My pursuers creep closer, and I am forced to expedite the speed at which I make it.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 49th Entry

Being dragged by his knees wasn’t an experience AxEl liked. His legs followed behind him as the men struggled with his weight. They heaved and grunted and AxEl struggled as much as he could.

He could feel the paralysis receding, and started to get a bit more feeling in his body. He would twist his foot a little, move up a finger, or something else. This hallway… he’s not pumping anything in here, AxEl realized. Or else the paralysis wouldn’t have faded. So, AxEl bided his time. He knew HoonUl was behind him, but he didn’t know how far. He would have to be careful of the timing.

When they turned the corner, another one suspiciously void of people, AxEl struck. He’d regained enough feeling in his body to move his hands, and he lifted one of them to punch one of the guards in the stomach. The man clutched his stomach and let go, and AxEl shoved a hand into his coat. He took out some Firewire– turned into a hash– and put it in his mouth. The second guard tried tackling him and AxEl elbowed him in the jaw. He felt it crack and the guard fell to the floor.

AxEl’s eyes moved across the hallway, looking for HoonUl. Suddenly, a blur from his side came and AxEl felt something kick his legs. He felt something grab him by the collar and he was jerked to the side. He choked on the force holding his collar and skidded across the carpeted floor of the building. A cackle erupted from behind AxEl, hoarse and deep.

AxEl jerked himself up as he was being dragged and placed both legs on the floor. He slowed down enough that the force holding onto his collar let go. AxEl rubbed his neck and coughed. He glanced around for who’d been dragging him around, but saw nothing. Idiot, take the Bullet! He thought immediately as he realized that he only had Firewire in his system. He reached down into his pocket, but a whish of wind swept past again. AxEl felt a blow at his side and crushing of several vials in his pocket.

He felt his ribs shudder as he flew backwards into the air. AxEl hit the wall on the other side and he took a sharp breath. He looked beside himself and saw that there was a trolley loaded with trays.

I can use that! AxEl scrambled over to the cart as he saw another blur approaching fast in his visions. He threw several trays on the ground, throwing around desserts and foodstuffs all across the ground. His pursuer still came, however, and the blur that he saw slipped on the whipped cream. His pursuer slid past, and When AxEl tried grabbing onto him by the scruff of his clothes, his hand was knocked away.

AxEl turned around and crouching behind him was HoonUl, wearing a grin on his face despite his predicament.

“Trying to kill me yourself since your enforcers failed last time?” AxEl asked, raising his arms.

HoonUl lifted himself up, flashing an irritating grin. “Not yet. This is just immeasurably fun.”

****

Anagen paced around each entrance of the hall several times. EssErn had come to comfort her. Despite how sweet it was, Anagen couldn’t appreciate the gesture. All she focused on were the people guarding the back exit. The two guards positioned there.

She tried to walk up to them, but the men would stop her each time. HoonUl had apparently forbidden this one specific set of doors from being used. Anagen spared them only a single glare before going back to where EssErn was.

“He’ll be fine, I’m sure. Does he… have some sort of condition?” EssErn asked.

Condition…? Wait!

“Thank you, EssErn!” Anagen said, rushing away and ruffling through her purse as she approached the doors. The guards sighed as she approached and placed a hand in front of her again.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. This is a private area,” the guards explained. Anagen pulled out some pills of Prophecy from her pocket, sure that the men wouldn’t recognize it.

“My husband needs his medicine. He has a weak heart and he forgot to take these!” Anagen explained. The guards shifted uncomfortably.

“…He can take it later, I’m sure, Ma’am,” one of the guards said.

“You can’t be serious. He needs this. If he doesn’t get it,” Anagen said, accentuating the words by moving closer, “He might do worse than just faint.” The guard tried his best not to meet her eyes, but cowered under the gaze.

“W-we can deliver them instead, then,” the other guard said, trying to snatch the pills out of Anagen’s hand. She closed her fist and pulled away.

“No, he’s my husband!” she performed, and the guards whispered among each other for only a moment longer before sighing one last time.

“Fine. But one of us is going with you. And you need to come back here once you’re done,” the first guard said, before eyeing the second guard and gesturing him towards Anagen. He opened the doors into a familiar looking hallway.

It was so similar to the other ones in fact that Anagen had trouble finding any noticeable features. The guard accompanying her seemed quiet for the entire time and he would hover around Anagen a bit too close.

A distraction, then. Anagen held her stomach and stopped during their trek, eliciting a look from the guard.

“Are you well? He asked, keeping a small distance. Anagen put on the most uneasy tone she could and spoke.

“Ah… no. My stomach… it hurts…” she said. “Could you please… escort me to the nearest Lavatory?” she asked the guard. He nodded and started guiding her down one of the passages.

“Damn buffet food…” he muttered quietly, and Anagen let herself smirk just a bit. When they came to the washroom itself, it was a door that looked no different than the rest. It had a sign above it signaling it as the women’s restroom, and the guard stood in front of that sign. The bathroom was placed on a corner, which gave Anagen an idea.

“Are you sure you should be standing around the women’s room?” Anagen asked the guard.

“W-what?” the guard replied, unfolding his arms.

“I’m just saying. It would be a bit… awkward if you stuck around, wouldn’t it? Especially if someone else walked out and saw you posted here. You should probably move somewhere else, perhaps over there?” Anagen told the guard, pointing him around the corner.

“I… I’ll be there, then,” the guard replied, looking embarrassed. He shuffled away quickly from the door to the bathroom and Anagen watched. As soon as he was out of sight, she opened the door, let it go and turned down another hallway. The door to the bathroom closed behind her and she found herself exploring the hallways now without any supervision.

****

AxEl could barely keep up. He kept his hands raised all the time to take care of the attacks that HoonUl threw at him. HoonUl came at him again and instead of blocking, AxEl opened a door nearby. The fist that crashed through the wood broke it. Splinters stuck in the hand and the knuckles bled, but AxEl could still see HoonUl smiling. AxEl ducked into the room, a densely decorated room.

He's gonna have problems going fast going in here. When AxEl glanced back at the door, the hand stuck through it was gone. He glanced around at the bookshelves, display cases and the large table set in the centre of the room surrounded by couches. AxEl backed up towards a wall, where he focused on his Phantoms.

He saw knives being flung in his direction and glanced at one of the display cases, curiously filled with cutlery. Aww, Icebox.

AxEl threw himself at one of the couches, and a moment later knives shot over his head and embedded themselves in the wall. He saw another Phantom of HoonUl moving towards him, and threw himself low as soon as it came. AxEl tackled the man’s legs, knocking the both of them into one of the bookshelves. Books fell on the them and HoonUl kicked AxEl away.

The hit took AxEl in the head. Shock went through his system and he struggled to move. It gave ample time for HoonUl to stand up and dust himself off. “You’re ruining my furnishing, mongrel,” he said, picking AxEl up by his collar again. He lifted AxEl effortlessly off the ground.

“So, I’ll take you somewhere you can’t.”

And then he ran out of the room, dragging AxEl once again behind him. AxEl struggled to recover, his thoughts jumbled and hard to grasp. He only became lucid once he falt a sharp pain in his back and realized he wasn’t inside the building anymore.

****

Anagen tried her best to search out AxEl without stirring any attention. Down one of the ways, Anagen smelt something that seemed familiar. Firewire? She moved towards the scent, opening a door to find several men inside. They laughed and talked among themselves. In their hands they held cigars, and in their eyes they held an ashy glow.

“Close the door, lass,” said one of the men angrily, and Anagen shut it. But I thought Rootreveal was being pumped everywhere? Anagen carefully a took a pill from her purse and downed it in a moment. Her eyes bled to ashy grey and she began to see Phantoms. She twitched her fingers, testing, then realized it really was devoid of Rootreveal.

And if they have Firewire, then someone must be bringing it in for them, Anagen thought, and entered another room. She began searching around until one of the women there asked a question.

“What are you looking for, love?” the woman asked her, her eyes looking unfocused and glowing.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Just something I lost. I’ll be out in a moment,” Anagen reassured her and the woman turned back to her conversation. There was a serving cart that looked to have a compartment under it. One of the other men joined her, giving her a soft smile before pulling out a brick of Tonguewisp from under the cart and heading back to his couch.

If the carts are transferring it, then they must be coming from…

“I’ve found it!” Anagen exclaimed, stuffing nothing into her purse and walking out of the room and closing the door behind her. She stalked the halls, and the Phantoms faded from her sight while she investigated. She found other rooms, filled with trays of Prophecy pills, Firewire, Airwaves or Tonguewisp.

Finally, at the end of one of the longer hallways, she found a butler hauling another cart from a room into some entrance at the back. Anagen followed behind the man, making sure to keep far away so the boy wouldn’t notice. The butler turned his back towards one of the doors and walked backwards into it, and Anagen raised her dress and stepped closer to it. She took another pill of Prophecy, panicked for a moment and moved towards the other end of the door.

The door opened, covering her as the butler came out. He moved in another direction, a serious look on his face as he moved the cart down one of the hallways. Anagen entered through the door and found herself on a raised metal platform.

There were railings covering the platform and two sets of stairs extended below it to the concrete floor of a holding room. There was a giant shutter closed at the end of the room and windows that hung incredibly high above Anagen. There were trucks organized in rows, their containers open and pointing towards her.

There were several carts that were on the platform she was on, and a door that led to even more on the sides of the room. She looked down into the containers of the trucks and found them filled with boxes. This is where they get it…

Anagen rushed down the stairs, lifting her dress so it didn’t catch on the steps. When she made it, she put on a glove from her purse and opened one of the boxes. Inside, she found frozen meat in large pieces and furrowed her brow. There was a chill coming from the trucks, so it must have been a food delivery. She shifted the large steak away, taking it out and looking further.

It took her several chunks, but she finally found something. Something clinked and Anagen heard it. She looked between the slabs of meat and found some vials taped to one of the bottoms. Found you, she thought as she took the vials out and stuffed them in her pocket. She pulled out her phone and took several pictures of the trucks and their license plates.

Now, AxEl.

****

AxEl was having a rough go of it. He got knocked into a garbage can, and all sorts of filth, wrappers, expired food and peels fell on his clothes. He shoved the urge to vomit down and stood up, breathing heavily.

“Could I get you a towel for that?” HoonUl asked mockingly from far away. He was slowing it down, but it still sounded shrill. AxEl growled, but took the time to catch his breath instead. He pulled out a vial of a pink liquid from his pockets and popped open the cork in front of AxEl.

“How about a toast instead then?” HoonUl offered, before dunking down the entire vial himself. AxEl glanced at the small ladder that hung from the building adjacent to HoonUl’s. It was attached to the metal perron that led to the roof. Can’t fight so well if you fall, can you? AxEl thought.

He ran in HoonUl’s direction and the man did similarly. Instead of fighting him, AxEl took a leap up to the ladder and started climbing it. He made it up to the perron and started climbing it.

“What is this, AxEl? Are you running?” HoonUl taunted. AxEl made it all the way up to the top of the stairs before he received a Phantom of being kicked. AxEl sidestepped just in time and saw HoonUl’s leg hanging outward. AxEl grabbed the leg and twisted the man around. HoonUl tried to clip him with the other leg, but AxEl tossed him onto the roof. HoonUl rolled for a bit before stopping himself. He rose up, an expression of annoyance on his face.

“Oh, good job. You got one hit on me,” the man said. He put his hands in his pockets again and AxEl began to ran. Because his Phantoms had started splintering again after a few moments. AxEl ran towards the man and back-handed the pill away from him. The pill fell off the edge of the roof and HoonUl tried punching AxEl.

They locked fingers and started pushing against each other. AxEl felt his muscles scream as he pushed, yet he kept moving backwards towards the alley he had climbed out of.

“I can’t believe I have to fight a damned child! AnIn I respected. DoxEn? He was a simple fool but he kept to his territory. But you? Your overconfidence, inexperience and sheer luck just baffle me,” HoonUl said, chuckling. AxEl made it to the parapet of the building and put his foot up to it, but the Airwaves that HoonUl had been using gave him an edge. He kept twisting backwards and glanced down, seeing the large fall.

“Should’ve gone back to your daddy,” HoonUl taunted, then pushed AxEl over. AxEl fell, the wind sweeping past him in a rush that clouded his ears. He reached out his hands, trying desperately to catch onto something. In a fleeting moment, he felt something in his hands and grabbed onto it with all his Firewire enhanced strength. A sharp pull and AxEl let out a scream. He looked up to see his hand clutching the railing of the stairwell he had just climbed.

His shoulder hurt, and he felt his arm was further than it should be. Then AxEl heard a shout and looked down towards a figure near the back exit of the building. She was bathed in golden light, highlighting her dress and her white hair. Anagen was down there, and she was screaming at him.

“AxEl, catch!” she shouted, and threw something at him. AxEl saw it sail towards him in his Phantom, and he caught it in his open hand. AxEl pulled himself up and over onto the staircase, laying on his back. Thank you, Ana, he thought as he put the glove on, feeling a prick on the back of his hand. He cut his hand pulling out the remaining Airwaves vial that was unbroken in his coat pockets, and affixed it to the glove.

The pain in his shoulder faded, replaced with the feeling of the rush. AxEl pulled himself up and saw HoonUl falling down and onto the same platform he was on.

“Crap,” HoonUl exclaimed as AxEl tackled him with a speed the man didn’t expect. They both fell and ended up falling on a dumpster. The bags cushioned their fall a bit, but they both groaned. AxEl sat atop the man, punching him.

AxEl kept punching, even as HoonUl raised his arms to protect himself. Between one of the pummels, HoonUl caught AxEl in the throat with the side of his hand. He pulled himself up and kicked AxEl, who flew out of the dumpster, hitting his shoulder on the bottom of the perron and landing on the ground with a thud.

HoonUl jumped out of the pile as well, glancing down at his ruined clothes and snarling at AxEl. “Oh, your mother’s definitely dead now. Her, that woman you’re protecting and every other person you’ve ever loved,” he spat. AxEl glanced behind him and saw Anagen stumbling backwards.

“You’ve already taken that once. You’re not doing it again,” AxEl replied, raising his hand. His left arm still hurt from catching himself on the stairs, but he brushed the increasing pain off. The both of them were about to go at it again when a set of windows high above burst open.

They both looked skywards and saw a bright orange glow coming from inside the building. They both heard the crackle of a blaze coming from inside.

“What did you do?” HoonUl asked with a glare.

“Nothing. I just started a small fire in one of the empty rooms,” Anagen answered tensely, looking towards the building. “The people inside must be evacuating right now. I did start it quite far. Maybe you could even stop it if you make it inside in time,” she finished, fixing him with a glare of her own. HoonUl growled, but broke into a sprint and went inside the building.

AxEl collapsed once the man left, holding his shoulder in his other arm. Anagen rushed over, kneeling beside him. She poked at his shoulders and he gave her a look of annoyance.

“Your shoulder’s dislocated,” Anagen said, placing a hand under his pit.

“Should we go to a hos-” AxEl began, but Anagen pushed his arm back in. He let out a yelp of pain and flinched.

“You could have warned me!” he told her, but she gave him a deadpan stare. “We can argue about it later,” she replied, raising him up. She pulled out a second glove out of her pockets and placed it on her own hand, twitching her eye as it pricked her skin. Anagen removed her own vial of Airwaves, plugged it in and then moved to her dress. She tied off the ends of it, leaving her legs exposed.

“There were trucks inside, filled with all sorts of ingredients. I think I know where they might have been from,” Anagen said, handing another vial to AxEl. He pulled out the old one and put in the fresh one, letting it trickle into his blood stream.

They climbed on top of the perron again, and began running across the building tops. Despite the situation, AxEl smiled. He glanced at Anagen and she returned it. Even with her sclera and irises shifting around, he found her beautiful. Then they fell on the next roof and continued.

Leap after leap, they got closer to the building. Anagen had pulled her phone in the middle of the leaps and dialed up someone else.

“Nook! We’re going to the meat processing plant in the Sikans district.” She paused for a moment and AxEl could hear some shouting gibberish on the other side.

“Yes, that one! Get there soon!” she shouted and closed the call. Soon after, they made it to the building.

It was too low for them to jump onto, so they had to climb back down through the emergency stairs. AxEl still clutched at his chest. The Firewire had faded, leaving him aching with his wounds.

A fence surrounded the building. The Airwaves still in their veins, AxEl kicked his feet under him and leaped the fence. He dropped on the other side, absorbing the impact. Anagen did the same, landing on her feet. They both nodded to each other, moving deeper into the facility.

Beyond the giant tanks, beyond the small outposts and the lone security guard, they entered. AxEl was getting sick of seeing double doors, and the one in front of him being locked didn’t help. He ruffled his pockets for another stick of Firewire, as Anagen observed the lock. He pulled out Firewire and Anagen grabbed the hand it was in.

“I don’t want you to develop a Firewire Addiction too,” she told him, pleading.

“Just this once, Ana. We can’t wait until later,” he told her, placing the hash in his mouth. He chewed on it and the warmth spread through his body. It spread to his wounds as well, helping soothe the pain. He kicked open the door and stopped for a second. Breaking the door let out a large sound. AxEl darted his eyes around, his Phantoms only a few moments, less than a second, ahead of him.

“In,” AxEl said, and both he and Anagen rushed into the building. They put the door back in place, leaving them in abject darkness. Anagen lit a flashlight and they proceeded deeper into the facility. Not long after, they had covered the entire thing, and explored every corner at the least.

There were conveyer belts, rooms and fridges of all kinds placed all around the building. Exploring it thoroughly was impossible, so they had to stick to the smaller rooms that could be more easily hidden.

They thumbed around those rooms, throwing trays, turning metal shelves and opening up fridges. AxEl saw an open space between racks of meat and threw a tray towards it. A ringing metal sound came out and they both turned towards the area.

“Sorry, should’ve been more silent,” AxEl apologized, walking towards the spot. At his side, carcases hung from hooks. Behind the carcasses, the wall looked the same as always. AxEl knocked against it, hearing a hollow knock.

“It’s here,” he said and the both of them tried to pry it open. The panels were hard to take apart, but they succeeded. Behind it lay a small metal staircase. They followed it down and into what looked to be another lab. This one was much bigger than the last, filled with large mechanical equipment that AxEl had trouble recognizing.

“This place needs to go too,” AxEl, said, climbing out of the lab as soon as he’d seen it. He didn’t bother searching the place. HoonUl would only be distracted for so long before he figured out where AxEl and Anagen were.

“There were drums of fat near the back,” Anagen said, and AxEl nodded. He grabbed one of them and kicked it down towards the lab. The barrel clanged loudly and echoed as it fell. He threw more of it in every room that he could, winding himself in the process.

“Ana, are we ready?” he asked her. She’d gone into one of the other rooms, where a giant smoker had been.

“We’re ready,” she said, and they started walking. Smoke rose up into the hallway as they did, and orange light followed, casting their shadows forward as they moved. They took to one of the back entrances, coming out of it coughing.

Anagen led them towards truck which they hid behind. After the smoke started coming out of the factory and the guard ran towards it, they snuck out. Near the factory waited for them Nook, who looked to have been treated much better in the night. He still had his tuxedo unblemished, had no open wounds nor dirt or smoke covering him. He looked them both up and down and offered a door.

“What have the two of you been up to?” Nook asked them seriously. They lay their heads against the seat and spurned any explanation.

“Can you put on that track again, Nook?” AxEl asked him in a weary voice.

“Hm? Which one?” Nook asked, placing his finger on the dial.

“The one you played when we came in…” AxEl yawned, his voice trailing off. Nook put it to the same station and a jazzy tune came out. It sounded smooth, calming and under its influence AxEl let himself drift off.