Pablo opened his eyes and blinked. It was dark here and he was surrounded by bodies. Had he been taken captive? He grabbed his gun that was lying beside him and sat up. Something moved and he shot at it. It stopped moving. There was a scream and then more movement. He shot again.

“Pablo! You ass! What are you doing?” Isaias yelled as he kneeled to check Feria. Pablo killed her. What a great time for my teammate to wake up.

He rolled the girl’s body over and shut her eyes, then he faced his trigger-happy partner.

“You are shooting your comrades!” Isaias said as he approached Pablo. Marco ran in to check on Feria but she was gone. He sat on his knees stunned as blood caked his hands from her bullet wound to the head. Pablo was an excellent marksman even in the dark.

Isaias approached his disoriented partner carefully. He didn’t want to end like Feria.

“Pablo, you are safe. The Eskeletos are gone. You are surrounded by comrades in healing. Everything is fine,” Marco said his eyes glowing slightly.

Pablo put down the gun and stood.” Has anyone found the Juaquin guy yet?”

Isaias nodded. “I found the kid. He’s asleep right now after having his ribs set.”

“Cool! Then we can leave these schmucks and make it to headquarters now.”

Isaias glared at Pablo but Marco nodded. “Yes, since Isaias found him he’s yours but can he rest a little more? He’s just had his ribs set and he’s only eight by my estimates.”

Pablo scoffed. “Old enough to get involved with a gang of killers, old enough to suffer the consequences. Get im Isaias.”

“Pablo, Marco is right he needs to rest.”

Pablo’s gun pointed at Isaias. The whites of his eyes shone through the dark. “I said get him! I want off this damned island now!”

“Don’t point that thing at me. I’m your partner.”

Pablo changed victims and pointed his gun at Marco instead. Isaias growled.

“Damnit Pablo we aren’t the enemy! I’ll get the kid, hold on, and don’t shoot!” Isaias warned as he went to the back of the cave and scooped the little boy up in his arms. He walked back to the cave but Pablo’s reaction to seeing Juaquin was...brutal.

“Hey! I saw that kid take down a Guerrero! He’s one of them!” He yelled pointing his gun at Juaquin’s sleeping face. His hand was shaking.

Isaias held Juaquin tighter. “He’s the thing we are looking for Pablo. You can’t kill him.”

“Why not. No one said anything about bringing him alive.”

Isaias stepped into a shadow to better hide himself.

“No one said anything about having your partner alive either!” He pointed his gun at Isaias and shot. Isaias disappeared within the shadow and quickly made his way to the opening. He didn’t look back once. He hoped Marco could get free of the looney tune of a partner he had.

By now the other Guerreros were up and watching a fuming Pablo as he got up unsteadily and made to run past the entrance.

“He’s not getting away with my prize!” He shouted as he passed the others before a crazed look overtook him and he pointed his gun at the entrance of the cave and began shooting.

“You guys know too much. I can’t have witnesses.”

The Guerreros were stunned as he began to shoot them down like Eskeletos. Marco growled and grabbed his gun shooting back. He grazed Pablos’s earlobe with a bullet.

Pablo decided to cut his losses and run after Isaias.

Marco looked around at the dead Guerreros. He spotted his partner trying to stem a gunshot to the leg.

“Alicia, come on we can get some help,” he said and she scoffed.

“How princess? Like you could carry me?”

Marco scowled and lifted her off the floor easily. “Satisfied?” He muttered making his way out of the cave. There was nothing but dead people inside now. He growled and the wind picked up around him. Pablo was going to pay for trying to kill Isaias and Juaquin and murdering his patients!

“Ok, Princess where are we going?” Alicia asked as she shifted in his arms.

“We’re heading to the headquarters.”

Isaias was running and dodging Eskeletos. As soon as he found out they were kids he was against killing them. But if they insist I’ll have to shoot them in a leg to stop them.

He pointed his gun at their legs and shot a warning shot.

“I’m not here to harm you. I have what we came for. Let me pass and we can go our merry way. Don’t and one of you will lose their ability to walk for a time,” he said to the crowd of kids.

A small girl no older than ten or eleven spoke.

“Do you promise not to shoot us?”

Isaias nodded. “Yes, but I’m being chased by a whacko. Be careful! He hates Eskeletos and you’ve all seen enough killing for one night. I’d hide from him. He’s really good at his job.”

“As long as you take him out of here,” said a small fat kid pointing at Juaquin.

Isaias turned to him. “Don’t be so harsh on him. He was running from his family the same as all of you did. The problem comes from the fact that he comes from a nasty Familia second to the Don of Puerto Nuevo. That was his mistake. He’s only eight. Honestly which of you, young ones would think your parents would come after you with a battalion at their heels?”

No one answered.

“I didn’t think so. Neither did he. Well, I gotta go, be careful and remember, hide from the crazy man!” Isaias yelled as he picked up speed and began running again. Isaias slowed down as the sun hit the horizon and the heat began to swell. These were not good conditions for Juaquin to push through but they needed to make it to headquarters before Pablo found them. Isaias had a little water on him. Enough for an eight-year-old to drink several times but that was it and in this heat that could be fatal to Juaquin. If they knew we were caring for a kid, why didn’t they adjust accordingly or do they really not care if Juaquin makes it alive or not to headquarters? Man! What a family!

Isaias shifted the little boy in his arms as he ran past shrubs and sand dunes alike. The Isle of Exiles was a near desert on one end and a veritable forest on the other. He needed to head north where the forest was. He could round the island but that would take more than the day he had. Or I can cut west through the swamp and head north from there. It means I’d have to run back in the other direction and cross Pablo though. I can take my chances and finish this damn mission or I can make sure the kid is safe and keep heading south eventually heading north sometime tomorrow.

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Isaias scoffed. Heh, I wasn’t supposed to succeed in this mission anyway. I’ll keep heading south for now.

Juaquin awoke near noon yawning.

“Hey, where is everyone?”

“Likely dead kid. My partner awoke not himself or maybe too himself,” muttered Isaias as he gripped Juaquin’s hand. He hoped against everything that Marco had made it out cause if he hadn’t...well Pablo was a liability to the corps. He had no guilt in ridding the world of Pablo.

“Mister? Where are we going?”

“It’s Isaias, and we’re heading towards the headquarters in the north but we won’t reach it till tomorrow.”

“The Eskeletos keep some road mobiles in their hangar. We can steal one of those,” Juaquin said as they walked farther into the desert. Isaias thought about it.

“That’s not such a bad plan. We could…”

“Hand over the kid!” Yelled a Guerrero pointing his gun at Isaias. He didn’t have time to react when the Guerrero was shot dead and Pablo appeared behind him.

“You didn’t run fast enough Isaias. Now hand over the kid.”

Isaias scoffed, pushing a shocked Juaquin behind him. “What? So you can kill him? I don’t think so, Pablo. Besides I’m not your average Guerrero,” Isaias said, removing his chain whips from his dimensional pocket. His gun was at one-fourth by now.

“I don’t need a gun to face you.”

Pablo shot at him and Isaias cursed as a bullet knicked him in the face. In anger, he swung his whips. Ping! The chain repelled the incoming bullets. He’s got maybe a fourth power in that gun. If I can make him expend the last of his power, he’s a sitting duck.

Isaias smirked and sent his whips out to Pablo. One hit him between the shoulders and the other whacked him over the head sending him reeling into the sand stunned. Pablo growled and shot at the whips as he got up. He dodged and shot at Isaias who evaded with Juaquin holding onto his back. He was digging his little nails into his shoulders and his knees were pressuring his ribs. Isaias grunted and ducked as another hail of bullets flew past. One more shooting spree and he’s done for, then I can attack. Then Pablo shot and nothing came out. He tried again. The same. He checked his gun’s meter and nearly choked.

“Seems someone’s run out of power,” Isaias said grinning and cracking his whips. He sent both out. One wrapped around Pablo’s neck while the other wrapped around his gun. It was obvious to Pablo that Isaias had been playing with him. “From the beginning, you could have disarmed me and wrapped me up so why the show?"

“To put you out of everyone’s misery. You’ve killed enough Pablo.” Isaias said taking out some obtonium handcuffs from his dimensional pocket and slapping them onto Pablo.

“You can sit here and be a good boy while I return Juaquin to headquarters.”

Pablo sneered. “You’ll never make it today!”

“Then it's a good thing I found all of you.”

Isaias's eyes widened and he grinned. “Nice of you to drop by, Marco. Do you have a road-mobile anywhere? By chance?”

Marco grinned. “I can do one better. Everyone hold on to me and in Pablo’s case, Isaias hang on to him.”

Isaias grabbed Pablo’s gun in one hand and Pablo’s hair in the other. Juaquin was holding onto his back and his gun was slung over his shoulder.

“Ready?” Marco asked.

“Yup,” Isaias replied, giving a little yank on Pablos’s hair.

“Oww!”

Marco smirked and teleported away.

Isaias felt as if he was balancing on a tripwire and everything was moving past him at the speed of light. Then everything stilled. Motion. Sound. He felt the universe come into focus before he was suddenly falling off the tripwire and everything was rushing past him even faster now. He closed his eyes waiting for impact.

“Isaias. You alright? I don’t think Juaquin can hold it in much longer,” Marco said.

Isaias opened his eyes and stared around him. The grass was green and the trees were tall and full of fruit.

Huh? What happened?

I teleported.

“Isaias? I’m going to puke!”

“Woah hold it there bud!” Isaias said as he let Juaquin off his back. Juaquin immediately bent over and started puking. Not far away Pablo was spewing bile. He looked over at slightly pale-faced Marco who was watching them.

It wasn’t that bad!

You’re the only one not puking on his first teleportation.

I’m made of sterner stuff. Hey Marco? How come I can answer back now?

Marco shrugged. I don’t know. It’s probably because of the teleportation somehow. The headquarters is a mile to the north. I didn’t teleport straight to it because…

Yeah, I know. What are we going to do with Pablo?

I’ll erase his memories of me teleporting. We stole a road-mobile and rode it to the swamp where we crossed on foot from there.

Got it!

Isaias smirked and helped Juaquin up. He was shaking from head to foot still. Picking up the boy, he uncapped his water bottle and gave it to him. Juaquin took a big gulp to clean the bile from his mouth then another to soothe his stomach. He gave the water bottle back to Isaias who stuffed it back in his dimensional pocket. Marco hauled Pablo up by his hair, yanking on a few strands.

“Hey! What did I ever do to you?” He yelled and gulped as he met Marco’s glowing eyes. He fell into a trance and Marco wiped a hand across his forehead as if wiping dirt off it. He left Pablo in a trance.

There, done. He’ll remember the road-mobile and the swamp. I left him in a trance. Easier to control.

You are scary, Marco.

He tried to kill you and Juaquin, and he shot my partner in the leg making me carry her ungrateful ass all the way to headquarters. He’s lucky I don’t scramble his brains!

Isaias snickered and held Marco by the shoulders. Marco froze and he let go.

“Come on, let's go and finish this. We can report him in too,” Isaias said grinning and wiping his cheek. It had stopped bleeding but it stung like hell. He turned to face the woods. It was nice and dark. Shadows danced between the trees as sunlight did between the leaves. Huge purple flowers grew from the trees and their petals carpeted the forest floor along with fallen fruit and twigs. Their fragrance was soothing. No birds sang through the trees though just as no woodland creatures made a noise. Not even for burrowing. As soon as Marco began walking so did Pablo. It took an hour for them to reach the command tower but they did. The Guerrero in charge was surprised to see them walk in. Their sergeant came into the tent coined as headquarters.

“There’s still five hours left trainee Amargarita. What are you doing here?”

“I’ve brought Juaquin Santana or so he was called,” Isaias said, smirking as he set the little boy on the cot by the door. Juaquin scooted into a small ball.

Sergeant Suarez stroked his fluffy beard and inspected the kid. He shook his head.”You’ve brought the wrong kid. Juaquin has blue eyes.”

Isaias sighed.“Juaquin has hazel green eyes.”

Sergeant Suarez mmmm mphed and checked Juaquin’s startled gaze. Indeed he had hazel green eyes.

“He has the star mold all Santana have on their upper lip too,” Isaias said

Suarez turned to him. “How do you know about such delicate information?”

“My uncle is the Don sir. My sister is a negotiator and has gone to see them many times. I’ve gone as her backup.”

“You brought the right target. Congratulations. You beat the upper levels by several hours.”

“My partner lost it out there sir. He came after me with his loaded weapon after shooting several of his comrades. He thought he could kill the target and he could work alone.”

“He could work alone as long as he didn’t kill his partner or the target.”

“In that case, I’d like it noted that Marco Marques was my partner, not Pablo Amargo. Marco helped me out as a partner should, even against Pablo, and was there when Pablo went crazy. He can detail the happenings better than myself as I was busy trying to survive at the moment, sir.”

Suarez nodded. “Very well. It shall be put on record, that your teammate was uncooperative during the mission, and that Marco Marques substituted for him.”

Isaias nodded. It wasn’t what he wanted but as long as Marco was made his partner in this then he wouldn’t refute it.

“There’s still five hours left soldier. You are still on duty. Report to your station. I’ll alert the others that the exam is over.”

“Yes sir!” Isaias said. He ruffled Juaquin’s hair and walked out of the tent with Marco behind him.

Bernado didn’t want to believe it but a team of trainees had found Juaquin Santana. A trainee team! In two days exactly! His upper levels hadn’t managed that level of speed or with such results. When he looked up who it was, he growled. Of course, it would be his nephew’s team! Isaias was a rising star in the ranks. He heard nothing but praise for the boy and his partner. Now he would have no choice but to take both of Rosa’s kids along to Argentina.