"Tomorrow night." Jim thought. Everyone else was sound asleep, Jim had finished his two hours of sleep and was working on a new virus as well as creating emergency messages. "First Actual Mission... Hope I don't have to use these, but it's always good to have backup." He knew that if he was going to get in a fight there, he'd have no element of surprise, which was a huge factor in why all of his previous encounters had ended with him as the victor. "Wonder how-" Just as Jim thought of it, he received a message from Quanesia. "Just so you know, I'm in Jamaica with my father. Thank you so much for your help, Jim. I couldn't envision accomplishing this had you not broken me out of the facility in San Francisco. I'll still help any way I can. If you need information, contact me." "Well that answered that..." As he typed and sent a reply to Quanesia, Jim got up started doing a few stretches.  "That's enough of looking at my phone, time to break multiple laws!" Donning his enhancers and mask, he went out of the factory with his leather jacket in hand. The following morning, at a printing store, the employees saw something was wrong. "What the Hell?" A female employee stated as she looked at the back door of the shop. It was missing it's doorknob and only had a piece of paper jammed in between the gap keeping it closed. She pulled the paper out and unfolded it. "What does it say?" A male employee said. "It says that there's 200 bucks inside to pay for damages and supplies...Someone broke in, used our machines but payed more than enough... Huh. I say... We take the extra 150 and get coffee..." "Okay... I'm going to ignore that and call insurance, you check the cameras." "Alright, fine!" She went into the office and turned on the computer inside. But little did they know, Jim left no trace that he was ever there aside from the cash and note. After printing his symbol on a thick piece of fabric and using the shop's machines to cut it to size and sew it onto the back of his leather jacket, he wiped the camera's recordings clean. Meanwhile, the team of Nightcap agents had been patrolling around El Paso for the past day now, unbeknownst to Jim, Tracy, or Jeffrey. Luckily for them, they weren't close to their location. Arber had been monitoring the skies for the giant raven only to have no luck spotting it." "Alright, it probably left. We'll leave here tomorrow. Kane, tell the General about it." "Will do." Kane said. She tapped on her communications piece and rang the General. But after some time of not answering, she quit. "General's not responding." Kane stated. "Must be busy." Hanes said. "She's probably overseeing some tests or in a call with someone." "We'll update her later then. We aren't leaving here yet anyway." Arber responded. "Works for me." Kane announced. "So... Where to?" Marcel asked. "Nothing to do but one more sweep after lunch. After that, contact the general and we head to Oklahoma for the last ditch effort to catch Price and maybe even the rogue. That is if they're heading there." Arber said. "Even if we see her there, how are we gonna catch and subdue her? She's the size of a damn mountain from what you said." Marcel asked. "She's weak, she was about to cry when she stepped on this one." Savage pointed at his young captor. "For once, you're actually making sense." Arber said. "She's only young, I guess her own powers scare her more than us chasing her. And growing up, kids are always told killing is bad. No matter what the circumstances." "Thinking of a plan?" Kane asked. "Once you manage to get in touch with the General, tell her this..." "Nice outfit!" Jeffrey said. After a mostly inactive day, Jim dressed up in his Cyber-Punk attire only with a change, instead of his regular black hoodie, he donned the black leather jacket Ben gave him. The Jacket was a vintage-style, riding leather type where the zipper to shut it was off to the right. Jim turned to show his two friends his vigilante symbol. "So, how's it look?" He questioned. "Put the mask on." Jeffrey requested. Jim placed the mask on his face and put the hood up. "Like you're about to kick ass!" Jeffery said excitedly. "You look like somethin' straight out of a movie!" Tracy stated with a smile. "Alright, just..."  Jim sticked his right arm in one of his enhancers and it secured to him with just a thought. "Time to get that truck. I'll park it out there while you guys take a rest, and tomorrow morning, you'll be home Tracy!" Jim stated while securing the left arm and leg enhancers. "Thanks again. For everything." Tracy replied with a smile. "No problem! I may stay out a little later though, just gonna cruise around, get a feel for the thing since it's a truck and I’ve never driven one before." "Understandable." Jeffrey said. "We'll just be here. As always." Tracy stated. "Thanks! And whatever happens, you'll get to see your mom and your boyfriend soon. I promise." "Thanks Jim..." She said with another smile. "Okay, see ya guys later!"  "Bye!" Jeffrey and Tracy said almost at the same time. Jim opened the door and went out. He checked his phone for the time but saw there was a message from Jeffrey. "Be Careful Brother" It read. "I will. But be ready, just in case. I'll leave the truck there before I go with Zero." He replied. As the message sent, Jim put the phone in his jacket and started running. Later at the salvage yard, Jim, in his Cyber-Punk costume, is scanning the surrounding area. It picked up 4 phones, he was sure one was Ben but the other three where unknown. He decided to hack into one of them to hear if they were late customers or something he should be concerned with. "So, is this... Done-done guys?" "Yes, for the 7 billionth time!" A man yelled at Ben. "Sorry, but come on! This thing is for a REAL superhero!" "How do we know you're not just fucking with us?" A woman called out. "Yes. This all sounds like an, admittedly, riveting story but you probably just didn't want to pay us to work on the truck." A man with a Turkish accent accused. That was when the garage door opened and the lights went out. "Told You he's real..." "Who are they?" Jim, in his Cyber-Punk voice, questioned. "Just some friends. they helped me work on the truck." "I thought I told you to keep this to yourself." Ben pulled out his phone and saw it was coming from there. "Come on! After you showed up, I had to! But they won't tell! Right guys?"  "Uh... Yeah! Whatever Mr Deep Voice wants!" The woman said, a little shaken. "Wait how do I know this isn't a joke?!" The man told Ben. "Stay quiet." Cyber-Punk said as the lights turned back on. Everyone saw him open the door of the delivery truck and get off. "Holy Shit!" "Yep! Knows how to make and entrance huh?" Ben said as he laughed at the man arguing with him. "Jeez... He some kinda robot or cyborg?" The woman said as she checked Cyber-Punk out. "I'm right here..."  "Right. Sorry!" "Thanks for the truck." Cyber-Punk said to Ben. "Thanks for saving my ass, and the hummer, and for looking a lot cooler in that jacket than I ever did." "Thanks. But really, these guys?" "Yeah, don't worry about 'em. Now that they’ve seen you, they won't tell!" "Well, I'm leaving Texas tonight anyway. I got things to take care of. But if any of you tell anyone else, I'll be there to add a few things to your police records." "Ooooh!" "Wait..." The Turkish man said. "You can do that?" "He's a Superhero! That's how he knows criminals! Accesses their criminal records and crap!" "There's also extending sentences. Adding new crimes. You get the idea." "Okay..." The Turkish man said as he backed away with his hands up. "Anyway, thanks for the trade. I'll be out of the state by tomorrow morning." "Wait, what? Where you going?" Ben said. "Saving a friend." "Man... This is second time I seen you and already you're blowing my mind with how superhero you are all over again!" "Yeah. And for the trouble..." Cyber-Punk reached in his pocket and gave Ben five 100 dollar bills. "Split it up with them. This isn't much but it's all I can give for doing this." "Thanks, man..." Cyber-Punk opened the door to the delivery truck and started driving out. He drove slowly as he wasn't used to driving a vehicle as large and wide but he managed and rode off. "There goes the guy that saved my life..." Ben said as he watched the truck drive away. "So... You... Gonna give us the money?" The man that was arguing with him before said "Them? Yeah. You? No." "Aw come one Ben!" "You refused to believe, I get your 100 bucks. Sounds fair to me. At least they believed a little, even if they were skeptic. You were against me from day one!" "I Believe now!" "Too little, too late!" Jim parked the truck outside the abandoned factory his friends were staying in. He texted Jeff to let him know it was there before he went on foot to Zero. He packed his enhancers and started walking to the music shop. Before long, Jim had arrived, only the shop had no sign anymore, nor were there any more stands with albums lining them. Jim knocked on the door to see if Zero was inside. "Get in." He said as he unlocked the door. "Zero?"  Jim walked in to see Zero in quite the ensemble. His shoes and pants remained the same, but he wore a leather jacket with two white stripes on the upper part of both sleeves and three belt straps on the front to secure it. The partially opened zipper of his jacket revealed that he was also wearing a dark hoodie underneath but had not yet put the hood up. Finally he had a black riding mask with a white, diagonal slash across the face, it concealed everything but his eyes, which were all black, making him look like he was possessed.  "Nice suit!" "You ready to go?" "Ready as I'll ever be. Just let me get my enhancers on."  "Those mech arm and leg things?" "Yeah." "Take your time. We're still a bit early but we'll know the layout." "Yeah." As Jim put on his enhancers, he decided to ask Zero some questions. "So... I gotta ask, why are you doing this?" "What do you mean?" "Well, I mean this whole Neo-Revolution you’ve got going on. Sure fighting crime and stuff is good, but… Why did you think to make a shadow revolution, no pun intended, and ban other Neo-Humans together to fight in secret?" "Because I'm sick of being a victim. I'm sick of not standing up to a force because of fear. I'm sick of seeing history repeat itself before my eyes. That's why I wanted to start something that would put an end to all that. Or at least make them question themselves on what they're doing. Because even planting the seed of doubt is a small victory. And when you're fighting a force as big as the US government and military? You need all the victories you can get." "Well, I'm sold. Because that's definitely a cause I can get behind. Not to mention the first good cause I found after all this Neo-Human stuff." Jim said as he got all the enhancers on and stretched a bit with his exo-armored arms and legs. "Rest assured, your powers will be a great help to the revolution. Hopefully one day, we can start assaulting facilities that imprison people that didn't do anything, but are there solely because the government scientists want to know what makes them tick." "I know... I've seen research videos..."  "Yeah... So, ready?" "As I'll ever be."  "Let's go." Jim nodded, put his mask on, and put his hood up. Zero put his hood up as well and the two went out. "We're taking my ride by the way." Zero said firmly. "What's your ride?"  Zero lead Jim to the back of the building and started to draw shadows from the darkness. "Ooooh!" Jim said excitedly. Zero then constructed an enormous raven out of the shadows onto the roof of the store, easily big enough to carry them both with a wingspan that's roughly thirty-six feel wide. "Wait... we're not going to ride that are we?" "It's the ride I took coming here." "What?!" "Think about it. It weightless, so it will only be concerned with carrying us, I'm in full control, and it's not detectable in night vision."  "Those... Are very good points..." "Besides, it's only at night I can construct things this big." "Do you ever sleep?" "Mostly power naps in the day. A LOT of power naps." "Okay, and you're sure this is safe?" "It... Took a while to get the movements of birds right… But yeah, totally safe." He elevated the two of them using a shadow platform he made under their feet to reach the roof. "Okay..." "Don't worry." Zero said as they stepped on the roof. "It'll be a short ride." "I can't believe you talked me into this."  As Zero climbed on the raven, Jim started to think about how shocking it was to be high above the ground while in Tracy's hand during the sandstorm. "At least with Tracy she could catch me quick if I fell. Or you know... I would hope." He thought. "Man, I wish I could bring her with me... But, I can't PUT her in danger! Better me than her." "You getting on or what?" Zero said, snapping Jim back to the present. "Yeah, Yeah! Just thinking of some things. Nevermind that though."  Jim climbed onto the back of the giant shadow raven and Zero spread it's wings. "You gonna focus on this thing now?" "Yeah, don't even worry about it." "Alright. Let's go!" Flapping the raven's wings, Zero slowly started gaining altitude. Oddly enough, it generated little to no noise. Still, Jim was a tad in edge. "Immediately having second thoughts!"  "It's fine! It’s fine…” Once the two were high enough, they started to fly forwards, towards the fighting ring. As the two flew, quite a few miles away, Arber spotted them. "I got two flying Neos. And… One of them is the rogue!" "What?! How are they flying?!" Kane asked. "Hold on, not picking up anything on night vision... Infrared... They're riding on something if thermal is to be trusted." Arber turned around the jeep and drove as quickly as the traffic would allow. Once he was forced to stop from some minor gridlock he undid his seat belt.  "Marcel, take the wheel, I can't drive and keep him in my sights at the same time!" "Got it!" She undid her seat belt and they both got out of the jeep then switched places. Once they were in their seats, Marcel began to drive while Arber gave directions. "How are you driving this thing?!" Jim said, clutching tightly on the shadow raven. "With full concentration! Now let me do this!" Zero said. Jim slowly crawled to him and saw something that made his heart go a million beats per second. Zero had his eyes completely shut while flying. "Why are your eyes shut?!" "I see though the raven. Now shush!"  "Well that could have been useful info to have BEFOREHAND!"  "I will be forced to land this raven if you don't stop yelling." "I'm sorry, I'm not the one with his eyes shut while flying!" "We're nearly there! Just relax!" "Easier said than done, you know-OH!" "I know it's nerve-wracking at first, but calm down. And don't look down." "Thanks for the obvious advice, Shrek!" "Are you done?" "Maybe!" Jim just resorted to shutting his eyes and hoping for the best for the duration of the flight. After the longest 10 minutes Jim had ever experienced, he felt the raven slow and gradually lower. "Are we there?" He said with his eyes still shut. "Yes. We walk from here." "Oh, Thank Fuck!" "I understand it's not easy to get used to." "Yeah, I've been high up off the ground before, but at least I was still kinda connected to it!" "How?" "Uh..."  Jim realized that in his momentary hysteria, he gave a detail on Tracy.  "The... Thing I was on was still on the ground." Zero looked at him with a skeptical eyebrow raise but decided there wasn't any use in wasting time asking about it. "I'm gonna assume it was one of those glass walkway things." "Similar..." "Alright."  Zero knew Jim was keeping something, but he didn't want to ask, since if he had a secret there must be good reason to keep it. He landed and slowly deconstructed the raven, returning the shadows where they belonged. Jim slowly started walking, knees weak from fear. "Why was I so afraid? I went through worse! I was in a fucking sandstorm!" He thought to himself as he started to regain his footing.  Zero started walking, leading the way to the location of the fight club, and Jim followed him. "So, you've been staking out this place for a while. Mind telling me if there's anything in particular I need to know?"  "The reigning champion is a literal chimera." "And that means?" "Imagine a rhino, a crocodile, and a man had a baby." "I'd rather not, but I have to huh? Still, basically Killer Croc?" "You could say that." "Now I'm both glad and worried that I didn't bring Tracy..." Jim thought as he walked. While his thoughts wandered, he came across a question that just came to mind. "Why did you need me here with you? If you can make all that stuff, you can take them down by yourself, right?" "They got lights on the inside. As you saw, I'm not as powerful in the day as I am at night because it's not as dark. And even though inside the place, I'm still more powerful than I would be in the middle of the day. But if they flip on every light they’ve got, best I can do is fight guys with smaller shadow weapons." "Dang..." "So just in case, I needed a guy to take out the lights or bail me out." "And I'm the guy?"  "Yep." "Okay then, no pressure." "You can walk away from this if it's too much, no hard fee-" "Made it this far, and I survived a flight on a giant bird, so it's past the point of no return." "Guess I was a bit late saying that..." "Yes you were, but it's fine. No hard feelings." Jim said with a cheeky smile under his mask. Before long, Jim and Zero reached the place. They were looking at a casino's horse racing stadium from across the street. "This is it? I expected more shouting." Jim asked Zero. "Really?" "No, not really. I just expected at least a guy standing under a light to maybe take us to the entrance." "Like that guy?" Zero pointed to the far left and Jim slowly saw the figure of a man walking towards a street light. "How does you seeing things through shadows work? Or even look in your... Mind's eye, I guess?" "I'll answer that after this is done. For now, let's get to him." They walked towards the man as he loitered around.  "Nice suits, but it ain't Hallowee-" Cyber-Punk flashed the two tickets to the man and he stopped talking. "Oh. You... Here for the fight?" "We'll just be watching. Take us to the place." Zero said. "Okay then... Not gonna tip me thou-" Cyber-Punk popped the grenade launching feature at his right leg, intentionally choosing the one that didn't have anything loaded in it as just to make a sound. It was enough to scare the guy into voting against asking for a tip. "He a legit-"  "I'd quit asking while you're ahead." Cyber-Punk said. "Okay! Okay. Okay... Relax, I'll take you to the pit, and no doubt you guys are used to seeing weird suit, so I can just throw the warning away. Come with me."  The man took their tickets and pocketed them before leading the two towards a door at the side of the stadium. "Right here, gentleman. And… Weird bodyguard." Jim was tempted to stun him right then and there, but he just went through the door. Zero came through after him and the man. "There'll be a guy in there to take ya under. Enjoy the fight." The man said as he shut the door. After walking straight for a bit, they saw an African-American bouncer standing in a corner. "Kay, here's the deal. Bets are called by the managers, no throwing shit into the pit during a fight, no touching the cage, and no cops. They'll know." "Yeah, we got it." Zero said calmly. "Kay. Welcome to the pit!" He pushed some stacked boxes on a wooden palette to reveal a hidden hole in the wall with some lights and crude wiring on the ceiling. "That's VERY reassuring." Jim thought. "Store robbers were one thing, but this is well organized... I REALLY need to watch my back here. Along with Zero's..."  The two of them went inside, the bouncer pushing the boxes to block the entrance behind them. They spend the next few moments going through the passage and got on a small mining elevator after a few signs pointed them towards it. “Man, how did they get all this?” Jim wondered. ”Well, with what I found out about this place, they stopped construction and hid this unfinished underground area. It was supposed to be a waste management place. Making more money for the house and easy disposal for when horses die.” Zero answered. ”How did you find that out?” ”I know how to get answers from people. Though he may be released from lack of evidence soon so, another reason for me doing this quick.”  ”Man, you are active.” ”I like doing things whenever I can.”  As they went down, they started hearing music being blasted from speakers, and crowds yelling and cheering. They were getting close. ”Til I Collapse…” ”What?”  ”The name of the song playing. Sorry, force of habit…” ”Music must’ve been important to you…” ”It kept me sane… Things were complicated when I was in my early teens.” ”I know the feeling…” They reached the bottom, two to three stories under, and got out. And after walking out of the elevator, they saw the fighting pit. Rows and rows of stadium-type seats with nearly a hundred people on them. Most of them being young men and women dressed in modern fashion. They were cheering, yelling, drinking, and talking among themselves, some were even making out with each other.  At it’s center, a large dome-shaped cage over a pit that goes down about ten feet. It’s concrete walls had cracks and some holes, along with various blunt weapons on weapon racks bolted onto a few places on the wall. ”This… Is just like every movie’s fighting pit.” Cyber-Punk said. ”You’re free to critique it to the manager when we talk to him. See that big window overseeing everything?” Zero said pointing to a large office with a one-way mirrored window above the rows of people spectating.  ”Yeah.” ”That’s where we gotta go.” ”Let’s do this then. These Beverly Hills Rich Kid wannabes are borderline gonna fuck each other soon.”  ”Damn…” ”Sorry, but… Spoiled rich brats are the worst. And here some are, about to watch people beat the shit out of one another to have something to spend their parents’ money on.” ”No arguments here.” They walked up to a door with a “KEEP OUT” sign on it and another two bouncers. ”Hey, only the boss gets through here.” One of them said as he held his hand out. Cyber-Punk grabbed and twisted that bouncer’s arm with his left and launched a remote electric shock at the other one. Zero uppercutted the one Cyber-Punk had arm-locked and repeatedly punched the other that was still seizing up from Cyber-Punk shocking him after. Once both bouncers were knocked out, they went though the door, and up the stairs it lead to. Cyber-Punk kicked open the door in the office only to be met by a man in a suit that was waiting for him with a revolver pointed at him. He looked a bit overweight and looked a bit stressed and scruffy. ”Think I didn’t see this coming?” He said. Zero wrapped a shadow around his forearm quickly and made him point the gun to himself. ”Bet you didn’t see that coming, asshole.” Zero said. ”Agh! Shit! Let go of me, you freak!” The man yelled. ”Something’s off here. He knew I was coming through the door!” Cyber-Punk told Zero. ”Okay, start talking! What do you know about Brooks and her army?” ”The Fuck are you talking about?!” ”TALK! I know you work for the Government!” ”Is that what this is about?! You Fucking Retard! If they knew about this I’d be in a Federal Penitentiary for the rest of my life!” ”Are you serious?! I spent two weeks on you for nothing?! Tell me about anything the government has!” While Zero was interrogating him, Jim looked on his table and used his phone to hack into the laptop that he had on there. He quickly downloaded the files he had on the laptop into his phone but as he did, saw fourteen other devices in the room, all of them being remote controlled strobe lights.  It was just then he saw the large glass panels on the ceiling, and when he looked at Zero, it clicked. ”ZERO SHUT YO-” But before Cyber-Punk could warn him, the lights flashed on and blinded everyone in the room.  ”SHIT! ZERO!” Jim yelled as he was blinded from the sudden bright flash of light. ”FUCK!” Zero yelled.  As they were blinded, more bouncers stormed in and started beating Zero. He tried to use shadows to fight back but his powers were too weakened to make anything that could cause any significant damage.  Soon Jim felt his mask being forcibly taken off and got punched in the jaw forcibly. He clutched his phone and sent the emergency message to Jeff before he was hit in the gut and kicked down.  ”AAGH! Fuck…” Jim said in pain. His vision was beginning to adjust to the light and he barely saw the image of Zero trying to fight back but he was outnumbered.  Jim picked himself up and punched one of them. The charge launchers came out and he aimed at another bouncer, however one bouncer came from behind and hit him with a chair, causing him to fall to his knees. He was quickly bombarded with punches and kicks until one strong boot to the head caused Jim to loose consciousness. Zero’s sight was just barely adjusting when a young woman’s silhouette loomed over him. ”Hehehe… Look ‘atchu…” She said in an obviously fake Boston accent. “Knock his lights out, boys. I got plans for the two of ‘em!”  They followed and one of them with a bat swung at Zero’s head and sending him down as well. ”Take the cyborg looking fucker down. The rider ninja goes in the room there!” She ordered as she pointed to the other door in the office. However, Zero wasn’t quite knocked out, so he sent his shadow into Jim’s jacket while they were being ordered around. Knowing the situation was out of his control, he played it safe and pretended to be unconscious while the bouncers dragged him and Jim away. Meanwhile back at the abandoned cereal factory, Jeffrey just got the emergency message.  ”Dude, if you got this message, you know things went to shit. I need you and Tracy to back me up. This message has my last known location. Get to me quick!” It read. ”FUCK!” Jeff yelled. He started shaking Tracy to wake her up. ”Mmph… What is it?” She said, a bit groggy. ”Jim’s In Trouble!” Tracy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes frantically. ”WHAT?!”  ”Jim went out and… Did something with Zero…” ”WHAT?!?” Tracy grew a few feet in shock. ”Woah, okay. Calm down!” Jeff said, getting a bit weak in the knees with Tracy getting bigger. “Jim needs us! We gotta get to him!” ”Okay, I’ll get your weapons crate!” ”I’ll get the truck!” ”Yeah! Wait, the truck’s here?” ”Jim… Left it before he went out…” ”You KNEW he was going out?!”  ”He told me not to tell you, that he’d be fine but… Something went wrong and he sent me an SOS so- I’m sorry!” ”Shit! Get us there quick, I’ll talk to Jim later!” She said as she grabbed the weapons crate and everything her arms could carry. Jeffrey, without another word went out and ran to the truck to open the rear door and start it’s engine. ”Jim you better be okay when we get there!” He thought as a million other thoughts raced in his mind. Tracy got out holding all the stuff she could, just as Jeffrey unlocked and opened up the rear doors. She crammed all the items in the truck and started getting in, hitting her forehead at the entrance while doing so. ”Shit! You okay?!” Jeffrey asked. ”Yes, get to the wheel. I’m fine! Agh...” She said while holding her head with her left hand. ”Okay!”  Jeffrey shut the rear door of the delivery truck and ran to the front. He opened the door, got in, shoved the keys in the ignition, and started to drive. ”Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay.” He said as he looked at the GPS with the location Jim sent. “We’re coming, man… You HAVE to be okay!”