The security door opened, and Louise was hit with a gust of warm air. The cryptid habitat this time was an imitation of lush grasslands. It was around half the size of a football field, the edges lined with a wall of oak trees. At the center was a single story cabin, seeming much larger than it should be. The habitat’s edges were lined with thick, redwood-looking trees. Most interesting was the habitat's roof: A transparent canopy. The sun was directly overhead, showing off partly cloudy skies. Louise felt a wave of comfort, feeling the warm sunlight comfort her itching skin.

Assuming it wasn't just a projection.

Louise glanced around, feeling her heart pound against her chest.

There were no signs of danger. Her gut instinct said something menacing had to be waiting to pounce upon her. Buried, disguised as the grass, maybe it was the house itself.

The Collector's voice spoke over the intercom. “You won't be in any danger this time. All you need to do is interact with the Long-Limbed Oracle inside the cabin. You’ll understand fully once you enter.”

She took a deep breath, clenching her fist. Her mind raced about beating up some old wizard living inside, or smashing a bizarre machine. She smiled, thinking how angry the Collector would be at her actions.

Standing in front of the twelve foot tall door, her thoughts changed. Whatever was in there would be well over twice her height. She shook her head.

"Size isn't going to matter. You've faced bigger." She muttered to herself.

it creaked open without her even touching it.

She gulped, peeking between the crack.

The inside was furnished with a table, proportional to the oversized door, with two large stools. Not too far from it was a large garbage bin, and bookcase, filled with human-sized books. Near the back of the room was an oversized hammock, and off to the side was a cabinet, a fridge, and a flat screen TV that was comparable to a jumbotron.

“Oh? Somebody new? And so young!”

A deep, booming voice spoke from above.

She flinched, looking up.

The poorly lit roof was lined with several bars of wood running across each other, like a jungle gym. Hanging onto that wood were two incredibly long arms, long enough to almost stretch across half the width of the oversized cabin. They swung out of the shadows, revealing a messy sphere of hair, topped with a tiny head, large, yellow eyes, and a bare, wrinkly mouth. It landed on its short legs in front of Louise, the impact shaking the floor. Despite its strange stump-like stature, it towered well over twice Louise’s height. She held up her fists, taking a deep breath.

The cryptid frowned.

“Now now! No need to be up in arms. Literally, in that fact too…” It outstretched its gangly arms above its head.

“I do not intend on hurting you. Didn’t the old man tell you about me? Who I am?”

She still glared at the cryptid.

“I wonder why he’s making things so troublesome…” It lowered one of its arms, scratching beneath its mouth. “But it’s been centuries since I’ve interacted with somebody so… Young!”

“What’s my age gotta do with all this?”

“The old man had to tell you my name, right?”

“The Long Limbed Oracle. I don’t know what else you’re planning to do, but I’m not having it!”

“Oh yes! Quite a name, no? It’s a hobby of mine, telling the futures of whoever comes in here. Usually I get some random men, but their futures blur together, no fun at all. But there’s so many possibilities when one is still young!”

Louise took another step back. “Oh, so he just wants you to read my future so you can tell him. Are you in cahoots with him or something?”

The Oracle chuckled and snorted. “Pah! I owe him nothing. All the futures I tell are between you and me. Should he try to threaten me, even with all his men, I would leave him nothing more than a stain on the ground.”

Louise glanced around, processing the rather nicely furnished house and habitat.

“So that’s why you got the deluxe treatment here, huh?”

“Precisely.”

Louise dropped her guard, staring eye to eye with the massive monster.

“Now, your future. I’m assuming he wants you to see it?” He giggled. “The future you must have must be spectacular if he wants you to witness it!”

I see his game. Either I see a future where I escape, or one where I’m still trapped, or even worse. But if it’s a bad future, I’ll know about it, and I can learn how to avert it!

“Yes!” She put her hands on her hips. “So, how do you do it? Tarot cards? Crystal balls? Tea leaves?”

It raised a finger, shaking it. “Much more simplistic than that.” Reaching one of its elongated limbs into the roof, it grabbed a large, tree-sized staff. The wood on it was perfectly smooth, except for its bulbous tip, which was covered in a messy maze of wrinkles.

Holding the staff, it reached out with its other arm, tapping Louise on the forehead.

The cryptid closes its eyes, and the girl felt a jolt of electricity from the finger. The staff’s tip began to pulse, the wrinkles now writhing like agitated worms.

Moments passed, and the cryptid smiled a terrifying toothy grin.

“My my!” He spoke. Holding the staff in front of Louise’s eyes, it flashed.

Everything faded to black.

The girl flinched awake, yelling. Her sight was blurry, and everything felt different. The air smelled much more clean, her clothes and body were no longer covered in grime. There was a pain in her forearm, and she heard a steady beeping nearby.

As the vision cleared, she saw sterile, pale green walls. She looked down, finding she was on a bed, with an IV hooked up to her arm.

“Oh my god, Louise!”

She glanced over to the voice, and there sat Davis, staring at her wide-eyed.

“Wh…” She glanced around. “What happened?”

“It…” He sighed. “Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. I tried but…”

“Speak to me! What happened?” Her head started to ring. “I was shot, and trapped.. And…”

Davis still stared wide-eyed. “It’s been…” He grabbed his head, shaking it. “Like, it’s too much even for me to recount… You got hurt really badly, your gauntlets were taken, I didn’t even think you were going to live! You’ve been out for a month!”

She looked down at her hands, realizing they were bare. “Did we fail? What about Tomahawk Hills?”

“Still safe, P.A.I.N. isn’t making any moves thankfully. But with you out and…” He shook his head. “I had to make a tough call. I told Kirino about P.A.I.N. and Benefactor.”

“You WHAT?”

“We talked before, and trust me, she’s at least all for protecting the town as well.”

She struggled to get out of the bed, all of her limbs feeling numb.

“You can’t, I’m better now! This is our responsibility! We still have…” Her head started ringing again. “I… What was her name? She was…” She lied back down.

Davis ran over to her. “Please, calm down…”

Everything in her head was foggy. Bits and pieces of her adventures with Davis was all that remained.

“I can’t remember…”

The beeping grew faster and faster.

Davis stared at her with a solemn look. “Maybe… It’s good that you don’t remember. We failed, but you at least survived. It’ll make moving on easier…”

Her vision grew blurry again, and she passed out.

Weeks passed, she was checked out of the hospital and returned home to her loving parents. Weeks continued, and she silently studied in school.

A pang of guilt and depression was ever present in her gut. She ate less, slept more, and found herself staying inside, glancing at any paranormal forum or message board for longer and longer.

Senior year came and went, and she got her diploma. She felt like a fraud taking it after how badly she failed. At the very least, her parents were happy she wasn't totally failing. At least they were happy? She thought they were at least.

She remembered only meeting with Davis a few times throughout the year, mostly by coincidence. He wanted to move on, eating on his own and silently studying. Nothing seemed to connect them together with the allure of the paranormal gone. The only time they intentionally met up was after graduation. One final goodbye as they split off to go to different colleges. Nothing but a “See you later" to each other..

Summer vacation held the same soulless feeling. Just mindlessly browsing through forums and other message boards. She couldn’t remember clearly what she was going to college for. Maybe archeology? But that was too difficult. Days were blended together into a mess of dreary feelings.

A year passed of monotonous college work. She was in her dorm, preparing for a return to Tomahawk Hills. She didn't remember talking much with her parents online. A surprise visit would help, maybe?

But all her searches online showed that the town no longer existed. A historical municipality that was never occupied in the past century.

.

.

.

.

She woke up, staring face to face with the bright yellow eyes of the oracle. She screamed, scampering back.

“Wh… THAT was my future?”

She looked around. Still grimy and itchy, gauntlets still on her hands. Her heart was pounding so fast, it was hard to stand still.

“Oh, not what you expected? Happens to everyone!” Still giving a terrifying, tooth-filled grin.

“It…” She tried to steady her breathing. “It’s just a prediction, I can alter it. The future can be changed, right? Right?”

The cryptid shook its head. “I don’t know. Can you change your fate? I’m merely here to tell you what it is.”

She tried to run, but found the wooden door was closed. She pounded on it.

“I did your stupid job, let me out! Trying to scare me with a bad future, huh?” Her voice had lost some of its conviction, and was shaking.

“Bad future?” The oracle boomed. “It is what it is. Surely you can accept that?”

The girl whirled around. “You think it’s funny? Just messing with me like that?"

"The future is what it is, and that is what makes it so delightful! Nobody is owed or deserves prosperity or misfortune, it merely happens. Why should you be above the chaotic nature of fate?"

"I've heard enough, you oversized hairball!"

She leapt forward, fist reared back, but the oracle grabbed her out of the air by the shirt. “Now now, no need to be angry! Why can’t you accept that’s the fate that awaits you?” He placed her on the ground.

Despair and anger was painted over her reddened face. “Why not? You should know why it’s so terrible! I can’t…” Her eyes widened.

“You said it yourself, you can kill The Collector! Surely, you hate being cooped up in here, right? We can work together and break out together!”

The beast laughed, pounding its fists on the ground. The shaking caused Louise to fall over. “In all my years! I’ve never had anyone try to ask ME to avert THEIR future!”

The laughter ceased, and he stared at her with a terrifying, serious expression.

“You already noticed how well he treats me, no? When I showed him his future, he stood firm, and instead told me what my future was going to be! Safe here, free from the grasp of malicious parties I have been evading for so long.” It reached across the room, opening the fridge and grabbing several bunches of bananas. It grinned as it peeled the fruit, eating it like it was a tiny candy.

“His future… What was it?”

It shook its finger. “I told you, between me and the recipient only!”

Continuing to eat, Louise searched around feverishly. The door was still sealed.

“Ooh, well, your future isn’t absolute!” It said, holding onto a pile of banana peels. “Well, the endpoint is almost the same, but there are some details that I could flesh out for you. Perhaps the old man wants you to see them all?”

Louise felt her heart sink. “No no no, none of that garbage! I don’t wanna see it!” She teared up slightly as she shouted. “Just leave me alone!”

Grabbing ahold of the rafters, the oracle swung over to the garbage can, dropping in a bunch of banana peels.

Louise’s eyes widened as she heard the peels impact against something metallic. She heard the peels fall deeper into the ground.

She broke out into a sprint, running over to the oversized garbage bin. Climbing over the edge, she saw how it led into a chute. She turned back to the Oracle, who was simply smiling at her.

“That’s not going to change your future, you know.”

She grimaced in turn. "When I return, I promise to blow this place sky high, you included! How's that for your future?"

Closing her eyes, she leapt down the chute.

The Oracle howled in delight.

----------------------------------------

Two hours passed of writing and discarding more potential plans, with Queen passing time by watching cars come and go from the plaza parking lot. With a half-empty notebook in hand, the duo departed.

Capital Market was a small grocery store not too far away from downtown. It was flanked by a parking lot, small laundromat, and pharmacy, and sat at the intersection of several residential neighborhoods.

Pushing through the jingling doors of the market, they immediately saw Rex, standing still near the door with his hands behind his back. In front of him was a short old woman, barely coming up to his chest, speaking up to him.

He glanced over to the duo for a split second before returning focus to the old woman in front of him.

“Why can’t you check me out? I’m running very late and need to be going.”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

There were three check out registers. Only one was manned, with a decently long line behind it.

He smiled. “I understand your frustration ma’am, but I am here to work security, nothing more.”

“I shop here every day. I know that you run the register sometimes, I know you can help me!”

“I understand the confusion, but I only cover if there are no cashiers available. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wait in line.”

“I’ve been shopping here for all my life, and you can’t spare a few moments just to help me?”

He checked his watch, tapping his foot. “No ma’am, I’m sorry.”

The lady frowned. “Where is your manager? I’m going to have a word with him about your attitude!”

Rex pointed to the back of the store. “He’s in his office, but he may be busy.”

She turned away, grumpily shuffling to the back of the store.

“Just waste your time complaining, you sure are pressed for time, aren’t ya?” He muttered under his breath.

He exhaled, glancing back at Davis.

“Yo, so just waiting for my-”

The door jingled. In walked a man dressed similarly to Rex.

He sighed. “Yo, Danny. Good luck for the rest of tonight!”

He silently nodded, and Rex walked along with him to the back of the store. Moments later, Rex returned to the front.

“All right, perfect timing. Now before we talk, I want to take you two someplace private.” He leaned in, lowering the volume of his voice. “Not like we want anyone to accidentally overhear what we wanna talk about, yeah?”

Davis silently nodded, Queen staring attentively.

“Also, I do want to make a pit stop to get some coffee. You two want some too? I can buy.”

“Coffee?” Queen asked. “What’s that?”

“Are you actually an alien or something?” Rex questioned.

“Long story, we’ll… Elaborate when we’re ready, all right? And I’ll be fine, but thanks for the offer.”

From Capital Market and after a pit stop at a coffee shop, they followed Rex past several homes until they reached a grassy field, with the boundary of the woods just on the horizon. In the middle of the field was a dirty clearing, along with the wooden framework of a building. To the side of it were stacks of wooden beams and steel girders. Rex turned to the two as he continued walking.

“Don’t worry about this place, it’s been ditched for half a year or so. Been almost the same since, don’t know why it’s been ditched, and frankly, I don’t care.” As they approached closer, they noticed how terribly damaged the site was. There were several gashes into the dirt, several steel girders were split in half and scattered across the ground as if some giant had dropped a big bag of them all over the place.

“Usually when I get stressed out, I just come out here to relax.”

Inside the building was a folding table and a plastic folding chair. Setting his coffee on the table, he sat on the chair, staring at the two.

“All right, before I spill everything about me, you two can go first. Considering you attacked me first, I’m sure you’re fine with showing, right?”

Davis gulped. “Well uh… I’m Davis. Davis Foster. I’m not really anyone special, but I can do this.” He looked up. It was fairly sunny, not many clouds out. He braced himself, phasing out for a second, before returning to reality.

Rex was leaning forward, an excited look on his face.

“Hooooo, man that was pretty cool, not gonna lie!”

Davis stared at him, both confused and relieved. “I can normally stay like that a bit longer, and a lot more to it. Like-”

“Nah, no need to elaborate. I get ya. Now the alien girl?”

Queen stared at him, baring sharpened teeth.

“My name is Queen.” She growled.

Davis leaned in, whispering “Just show him something you can do Queen. Like, the shapeshifting stuff in full. I’m hoping he’ll trust us if we’re honest.”

Her face distorted and twisted, her eyes growing larger, nose flattening, and teeth growing longer and longer until they jutted out of her face. Her face, now that of a malformed monster, let out an ear-ringing shriek. Davis covered his ears, and Rex stared in amazement.

“She’s a shapeshifter. Though, she used to mostly prey on other animals, she’s sticking with us since the government wants her dead too.”

“Damn! So you two are different as well, ya? No wonder feds are after you two as well!”

Queen’s face returned to normal.

“There’s a very long story behind all this, it’s-” Davis paused. “Before I go on, what about you? It’s like, only fair you show us what’s up with you.”

He stood up, nodding. “First, I appreciate the honesty from you two. My name is Rex Dae Lee.”

He took off his sunglasses, revealing deep blue eyes that lacked any pupils.

Holding out his arm, his hand, then arm including his clothes, all unraveled into several strands. Numerous skin-colored cables dangled out of his arm socket. Rex stared at the duo as he made the strands turn stiff, then limp.

“And I have no idea what the hell I am. Seems like every fed knows what I am though, and they’ve been coming at me for the past few years.”

Davis and Queen stared in awe, watching the cables re-coil themselves back into his regular arm.

“And it’s not just that arm. Watch.”

Several lines appeared across his entire body except for his head, and still standing his body undid itself, as if it was a wool doll being unthreaded. His tall body opened up, revealing it was almost entirely empty. All that remained was his spine, which was replaced by a long line of short, segmented iron rods, and his heart, which was surrounded by several coils, and hooked up to a heatsink-like machine. Davis covered his mouth, trying not to gag at the sight, and Queen stared curiously.

“Whoops, a bit too much to start, huh?” Rex said jokingly.

“How do you move? Your insides are missing.”

Rex laughed. “Oh man, I WISH somebody would tell me that. He reformed his body back to normal, before sitting back in the plastic chair.

“I don’t know when specifically, but one day I woke up like this. I only found out because I was cutting some food, nicked my finger, and the knife I was using bent around it.”

Davis regained his composure. “And… And the feds?”

“Oh, they showed up a few months after that accident. Some asked questions, some tried to forcibly take me away from my family, some even tried assassinating me. You can tell how those attempts all went, yeah?”

He brought his thumb up to his neck, pulling it across, making a “krrrrrrck” noise with his mouth.

“Funniest thing is that they always seemed to know when I was alone, so at least my family wasn’t aware of what was going on. But, I didn’t wanna take any risks, so with a bit of help from them, I decided to move out here into what I THOUGHT was the middle of nowhere, and work just a small job so I can silently move up in the world… But low and behold, they still show up once every few months and I have to deal with them.”

“Wait.” Queen spoke up. “This doesn’t feel right. You are telling us so much. But yet, we just met. You could be lying.”

Rex laughed. “Excuse me if it’s all odd, but I’ve had this bottled up for YEARS. Not every day you not only find people who are freaks like me, but ALSO have the same issues with feds hunting them down.”

Davis smiled, laughing in relief. “Yeah, there’s a lot more too that man, but I’m happy you’re like, being real with us too.” He sighed.

“See I got a simple goal in mind. I don’t want these abilities, I don’t want the feds after me, I just want to work my job in peace, work my way up, then be a security guard for some middle of nowhere site and make bank. Then, I can live peacefully.” He reformed his hand into a blade, staring at it. “And if some random feds want to mess with my plans to live that simple life, all because of this? I’ll sure as hell give them a full demonstration. To them, and anyone else that’ll stand in my way.”

Davis shirked back, gulping. He took a deep breath.

“About that… Well, those agents, are working pretty intensely here…”

He stared at him wide-eyed. “You’re kidding me?”

“Well for starters, they tried to kill one of my friends. Then they trained Queen here to try and attack us. Then they unleashed a ghostly entity on us in the middle of school…”

He rubbed his forehead. “Man, usually they just send men with guns after me. What kinda feds do they have working here?”

“Well, ones who want to quarantine the town, and turn it into a big paranormal zoo. Off the books, like this town doesn’t exist. You see-”

“No, excuse me? What? Why?”

“There’s… A whole lot more paranormal stuff going on in Tomahawk Hills than just you. So much so that if they find even more, that might just happen.

He slammed his fist on the plastic table, cracking it.

“On every front, feds have been making my life hell. Do you know how hard it was to find a place to move out to without them interfering? And the one place I CAN move to, they wanna make into a giant zoo?” He stood up, Queen and Davis took a step back. His body looked like it was radiating steam.

“One moment.” He spoke in monotone, turning away. Grabbing one of the steel girders out of the ground, the same height as him. He pulled it out, tossing it into the air. Letting out an annoyed scream, his fingers unraveled into three thin wires that were glowing orange. He swung away at the falling beam, the wires roughly cutting through the metal. When the girder struck the ground, he continued to swing away until the steel structure looked like it had been thoroughly chewed on. Then, he brought the wires together, them coiling around each other at the end to form a ball and chain. He continued to swing away at the ravaged girder and floor, kicking up a massive plume of dust. When the dust settled, he was standing there, arms reformed to normal, panting. Two slits opened up in his back, blasting out fountains of steam.

He straightened his back, exhaling, and turning to a terrified Davis and intimidated Queen.

“Sorry bout that. That’s just how I relax. I uh, promise I don’t do that to anyone except feds.”

He walked back and sat down.

“What? I told you I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“So… You have agents sent after you with the intent to abuse your power, right?”

Rex nodded. “Yeah, honestly they’re cool and all, but that little detail is kinda ruining my future life.”

“Have you tried to do anything about them?”

Rex looked insulted. “Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do against the government of all things? Where do I even start? Just going to police stations or government buildings, flailing around like a psychopath telling secret agents to stop seeking me out? I don’t even want to do that. It’ll make me a target for normal folk as well.”

“Well… I know something you can do. Help us.”

He raised an eyebrow. At him.

“Queen and I, along with another, have been working to well… Kill off or hide any paranormal phenomena or monsters here in this town. Let me just say from a very good source, that if we’re able to make a big enough difference in the amount of phenomena, the government will lose interest in this town.”

“And how’s that plan been working for ya?”

“We’ve been making pretty good progress actually! But we’ve hit a wall. See, we found one of their secret facilities, but a friend of ours was captured. Her name is Louise, she has these magical gauntlets that help her hunt down monsters, and…” He shook any intrusive thoughts about what could be happening to Louise from his mind. “We need help. It’s heavily guarded, I’m better at phasing through things than killing, and…”

“You need some muscle? Before you continue, how do you know directly attacking this facility won’t have the feds bearing down on you with their full might?”

“I mean, we’ve been interfering with them for weeks now and the guy in charge of that facility has only sent Queen here, and a monster with the intention of killing Queen. If they could, I’m pretty sure I’d be sitting in a jail cell bare minimum. Or some creepy government lab.”

Rex crossed his arms. “Fair enough.” He tapped his foot, looking at the sky.

“Well, I got no work tomorrow at least… But hmm…”

He paced back and forth.

Queen spoke up. “Do you want to be friends?”

He paused, staring at the shapeshifter. “Huh?”

“I am friends with Davis. I am friends with Louise. I would be captured or dead without them. Maybe friendship can solve your problem?”

He chuckled. “Ok, so you don’t know what coffee is, but have an understanding of friendship?”

“It’s when humans are together, to support each other where they are weak. You are powerful alone, but still fear feds. Together, we can be stronger than them. Yes?”

He laughed. “Man I wish, but you know? I’ll bite. But just this once, all right? I can’t be working as a full time security guard, and full time monster hunter or whatever you guys do. Honestly, just hitting them where it hurts will be good enough for me! Maybe that’ll send a good enough message to them.”

Davis smiled at Queen. She smiled in turn.

“I’m assuming you want to rescue your friend as soon as possible, yeah? So I say we go tonight.”

He pulled out his phone, showing his contact information.

“Write it down, give me a phonecall and address when you’re all set.”

Davis nodded. “I’m gonna draft up a plan, we’ll run through it, and head on over to the site. It’s pretty far away, so I hope you’re prepared for a bit of a walk.”

“Sounds like a good change of pace from how life’s been running anyways!” He said with cheer in his voice. He put his shades back on, waving at his two new companions. “I’m gonna head back home, take a bit of a rest. I’ll be waiting!”

Louise slipped down the chute, hitting several bumps and turns on her way down. It was pitch black all the way down and pitch black when she landed into a pool of foul sludge. It was a mix of various liquids, banana peels, garbage, and who knows what else. It reeked terribly, her eyes watering and a sickening feeling overtook her. She swallowed hard, and waded through the pool. She moved forward until she reached a wall, and put her hand against it, walking against the wall. She continued until she felt her hand run across a ladder. She scrambled to climb out of the bile, now on top of cold, moist concrete. Her body was still dripping with refuse, and she worked hard to brush off any debris that was still stuck to her clothes. The stench was still there, unfortunately, and every footstep she could still feel her sneakers squelch out more of the bile. She shuddered, but redoubled herself, and walked forward, feeling the wall again.

She had no idea where she was, let alone where she could even be going, but she remembered the right hand rule to mazes: So long as she kept her hand on the right wall, she could find her way out.

Then, she trudged forward, taking slow, careful steps.

An hour passed of slowly moving forward in the darkness. She had taken turn after turn after turn, wandering through the halls with no lights or end at all seen. A few times, she had to open doors, where all she could hear was flowing sewage, and take in the terrible smell once more.

Another hour passed. Her legs were getting shaky, and the smell was really getting to her. She shivered, realizing how terribly cold it was down there.

But there could be an exit right around the corner!

In her mind, it was a matter of which corner. She had tried to keep count of the amount of turns she had made, trying to form some mental image of where she could be in the darkened labyrinth. Another turn, and her fears that she was going in circles continued to grow.

Over the next hour, her energy continued to drain. She was hungry and thirsty. Her body itched all over and smelled like sewage. She was panting, even though all she was doing was slowly inching forward in the darkness, feeling the wall.

She started to think back to her fate the Oracle showed her.

“You stupid…” She muttered to herself, realizing it was right when it said leaping down wouldn’t change her future.

Ooh, well, your future isn’t absolute! Well, the endpoint is almost the same.

She tried to push her mind away from what was supposedly awaiting her. It had to be some sort of trick, the Collector knew the Oracle would do this.

But Davis hadn’t arrived yet. No loads of gunfire or bombastic escape with him yet.

That vision didn’t even confirm if Davis tried to save me or not. Did he chicken out?

She tried to shake the vision from her mind again, but lost her footing. She stumbled forward, falling flat on the ground.

In a panic, she spun around, trying to reach for a wall.

She realized she had fallen flat right in the middle of a four-way intersection.

She had lost her wall she was following.

She screamed in anguish, leaning back against one of the walls.

“This is all not how it’s supposed to go!” She screamed, her voice echoing down the halls. “Where are you Davis? Queen? Come on! I’m right here!”

She thought back to her future. Could she change it? Was there some event she was knowingly walking into that was going to cause it?

She remembered: Maybe it was Davis even attempting to rescue her at all that would cause it?

She shielded her eyes as suddenly the halls flooded with light.

As her eyes adjusted, she heard a door open and close, along with approaching footsteps.

Her gut sank, she knew exactly who it was.

Her eyes finally adjusted to the light, and standing a foot away from her with the elephant gun in hand was The Collector.

“Get up. Now.”

She stared at him, with hatred and despair in her eyes. She knew what her heart yearned for. To leap out and uppercut him, and find the exit in the now well-lit corridors.

But she knew exactly what would happen if she were to attempt it.

Everything ached, and she could feel her heart waning. Her throat was incredibly dry, and her stomach was growling. She felt like a used car with every single warning light going off at this point.

Even at my peak, even with a new shield too, he’s still always a step ahead! But…

“I told you, get up.”

She sighed. Slowly, she got back to her feet.

“I’m not doing this for you.” She barked. “I’m doing this because the last thing I need is you being a bigger pain in my neck.”

The Collector smiled, keeping the gun pointed right at her back.

“Move. You’re going to need to be decontaminated to make sure you don’t get sick.