Date: December 9th, 2033

Jacob was sprawled out on his bed, thinking about the letters on the wall. ‘Why would they challenge me? What is their goal?’ Jacob got out of his bed and sighed before he put on his clothes. He walked his way through the city of Staten Island and arrived at the bar, The Wolf Pack.

“Hey, Lily!” Jacob yelled as soon as he entered the bar.

“What are you doing?!?” Lily asked, “It’s 10 am, you shouldn't be having a drink.”

“That's what I and the rest of the gang told you,” Jacob said jokingly. “Speaking of which, did you and Lucas get married?” Jacob said, pointing at the ring on Lily’s finger.

“Oh, yeah. It happened a couple of years after you left.”

“Where is he now?”

“He works an office job to help me keep this place up and running,” Lily explained.

“Yeah, I wonder what happened. Why is this place called ‘The Wolf Pack’?”

“After a couple of years, the mafia was attacked by the government and basically dissolved.”

“Seems like a fitting end to me,” Jacob said, “And Mr. Gardener?”

Lily sighed. “I was meaning to talk to you about that. He left this for you.” Lily reached under the counter and pulled out a gun case. “It's for you.”

Jacob grabbed the gun case and opened it revealing a nickel-plated .44 AutoMag with a pearl grip. “Here it is,” Jacob said, “But why me?”

“He said that you would know what to do with it.” Jacob smiled and threw it into a black hole that opened up next to him.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Lily said, “Also, he left you this.” Lily threw some keys at Jacob

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Yup, it’s the boss’ old midnight purple 1965 Ford Mustang.”

“With the white racing stripes?” Lily nodded, making Jacob smile.

Jacob stood up from his seat just before his phone rang. “Hello?” Jacob said, answering the phone.

“Jacob, it’s me,” said Bethany on the other line.

“What’s the deal?”

“There’s another victim.”

<><><>

“His name is Rowan Johnson. He lived alone and had no direct family. The cause of death was a puncture wound to the neck, resulting in the blood being drained from his body,” Bethany explained to Jacob.

“The official term for the cause of death is ‘blood bug syndrome’.”

“Whatever, this just means they are still challenging whoever ‘Space Walker’ is.”

“Yeah, me.”

Bethany’s eyes widened, “WHAT?!? Why are they challenging you?”

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“There might be a queen that got away when I eradicated a nest.”

“I’m questioning everything about you now,” Bethany said.

“Don’t worry Beth, we’ll find them soon.”

“I hope so. By the way, what's this writing on the wall?”

“It seems to be some coordinates,” Jacob said, running his finger along the bloodied-up wall.

“Where do they lead?

“You know that bridge, where people jump off all the time.”

Bethany covered her mouth and gasped. “You can’t mean. . .”

“Yeah, they’re basically telling me to kill myself. Fucking mosquitoes.” Jacob reared back his fist and punched the wall, making a huge hole. “I’m gonna find these pricks, and I’m gonna wipe them out.”

For the second time, Bethany looked at Jacob's shadow, watching as it twitched, staring back at her.

“What happened in the hollow anyway?” Bethany asked.

“Nothing too important, why?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering.”

Jacob thought to himself as he looked around the crime scene, looking for any clues that would lead to the nest. That’s when he saw it, a path of blood leading towards a room. Slowly, Jacob walked to the door of the room and put his ear against the door. On the other side, he could hear shallow breathing. Jacob reached into an invisible space and pulled out a handgun, preparing himself to kick down the door.

“What are you doing Jacob?” Bethany asked. Jacob put a finger to his lips, telling Bethany to be quiet. Bethany nodded and approached the door alongside Jacob.

“On 3,” Jacob whispered, “1. . . 2. . . 3!” Jacob kicked down the door and ran inside, spotting a winged creature that looked like a monster. “Down on the ground!” Jacob yelled. The creature sprung up and tried to run away, but Jacob shot his gun at the creature’s legs, immobilizing it. The creature crashed towards the ground, and Jacob tackled it to the ground. “Beth, help me out here! Don’t just stand there and start reciting the Miranda Rights, I don’t know them.”

Bethany nodded and cuffed the creature while telling him his Miranda Rights.

<><><>

“How long has he been there?” Jacob asked Bethany, pointing at the interrogation room.

“All of our guys have tried everything and couldn’t get anything out of him.” Bethany explained, “They’re also trying to avoid you.”

Jacob sighed. “Is that why there wasn’t anybody at any of the crime scenes?”

Bethany looked at Jacob and gave a nervous smile. “They’re not gonna get anything out of him anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Bethany asked.

“Blood Bugs operate on a very loyal level. Even if you break them, they won’t say shit,” Jacob explained.

“Then how did you ever find the nests?”

“We burned down every hole in the ground trying to smoke them out.”

“That sounds very ethical,” Bethany said sarcastically.

Jacob watched as the 5th guy entered the interrogation room left without any type of evidence and shook his head. “Let me in there,” Jacob said.

“I don’t know if that is a good idea.”

“Sure it is!” Jacob and Bethany turned around to see an old man with a beard walk into the room.

“Hello, Chief!” Bethany said.

“Ahhh,” Jacob said, “So you’re the guy who forced me to do this.”

The chief smiled. “Well, you got one of them, right?”

Jacob gave a fake smile as he walked out of the room and into the interrogation room. The room was surrounded by a non-reflective type of steel, making the room seem tighter than it actually was. ‘Probably used to give the criminal some stress,’ Jacob thought. He grabbed the chair across from the blood bug and sat down. “Alrighty,” Jacob said, “Time for you to tell me your secrets.” The blood bug, who looked very human at the moment, just stared a blank stare at Jacob. Jacob looked back at the blood bug’s eyes and saw nothing. ‘There’s no connection at the moment,’ Jacob thought, ‘Although, the queen is still probably still watching.’

Now, it was time for Jacob to shine. He closed his eyes, letting his view go pitch-black before colored waves started to appear around the white outline of the blood bug. This is one of Jacob’s abilities called “sense”. It is used to send the vectors and trajectories of forces and waves in a certain distance. Above the blood bug, Jacob saw a purple wave flow from its skull to outside the room.

With his eyes still closed, Jacob stood up and began to walk towards the blood bug. He put his hand on the blood bug and attempted to use another one of his abilities, Vector Alternation. This ability, as long as he’s touching it, allowed Jacob to alter the vector of said wave/object. Using this, Jacob moved the wave’s path towards his head.

Once this had happened, a flood of memories drowned Jacob’s mind, making him collapse towards the ground. Bethany rushed into the room and approached Jacob. “Jacob, are you okay?”

“crown heights,” Jacob mumbled.

“What?”

“I found the nest. It’s near Crown Heights, in Brooklyn.”