The next morning found the team back at the field they trained at, Logan informed everyone that the enemy team wouldn’t show up till noon that day. Instead of simply standing around and waiting for the enemy to show up the team moved around the field and set up small, very simple traps. No one believed they would really hurt someone from god’s realm, but they gave them something to do and they might just get lucky. It was during this that Josh found himself alone with Logan.

“What did you mean yesterday?” he asked the leader, “When you said very few innocent people enter this world.”

Logan took a moment before responding “I may not have been entirely accurate when I said that. The only real requirement for entering this realm is to have at one point given up on life. This covers a very large group of people, but certain types are targeted more than others.”

“There’s people like Toby and Matt who lived a relatively normal life, but misfortune brought them low enough to be brought here. Then there’s people like Gwen and Ashley who have special skills that would make them excellent team members, people like them don’t need to get very low before God takes them. The people I was talking about are those who never saw value in life. Criminals, psychopaths, and those who kill purely for fun.”

“So those are the type of people we can expect from Team East Africa?” Josh questioned.

“Probably, some teams can be made up entirely of criminals, god doesn’t care” Logan responded and went back to work. Josh waited for a moment before moving back to help. He was more curious about the team leader now, he didn’t say where he landed in the groupings, but Josh was even more curious about himself. As far as he could remember he had never been so low as to given up on life, sure he was disappointed about losing the championship, but he wasn’t suicidal about it. So why was he brought here?

About ten minutes before noon Logan called the team together to discuss the plan one more time.

“So, they will be brought in within the next few minutes, the plan is to stay here and fight off anyone who comes and attacks us.” He started

“The hope is to take one of the attackers hostage while killing the rest of the group” Gwen continued “we will then have the hostage take us to the rest of the team for the final battle.”

“What if they send the full team at once?” Steele asked

“We just have to gamble and hope they won’t” the gamer girl replied.

“Are you sure they’ll be able to find us?” Lance asked, clearly not satisfied with the plan.

“As long as they have a Psyche Force user they will” Logan responded, “They can identify people of god’s dimension from movie characters”.

“And they’ll be able to tell we don’t have a trained user yet?” the teen continued.

“Definitely, one of the first skills any user learns is one that blocks the team from a psyche force scan they are also sensitive to other users” came the answer.

“So they’re most likely to scan for us right after arrival and once they see how weak we are they’ll send a small group to take us out. Easy points.” Lance summarized.

“How did you plan on communicating with them?” Steele asked suddenly.

“That’s a good question.” Josh commented “I don’t know how common English is in Africa. What if they don’t speak it?”

The question caught the veterans off guard but then Logan answered “God automatically makes it so we can understand anyone else from his realm. It’s different for movie characters but we’ll be able to talk to other teams without worry”

“There’s items you can purchase that’ll help with movies that don’t take place in an English-speaking country” Gwen added. At that moment the watch on her wrist beeped, not the watch given by God but a sci-fi item she traded for in the lobby. This was the signal everyone was waiting for; Team East Africa was entering the movie.

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Logan turned suddenly, his demeanor turning serious in an instant “I can feel them, they’re really strong”

“You can feel them?” Lance asked in surprise also turning to face the same direction.

“They released a lot of killing intent the moment they appeared” the leader said, his eyes going unfocused.

“Could they be planning on attacking from where they are?” Steele questioned.

“I don’t think so, it doesn’t make sense, it should take at least a moment for them to find us” Logan’s eyes regained focus and he looked to the other veterans “It’s stopped for now”

“Can you give us an idea of how far away they are?” Lance asked still looking in the direction of the enemy team.

“No, its just a feeling of danger they put off, not an actual tracking skill.” The older man explained.

“It’s one of the perks of unlocking the genetic constraint” Gwen added.

As the team spoke, they didn’t notice the clouds above growing bigger and darker, what was once a partially cloudy day was becoming a growing overcast. Lance and Steele were the first to notice but before they could say anything a clap of thunder brought everyone’s attention to the sky. A woman with ebony skin floated above them, in each of her hands she held onto a person who hung as if unconscious.

Logan took a step forward putting himself in front of the team, Matt was right behind with his book opened.

“Team West America” the woman spoke calm and confident “I have come to talk”

“Talk about what?” Logan spoke, his voice calm but firm.

“My name is Abuya of Team East Africa, I have come to offer cooperation and to ask for a favor” as the woman spoke, she floated lower to the ground and dropped the two bodies, a man and a woman. Though she let them go she did not lower herself to the ground. Lance noticed the two people were on the ground were wearing what looked like regular clothing while the woman wore a slick jumpsuit that looked like it came from a sci-fi movie.

“Your team wishes to work together?” Logan questioned, if they hadn’t lost their newbies this would be an ideal situation but given the circumstances working together was impossible.

“No,” Abuya spoke almost hesitantly “I have abandoned my team and wish to work with you for my own goals”.

“What goals do you have?” Logan asked

“A complete wipe of my old team” the woman said with determination. This caught everyone off guard, no one could have expected such a request.

“You want us to kill your entire team? Wouldn’t that kill you as well?” Matt spoke up for the first time.

“I have a special stone that will save me from being erased due to a negative point value” Abuya explained.

“Why would you want us to kill your entire team?” Logan asked. Abuya’s eyes narrowed and the clouds behind her began to darken even more.

“In the last movie my love was killed by our team leader simply because he questioned his authority” the woman spoke venomously, and small bolts of lightning began to dance among the clouds.

“Do you have the genetic mutation of Storm from the x men?” Lance asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Logan shot the teen a warning look, but the question seemed to calm the woman.

“Yes, it was a final gift from my husband” she answered sadly “He said I need some power to protect myself if I ever got separated from the team”.

“So why should we help you?” Logan took another step forward to guarantee all attention was on him “This movie would be a lot easier if we worked with a full team as opposed to just one member”

“My team wouldn’t work with you” Abuya said coldly “or if they did, they’d betray you as soon as they could. I’m also offering these two newbies as a sign of goodwill.” She motioned to the two people on the ground.

“Besides the two newbies I’m offering my own abilities” she continued “Not only do I have the Storm mutation I’m also a psyche force user”.

“You’re your team’s psyche force user? So, they’re running blind right now?” Logan asked, trying to keep his face neutral.

“Yes, as soon as we entered, I grabbed the couple newbies and told them I was leaving the team. They didn’t take it well, but they have no means of tracking me here.” Abuya confirmed “I also know your team doesn’t have one either, at least not a trained one”

“You’re right, honestly we could use your abilities to take on your team” Logan said turning to the rest of the team. “does anyone object to working with her?”

Steele was the first to speak “do you really think if all of us fight your team we can come out victorious?”

“not without casualties” Abuya answered honestly “but that’s why I brought these newbies, even if you lose one or two members you’ll still be up in points”. No one spoke up to inform her that even with the two deaths they would still be down 8000 points. No one else spoke for a moment everyone contemplating the sudden events. Josh glanced at Lance and saw his stepbrother lost in thought, probably trying to determine if Abuya was being honest or not. Her anger and desire for revenge seemed genuine but there was no way to confirm this wasn’t some elaborate trap.

“I think she’s telling the truth” Lance suddenly spoke “as far as I can tell she’s being honest with us”

Logan nodded at his words than turned to the rest of the veterans for their opinions. Once every agreed the team leader turned to the flying woman “looks like we’ve got an alliance”