "What the heck is that?" Arber said as he looked into the fighting pit. The rest of the team looked in to see Chimera, still knocked out, lying on the floor of the pit. His mouth still bloodied. "What is this place?" Marcel asked. "It's a fighting pit..." Savage answered. "Been to many of these before, but it seems this one is fairly new..." "Looks like they were having Neo-Human fights here..." Kane inferred. "Looks like something went wrong here. Marcel, go to the room up there. I'll join you there shortly." Arber said, pointing to the office room with the broken glass wall. "Okay." Marcel said as she walked away. "Kane, let go of Savage. You two take the guys knocked out around here. Hanes, that Neo in the pit." Kane and Hanes nodded, doing as Arber ordered. Savage went along with Kane to look at the bouncers, some of them had bullet wounds in the thighs and knees. "What happened here?" Kane thought as she felt their pulses. "These men are still alive..." Savage told her. "Yeah, they're messed up but alive. At least we’ll be able to get information on what happened." "True..." Savage said, trying to be agreeable this time around. Trying to plant a seed of trust in Kane. "We're gonna need a medical team here as well..." "And a capture team for that... thing..." He said, looking at Chimera in the pit. Hanes turned off the generators to keep from being shocked by the cage-like metal dome over the pit before going in. Both to prevent getting shocked and in order to reduce the noise so that they could hear anything suspicious. Meanwhile, in the office, Arber and Marcel looked at the manager, knocked out on the floor with a bleeding arm. "Look around for ID. Based on the attire and the fact that he’s in here, he's gotta be the one running this place..." Marcel suggested. "Probably..." Arber looked on the man's person and saw his wallet loaded with cash, and an FBI badge. "Joshua Mills... Looks like this one has to answer to Brooks. An FBI agent running a place like this? Shame." "FBI? With a Neo right there at the pit?" "Looks like he knows about them... That team better get here soon. In the meantime, looks like we have to conduct an impromptu interrogation for a proper report..." "I'll take it, Arber. You keep searching for any clues." "Alright." Marcel lifted up the unconscious Mills and sat him down on a chair, cuffing him to the chair using zip ties. She sat down on the table in front of him and waited for him to come to for an interrogation by taking a smelling salt packet from one of the pouches on her suit and waving it under his nose. "Come on... wake up..." Mills stirred and opened his eyes, only to shut them again in pain as he held his bloody arm. "Agh! Christ!" "Joshua..." He looked up at Marcel, subsequently realizing that his bad day was far from over. "Ah shit..." He said, exhausted and defeated. "What happened here?" Marcel asked him, straightforward and to the point. "Who are you?" "I work for General Brooks, that's all you need to know." "Shit! Not her! Urgh!" "Oh, so you do know her, and about Neo-Humans. Do tell, along with what the hell happened here." "I know what you'll do to me! You can't make me!" "Oh, please! You have no leverage! Your place is destroyed, and nobody here to protect you. So you might as well tell me how you know Brooks and what happened here so I can send the good word and maybe get you a lighter sentence." "I know how this works, I been interrogated before!" "Yeah, you're FBI. I know. But you're obviously dirty, so..." Marcel pulled out her gun and took aim at him. "Wait, what are you doing?" "Eh, if you can't tell us about what went on here, that big lug knocked out in the pit, so on and so forth, well… I can just say that you were dead when we got here, nothing to it!" "You can't do that!" "Yes I can! That's the beauty of being Black Ops. No laws restrict us. But you already know that." Mills shut his eyes as Marcel pulled the trigger, followed by a near-deafening bang. He flinched and screamed a bit before realizing that he was still alive. That was when he opened his eyes to see Marcel as she had her palm a few inches in front of the pistol's barrel. She moved her hand closer to reveal the now crushed bullet that would have found a home in his brain, had Marcel not blocked it with her indestructible skin. "So, you gonna talk now? I'm not sure my patience will last with this extended magazine..." "Okay, take it easy! I'll talk!" "That's it… And I'll put in a good word saying that you complied. Now, how do you know Brooks? You may be FBI, but no way in hell do you have the clearance for those secrets." "I... I extort data, government files and secrets, sell them to the highest bidder at black market auctions. I got a hold of files about Brooks and Neo-Humans. I always review the files and data I get from my handlers." "This place wasn't making you enough money?" She said a judgmental manner. Mills looked at the floor, ashamed of his greed. "Yeah, I thought so... What about this place by the way?" "Two weirdos came in and wrecked the place. I thought I had them cornered! But one broke free, knocked me out, next thing I know you're interrogating and damn-near shooting at me!" "What did they look like?" "Both of ‘em had leather jackets on, don’t remember if they were regular leather jackets or riding leathers or whatever, but when they busted into my office, they both had masks, and one guy had arms and legs that looked all robotic at first, ‘til we took ‘em off, anyway.” "Robotic-looking arms and le- That's him! Tell me what he looked like! NOW!" "Whoa! Bit desperate I see." She pointed the gun at him again. "Okay! Jesus! What, you got an Itchy Trigger Finger?! He had slightly tan skin, short and messy hair, looked Asian-Hispanic I think, weirdly bright blue eyes that looked like they were neon or metallic blue, slim build, short, late teens." "Right. You better tell the same thing to the people that are gonna arrive for your sorry ass later." "Okay! And you'll put in the good word?" "Sure. I think you'll only get 40 years in the State Penitentiary after I say you complied." "What?! You bitch!" "Hey, I don't make the law, just enforce it. You should know that." Mills scrambled onto his feet, still tied to the chair, and desperately tried to run away. But Marcel simply tackled the soon-to-be former Fed and grabbed him by the waist, forcing him down onto the ground with her superior strength, breaking the chair in the process. "Kane! Come up here! I got a message for the General!" She yelled as she restrained him. "What do you mean you're staying with me?!" Jim said, utterly baffled with what Tracy said. "Look... I know that at the start of all this insanity, I wanted to go home, and... I did! I really did! At the time... But after travelin' along with you... I know it sounds selfish, but I can't have my mom take care of me anymore! With how I am now, I'll eat her outta house and home, I can't do anything but stay at the home, and I'll just be a big burden! I don't want that for her." "I... I understand." He said, not knowing how to respond properly to what Tracy was telling him. "All in all, I realized that, if I stayed home now, I'll be everythin' that I don't wanna be; A burden on people. At least with you, I have a chance to do something better with myself!" "When did you think this through?" "All those times ya left me, had a lotta time to think. And I was gonna tell ya about this, but you had to run off and pull that arena bullcrap under my nose." "I'm sorry..." "Enough of that... I appreciate that you protect me, but I'm never going to learn to fight and save others if you do things without me knowin' 'bout 'em." "Right... I'm sorry, still. I shouldn't have done that..." "It was a good reason, Jim. It was the right thing to do, but you just didn't prepare enough for things goin' off the wall like that." Jim went silent and looked at the floor. This painfully reminded him of the many mistakes he made in his life that resulted in talks like these. Though they were much smaller, they still made him feel guilty for being the way is. And this was no different. "But... Stay with me? After what I just did? Really?” "You're the only person that I know that could help me now. My mom can't provide for me anymore. My boyfriend can't either. And I can't live in a tornado shelter for the rest of my life!" "Waiting for the suits to come knocking..." Jim completed. "Exactly." "Okay... But... Are you sure you're okay with staying with-" "I am... But that don't mean that what you did wasn't the most reckless damn thing I’ve ever seen you do. You know I can help, so just let me!" "Okay..." "Hey..." Tracy inhaled and exhaled deeply. "This ain't gonna break you. You just needed a reminder that you don't have to take the weight of the world on your shoulders. You have friends that can help." Jim nodded, he knew she was right. "So... You feelin' better?" Tracy asked as the situation was finally calming down. "Better than I was..." "How bad did that guy beat you?" "Enough to punch me into a wall... And kick my face into it... And throw a bat into my back... It was pretty bad overall... Although, I did discover something. I'm apparently shock-proof." "They tried to shock you?" "Yeah, but it didn't work. It was weird... I felt the electricity, but it wasn't making my muscles spaz out, it was just... tingling me. And when people touched me, they got shocked." "Huh… What does that mean for you, then? You don't sleep much, eat much, and now you're shock-proof?” "Maybe I'm slowly transitioning to my true form... A robot?" Jim said, half-joking. "Don't be ridiculous." Tracy said with a smirk. "Don't worry, I'll ask Quanesia what this could mean later." “Alright, good.” "But now... What are... What are you gonna tell your mom?" "I'll just wing it, I guess..." "That sounds like me. And you saw where that got me." He said, spreading his arms to show off his battle damage. "True, but this is way different. It's my mom and my boyfriend for one, I'm twice the height of them, and I'm gonna tell them that I'm going away for the for the foreseeable future. It's pretty hard to plan anything for that." "Okay... You got me there..." "If you'd like to help me though, I'm open to suggestions." "Well... Who will you visit first?" "My mom. Family always comes first." "In that case… How about I knock on her door, tell her to come out and follow me, then open the truck doors?" "That sounds about as good as any other plan. I think you and Jeff better do it together, though. You're not exactly... Presentable in your current state." She said, gesturing to all of him. "Yeah... Can't exactly trust a beat-up looking guy that says to follow him to a truck..." "My thoughts exactly." "Same thing with your boyfriend?" "Yeah. And you HAVE to get them. They need to know things before those special agents catch up to us..." "And I'll make sure to disable all electronics in the area. Don't want Big Brother listening in on us, after all. Hmmmm... Should really work on making Proximity Jammers..." "Good idea." "Yeah... Again... I'm sorry. I'll get better, I swear." "I know you will..." Meanwhile, at the wheel, Jeffrey was thinking about breaking the ice with Zero, after quite a few minutes of them overhearing Tracy's yelling every now and then. "So...You're Zero, huh?” Jeffrey asked. "And you must be Jim's brother?" "Yeah." "Gotta say, it was pretty brave of you to come in and rescue us like that." "Thanks." "So what tipped you off that we were in trouble?" "Jim sent an S.O.S. my way, along with his location." "Good to know he thinks ahead." "Not ahead enough to... You know..." Jeff gestured to the trailer with his left hand. "True, so... What's with her? She Jim's girlfriend?" "No, he's just helping her get home. It's a long story." "Well, we are just driving, we have the time." Zero pointed out. "Well, Jim trusts you. That's good enough for me. It started like any other day with him. But then Jim went missing. I was worried, he left his phone and his laptop was gone, but nothing else. I eventually just shut the phone off because Jim's mom kept calling... Anyway, a couple days later, he showed up, showed me his new gear, then introduced me to Tracy, and explained that he broke her out of a facility in San Francisco. Alcatraz Island, to be specific. Told me he was helping her get to Oklahoma. That's the gist of it." "He's broken into a Neo-Human containment facility already? He's more experienced than I thought." "He's got a lot of experience. But I'll let him tell you that himself." "Understandable. And hey, you earned a lot of respect for coming in and saving us, despite not being a Neo. I was skeptical about you since Jim told me his terms, but I see now that I should trust his judgement." "His terms?" "Jim said he'd join my crew, but only if you were there too. Honestly, I’ve only been recruiting Neos so far, trying to keep everything low profile. But I can see that you're a devoted, determined, and loyal man. You're okay in my book." "Thanks." Jeffrey was a bit flattered, and felt proud of himself after hearing all that from Zero. "Don't mention it. Just keep doing what you're doing." "I try." Brooks' face cracked a small smile as her agents gave her the news that they had a lead on Tracy Price, along with a better description of the rogue. "Good work, team. You'll be commended for this. But you can't lose this lead. Get to Oklahoma and detain them at once! That is all. Best of luck to you, agents.” Brooks hung up the call and stood up. "With hope, they'll be captured soon. Best prepare for this..." She held her work phone to her ear and made a call. "Colonel? It's Brooks. I would like to arrange a scheduled transport to the Texas facility." "Will do, General. May I ask what for?" "I'm expecting a few new captures there. Be sure the facility has spare protective equipment for me. Because if all goes to plan, I'll be interrogating said captures." "Right away. We'll schedule a transport there immediately, and I'll call in for updates." "Thank you, Colonel. In the case that they are not captured, I’ll go there regardless to observe. See how the upgrades are going and everything.” "Yes, General." "That's all for now, Colonel. Over and out." She terminated the call, and walked out of her office. After entering the R&D laboratories, she approached a middle-aged man in a lab coat looking at his tablet. "Excuse me, Doctor." "Oh! General! I assume you want a progress report on O'Hara?" "That’s correct." "Well if you would come with me, I'll show you. She's doing quite well." Brooks was led to a large window to see doctors and lab assistants in a large, white room, training Delilah to shift appearance faster, and to a better degree. From her expression, Delilah was clearly bored of this monotonous task given to her ever since she returned. "How fast can she change now?" "She's improved by 20%. And it's all in the archives." "Her cell samples?" "We've tried electrical stimulation of her cells. They change in response but not for very long." "Keep testing. Also, any updates on the fabric?" "Yes General, the fabric is certified to be bulletproof, and we mean 'Bulletproof'. The fabric layers only experienced minimal damage after repeated shots to the same area. Explosive resistance testing, as well as extreme temperature testing is underway. However, interestingly, the fabric has gained an unforeseen, but not unwanted, trait." "What is it?" "It can stretch, to quite a large size. To about 50 times its original size. Then contracts back to it's original size without issue. It seems to be that the fabric's durability also gives it the ability to stretch quite dramatically. While it's not as durable when stretched out as it is normally, we can see some applications for this..." "Do send a soft report of this to me, Doctor." "Will do, General." Brooks dismissed him and exited the lab. After R&D, she went on her usual rounds, checking if everything was in working order in the facility before going back to her office. Meanwhile, the traveling journalist, and amateur detective, Shaun Snow was interviewing random people on the streets, asking if they had seen the giant raven. Reports of it led him to El Paso in Texas. He had limited luck with his questioning, as only some knew what he was talking about. However, only two people actually saw the raven; two teenagers that were stargazing. One of them was named Melvin, he was Caucasian, a bit overweight, wore glasses, and had brown hair. His friend that was with him during the sighting was named Oscar. He was African-American, quite skinny, and wore glasses as well. "So it had... people on it?" Shaun repeated back to them, to clarify what they said. "Yeah! They looked like they were riding it!" Melvin blurted out. "Riding it?" "It's hard to believe, I know, but that's what we saw!" Oscar told him, Melvin nodding in agreement. "Right. So, did you get a good look at the people riding?" "No, they were WAY too far away." Melvin said "We only barely saw it. It was moving so fast!" Oscar told Shaun. "Okay, well, thanks boys. Are there any other particular details you think I should know about the sighting?” "Well… It may be my telescope, or how low the light was at the time, but that raven did Not look like an actual raven. I mean, it looked like it was made of something else, right Oscar?" "Yeah! It looked almost like… Like it was just solid black." "Huh... Okay... I'll take note of that. Thanks, boys. You can go now." The two teens left Shaun to ponder on his new findings. He wrote "People Riding?" and "Solid Black?" on his notepad as he walked back to his van. He knew something was going but just couldn't point it out. But the moment he had evidence, that would be his big break. The big story that would start his career as an investigative journalist. "Years of waiting for a story like this... But why does this feel like it's just starting?" As he pondered, he couldn't help but reflect upon the choices he made to reach this point. Born and raised in Newport, he always had a fondness for discovery and uncovering the truth. His father and mother were approving of his interests, buying him all the books he wanted, as well as his favorite Transformers toys. The intricate workings of the more complex ones served to teach him puzzle skills at a young age. However, as he grew older, his mother encouraged him to pursue different things for practicality. She wanted him to have a comfortable life. However, he found a way to compromise by taking up journalism. He figured it was close enough to what he wanted and what would make him a fair deal of money. Eventually, he made it to the US, telling his parents that he was going to continue his higher education there. But in reality, he was going to try his luck there. But so far, at age 29, it hadn't gone that well for him and his pursuit of a dream career. But his train of thought was derailed by his phone ringing. "Oh... You got to be kidding me." He said as he looked at who was calling him. He decided to reject the call and get back out on the streets to continue his research. Almost immediately, he sees a young woman with green and purple highlights in her hair, wearing a green army jacket over a black shirt and shorts with torn leggings. She was hauling a large backpack and looking quite on edge. "Excuse me, miss, care for a few questions?" Shaun asked her. "No." She said abruptly as they briskly walked on. "You sure? It'll only be quick." "I fucking said no!" "Fine then, it's perfectly alright. Thanks anyway. Jaysus..." He allowed her to go on her way and continued his research interviewing.  Meanwhile, outside of the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, backup had arrived and closed off the establishment, agents keeping people well away from the area.  Mills was properly cuffed and taken away in a van for further questioning. Chimera gained consciousness as well but was in no condition to talk. Tracy had fractured a few of his ribs as well as cracked his skull! It hurt for him just to breathe, let alone speak. Still, ever cautious, they sedated him before taking him away. As they were taken away, Arber looked to the rest of the team. Glad for their lead on Jim and Tracy, and looking towards their future capture. ”Well, now it’s only a matter of time before we have our targets…” ”Yep, and General Brooks gave us the okay to go to Price’s home.” Kane informed. ”So, I’m guessing we’re going stealth with this as usual.” Marcel commented. ”Yeah, she told us that Price will either go to her mother or partner. Marcel, you’ll go undercover as a police officer to question her about Price. Far as she’s supposed to know, her daughter is missing. You’ll have Arber as backup. Meanwhile, Hanes will do the same with her partner. With me as backup.” ”Sounds good. But if things go south, what about Savage?” Arber asked. ”We’ll just have to hope Price is with her mother, or doesn’t reach them at all…” ”Best plan we got for now… So let’s ride, team! Back to the jeep. Our next destination: Oklahoma City.”