Morning in the abandoned factory was filled with the scent of boiling meat and vegetables.
Tracy stirred in her sleep as the scent reached her, then she sat up to see where it was coming from.
She saw Jim with a pot and a small electric stove. 
"Hey Jim..." She said groggily.
"Morning, Sunshine." Jim immediately regretted saying that. "Uh… Sorry... It just came out." 
Tracy giggled. "That's what my mom says to me when I wake up."
"Yeah... Anyway, soup’s on!"
"How'd you get all these?" She said as she pointed at the car battery-powered stove.
"It's technically all stolen... But nobody really wanted it. The pot is a burned to hell on the outside, but I managed to clean the inside well. Got the stove from an appliance store in the spare parts room because it was broken, but don't worry. I fixed it. Then the car battery? That, I actually did steal..."
"Jim..." She said, annoyed.
"I know... But we need it. Besides, the government isn't gonna care about one car battery being stolen. Happens everyday."
"You need to stop stealing, now that we know what's on our tail."
"I know! But we're in desperate times." 
"I understand, but tell us next time. I thought you were just gonna buy cooked food again."
"Yeah... We can't afford food that's already cooked. So I had to get these and buy stuff that you need to cook to save what little cash we have."
"Okay, that's fair."
"Still, this soup should be good. Beef, corn, lettuce, noodles, carrot, black pepper. Should last you and Jeff till I come back."
"You're leaving soon?"
"Yeah. But first, I’m gonna join you guys for breakfast. Do you mind waking Jeff up, please?"
Tracy nudged Jeffrey while he was sleeping. 
"What... Is it?" He said, still very tired
"Breakfast." Tracy flatly stated.
"Breakfast?" Jeffrey said as he sat up.
"Soup's on." Jim told his best friend.
"Okay." He said with a yawn.
"Let's eat, everyone!" Jim announced as he got two regular bowls and an extra large popcorn bowl that he had on top of the munitions crate and started pouring the soup into them, which they then let cool off for a moment before eating it.

"Okay... 8 AM. If I'm gonna be back by lunch, with cash, I’d better go now." Jim stated as he finished his bowl of soup.
"Be careful out there, brother."
"Yeah. Careful around that Zero guy." 
"I will. First him, then Chicago, then making money. Heh, I haven't been this busy since high school."
"Well, at least it's more fun than high school." Jeffrey replied.
"True." 
Jim got his duffle bag and went out the door.
"Remember. Anything happens, contact me."
"Okay!" Tracy and Jeffrey said in unison.
"See you guys later."

Zero was in his music store. Reading a magazine while listening to My Chemical Romance with his feet up on the table.
But just as he was getting to the chorus of "Welcome to the Black Parade" Jim knocked on the door.
He thought it was a customer so he didn't look up from his magazine.
"Not open yet." He yelled.
Jim hacked into his phone and stopped his song.
"What the- Oh." Zero said as he put the magazine down and saw Jim.
He groaned and got off the chair to unlock and open the door.
"What's up, Technomancer?"
"Cyber-Punk. Anyway, what's up is I have a few questions."
"Come in. Let's talk inside."
Zero let Jim in and took a seat, putting his feet on the table again.
"So, questions. Shoot."
"You're making a rebellion in Chicago, right?"
"Yes."
"Tell me. How many are you in this rebellion?"
"Five. Me included."
"Members?"
"Me, Flare, Escape Velocity, Shift, Ghost."
"That... Means nothing to me."
"Of course it doesn't. You don't know them."
"Okay. Got a hideout in Chicago?"
"Northernly Island. Warehouse 13-M."
"Okay..."
"Why are you asking?"
"I wanna make sure you're telling the truth. For all I know, you can be pulling all this out of your ass."
"So... The fact that I'm not putting you in a shadow box, where all you'll see is endless darkness as long as it's up, is Not a testament to me telling the truth?"
"Zero, I'll be frank with you. From what you told me, we're going through similar things. So you should know that it's hard to trust people that claim to be this when they're actually the government."
"Fair enough. But last I checked, Chicago is far as fuck. How are you gonna go there and be back for the fighting ring tomorrow night?"
"I'll solve that. Who's at the warehouse now?"
"Probably Flare. The others go out a lot."
"And Flare's power is?"
"Force Field Generation."
"Okay... That's all I need. I'll be back later."
"Really? That's it?"
"Yeah. I'll just verify if your telling me the truth."
"Whatever."
Jim walked out of the store and left Zero to continue reading his magazine and listen to his song in peace.
That was until a genuine customer knock on the door.
"Seriously? We're still closed!"

Jim looked for anything he could teleport into to get to Chicago. Seeing a few cars parked around the corner gave him an idea.
Hacking one particularly dark tinted car to unlock, Jim got in and first searched the glove compartment for anything he could use. Unsurprisingly there was nothing in the compartment but papers.
"Worth a shot. Okay... Computer on... Connection established..."
Jim pocketed his phone and re-entered the Internet in a flash of blue light.

"So..." Jeffrey said awkwardly. "How have you and Jim been getting along?"
"He's a great guy. While I don’t know why he doesn't tell me things like how he got breakfast, he's been nice to me."
"That's Jim, he just does things."
"Yeah... So... Ah! Before you came arrived last night, Jim was talking about video games with me."
"Go on..."
"Well... He talked about Titanfall 2 and the Vanguard class Titans."
"BT and Jack. The main campaign. I'd show you since I got my Xbox One, but we don't have a TV..."
"Eh, it's fine."
"I really like the guns in game, though.”
"Gun enthusiast?"
"Yeah..."
"Sweet! What guns do you have again?"
"A Smith and Wesson Revolver, A Beretta 9 millimeter, and a
Steyr AUG A3 assault rifle."
"Nice!"
"You used to shoot?"
"No. I just watched my Daddy. He had a Beretta too!"
"Cool. Was he a collector or in the military?"
"Military. But..."
Tracy's face spoke for her as she frowned.
"Oh... He-"
"Yes.. He was in Iran..."
"I'm sorry, Tracy..."
"It's alright. I... Was depressed about it, but soon enough, I accepted that he was gone."
"Well... I know how you feel. My dad died too."
"Oh... What happened to him?" She asked sadly.
"He had... A stroke in his sleep. Pretty sure it was related to his alcohol problem.”
"I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay... But you wanna know the worst part of it?"
"What?"
"There... There have been times in life... Times where things have been bad, and I've just felt like... I am nothing. Like I have no purpose. No reason to exist. No reason for being. And in those moments... I have... Contemplated suicide. I mean... I'm not sure that there is an afterlife. But if there is... I'd like to hope that I would end up with my dad. Because... I miss him. I miss him so much..." He said, getting choked up as tears started streaming down his face.
Tracy put her hand on Jeffrey's back.
"I never thought about suicide. When I did... I was disgusted at my own thoughts. But I did think about my daddy... When he was gone, I wanted nothin' more in my life but to be with him, even if it was just for a minute. I just wish I could said goodbye properly..."
"Yeah. Me too..." Jeffrey said as we wiped his tears away.
"But still... Life goes on. It's great to remember the people we lost, but... It's better to be what they would've been able to look at and say... 'I'm proud of you'. Or at least... That’s how I take it."
"Yeah..."
Tracy moved to sit next to Jeffrey.
"And with the world how it is now. It's best to see what we can do in, and for it."
"Yeah. And I used to think that, there's not a goddamn thing that a little pissant like me can do to make a decent difference in the world. But now... I think that... Together.. We can change the world... You. Jim. Me. All of us."
"That's the spirit!"
"Yeah. But years from now, when people are telling stories about this stuff... Compared to you guys, I'll probably be forgotten. But you know what? That's okay. I don't mind being forgotten. I'm... I'm okay."
"Hey! That ain't no way to think. You're in this as much as me and Jim."
"Well, whatever happens... I'll be okay. Maybe I'll just fuck off and become some kinda wandering hero like Mad Max or something."
"Hey. Your brother can control and teleport into phones and you're sitting next to a 12 foot tall me! Anything can happen." She said with a beaming smile to brighten up Jeffrey's mood.
"Yeah..." Tracy's smile was infectious. Jeffrey soon had a small smile in his face as well.
"And with Jim meeting this Zero guy. Who know who we'll meet. Maybe you can meet someone for you."
"Yeah..."
Tracy squeezed him against her side to hug him.
"I'm glad to have you as company."
"Glad to be here. You're a good friend, Tracy."
Tracy a Jeffrey just sat there. Enjoying each other's company.

After hours of searching in the internet for the right device to exit out of in Chicago, Jim settled for a PC on sleep mode in the apartment of a teenager that posted he was heading out to the airport to pick up his girlfriend.
The PC booted up from sleep mode and the screen went blue and grew brighter and brighter until Jim reappeared. 
"Who needs planes? That is considering I am where I want to be..." Jim thought as he took out his phone.
The GPS showed that he was in Chicago, just a good several blocks away from where he needed to be as well.
"Alright. I'm just one ride away from the island. Time to go."
He opened the window of the apartment, closing it behind him, and went down through the fire escape.
Once he was back on the ground, he sent a message for any drivers nearby that accepted credit. Soon enough, a car pulled over to Jim.
He opened the door and got in the back door.
"Northernly Island." Jim said.
"Okay." The driver says as he started driving.
"How much is the fare?" 
"16 bucks for 20 minutes."
"Okay. But please, make it quick. I got a meeting."
"Will do."

Quanesia's successful checkpoint bypass was a great first step, but her journey to get to her father was far from over.
Managing well on her own so far, she found herself in a donut shop, thinking about the next four steps she will take.
"So close to my father... Of course I can't expect it to be easy. After all, I am being hunted. My father will obviously be watched closely by the government. I can call Jim again to take care of the cameras and microphones, but the men... Even if Jim teleported here to fight with me, chances are stacked against us still, considering the worst case scenario..." She contemplated. "However, with proper planning beforehand, considering I have the time, I can take down the men all by my self. However the possibility of a curveball in the form of Neo-Human Nightcap agents like the ones encountered by Jim and Tracy are another possibility that I must have a contingency for..." She thought as she took a sip of her coffee.
"A visit to a hardware store is going to be needed... Yes... sodium for yellow... strontium for red... going to need calcium... manganese too..."
Quanesia unlocked her phone and started typing down what she needed on a notebook app.

Nearly 30 minutes later, Jim was at Northernly Island.
He had hacked digital payment to the driver for his services, thanked him for the ride, and got out of the car.
"Warehouses..." 
Jim searched for the warehouses. Fortunately, Northernly Island was relatively small and detached from the rest of Chicago. In a way, Jim saw the reason why Zero would set up his base here.
Soon enough, Jim saw the storage houses and walked towards the chain link fence around the perimeter.
After getting through the fence, he looked for the warehouse Zero told him his crew lived in.
"11-K, 12-L, 13-M! There we go!" He said softly with enthusiasm.
He approached the warehouse and used his phone to scan for any devices. Surprisingly, there weren't any, or at least one that was connected to the Internet.
"Strange..." 
Jim knew someone was inside, as he could hear faint music playing from the outside.
He pressed his ear against the door and heard the tune of "Rock and Roll all Night" being played by an electric bass.
"Okay... Time to be direct, then..." 
Jim knocked on the door with his fist, hoping whoever was inside would answer.
The music stopped after a few moments then the sliding grate opened, revealing a pair of blue eyes with heavy, black eyeliner.
"What do you want?!" A young female voice yelled. It carried a tone that seemed like a mix between Avril Lavigne and Hayley Williams.
"Are... You Flare?" Jim replied.
"How the Hell do you know that?!"
"So you are! Look, Zero sent for me. I-"
"Zero?!"
The door swung open and a leather gloved hand forcibly pulled Jim into the warehouse.
Inside, Flare threw Jim onto a couch. Then she made a sphere of blue cold plasma hover above her left hand ready to strike.
Jim looked at his captor, Flare was a lean, pale-skinned girl. She was wearing a black grunge tank top with a flaming skull on it, black leather pants, spiky elevator shoes, a leather glove on her right hand, and had her hair dyed teal.
"START TALKIN'!"
"Okay! Put the force field sphere down! I'm... I guess a new recruit."
"How do you know Zero?!"
"I met him. Told me about your trouble with the facility here."
"Really? What's his power?"
"He can control shadows."
"Okay... what's he look like?"
"Like he should be in My Chemical Romance."
"Okay... What's your power? And how can you help us?"
"I'm gonna be your hacker. I'm a technopath, so I can control technology, even government technology."
"I need proof on that..."
"I'll show you what I got, but I need my gear."
"Alright. But I got my eye on you!"
Flare let Jim stand up to take his phone out.
"What are you doing?! No phones! The gov-"
"Can use the NSO to track phones? I know. That's why I made this one untraceable, amongst other things... Come on, I'll show you..." 
Flare let her cold plasma sphere dissipate into the air and looked at Jim's phone as he was doing something.
"See these screens? These are the cameras outside. I froze them."
"For Real?"
"Don't believe me? How about some stolen government technology to prove I'm cool?"
"What tech are we talking about here?" Flare said with skepticism.
Jim put his duffle bag on the couch and put on the right arm enhancer to show Flare what he meant.
"Dude... I'm not gonna lie. That's awesome."
"Told ya. Now are we cool?"
"I guess you're cool. You know Zero, you know me, you got power, and you got gear. Looks like he got us a full package."
"Speaking of, mind telling me what this whole thing is about? The way Zero talked to me, he gave the bare minimum of info I needed."
"Sure. Basically, we're a revolution in the making. Government thinks they can just take people and do whatever shit they wanna do with them. Us here? We say fuck that! And we do what we can for the people like us."
"And how's that been going?"
"To be honest? Not well. We know there's a facility here and that there's prisoners, but we don't know where it is"
"What? Than how did you get those files? Zero told me you tried to get into a facility but failed."
"Yeah. That's Zero alright. He lied to you... Kinda. We thought it was the facility when it was just a place they were making the plans under the disguise of a car manufacturing place. It was still full of hella guards, though. So we couldn't take them down when they called reinforcements. Zero just made it out with those files that night."
"Okay then..."
"Look, I know it's hard to trust the guy, I mean even I don't know his real name, but would you join a side that you knew was failing?" 
"That's fair, I guess."
"So..." Flare took her black and white electric bass and started strumming a bit. "Where is Zero at right now?" 
"A music store in El Paso..."
"El Paso? Damn… You came a long way."
"Yeah. Honestly, I wasn't expecting all this to be real when I spoke to him this morning. I thought it was all some lie he cooked up."
"You better believe it now… Wait, did you say this morning? You gave him one of your untraceable phones... Who are you?"
"I'm Cyber-Punk. And no, I talked with him like an hour ago. Face to face."
"An hour? So you like, what, hacked a plane here?"
"No. I can teleport via the Internet. All I need is two devices connected to the Internet to teleport from one to the other."
"You gotta show me that, man. That sounds fucking hella cool!"
"Not yet. Got a few more things to do before I get back to El Paso."
"Wait, you're not staying?"
"No. Now that I know Zero was telling the truth, more or less, I'm gonna go to a fighting ring with him. May have some info you guys could need."
"Alright, that's fair. What do you need to get done?"
"I need money. And since I'm away from my friends in El Paso, I'm going to rob a bank without them even knowing it. Wanna come with?"
"Sure. I can finally see you do some Real hacking!"
"Awesome. And while we're out, I'll get you an untraceable phone so you can contact Zero using my private network."
"Sweet."
Jim packed his gear and Flare put her bass back down, and then they went out.

Flare and Jim were walking to the nearest bank. As they did, they discussed their plan. “Alright... Here's the plan. You look for any cops or government asshats and signal me with a timeout gesture. I'll be in the bank, waiting in line while I create a throwaway bank account and take 4,000 dollars from the bank."
"Why just 4,000?"
"Can't be too big. Banks log the particularly big withdrawals."
"Fair enough."
After twenty minutes of walking, they were at a bank. The walls of which were mostly comprised of clear tempered glass to allow any person from the outside to look into the building. Seeing what was going on inside, whether it be an armed bank robbery or the employees going on with their day to day job.
"Okay. You keep a lookout. I'm going in."
Flare gave him a thumbs up, then sat at the stairs of the bank while Jim went in. 
He connected his phone to bank's systems and while he waited in line for the cardless ATM, created a new bank account.
He then started to load the bank account with one dollar from four thousand different accounts in the bank's files. This took a few minutes, but soon enough, the account had all the money he needed.
Jim waited for the person in front of him to finish their withdrawal, then waved his phone over the ATM, and it dispensed 4,000 dollars.
Jim folded the bills, pocketed them, and walked out.

"Let's go." Jim said.
"What? That quick?" Flare asked.
"Yeah. You'd be surprised how many flaws there are in the security of banks."
"Okay. What now?"
"You get a phone that you can use to contact me and Zero. Then I go."
"Man, when they come back, the guys are gonna be Hella jealous."
"I'd get them phones too, but I need the cash."
"Eh. Looks like they're stuck with burner phones."
"Good tactic."
"Whatever, just get me my phone!"
"Here, 500. Get yourself any phone you want and keep the rest for whatever."
"Nice!"
"Before we go... how old are you?"
"I'm 17, dude."
"Okay then. Now, let's go get you your phone."
"What? You're not going to let me ask how old you are?"
"How old do you think I am?"
"I dunno man, 16?"
"I'm 19."
"And yet, you're shorter than I am."
"Shut up."
Flare chuckled as they started walking.

After buying Flare a new smartphone, the two made their way back to the warehouse.
Jim opened the box, booted up the phone, then placed it on the couch.
"This is where I say goodbye. Just wait for my call so you know it's not gonna be traced."
"Sure. Tell Zero I said hi."
"Will do. I'll see you around, Flare."
"You too, Cyber-Punk."
Jim touched the new phone's screen, then everything went blue.
The flash of light blinded Flare and when she reopened her eyes, Jim was gone.
"Damn... You sure know how to pick 'em, Zero..."
She sat back down and started strumming her bass again.
"Gonna Rock and Roll All Night! And Party Everyday! Yeah!"

Minutes later, Jim was back in El Paso. He went straight to Zero's music store. As he entered, only one other person was inside with Zero.
"No... Death and Heavy Metal are not the same, man..."
Jim got in his line of sight and he pointed to the back door. Jim got in and waited.
About five minutes later, Zero came in as well.
"Sorry. Annoying customer."
"Hey, it's alright. Anyway, yeah, just got back from Chicago." 
"Seriously? It's only been… What? Less than 2 hours ago since we last talked?"
"Told you. I can do things. I met Flare, and she's.... Nice."
"Really?"
"How about you ask her yourself."
Jim called Flare's phone and nearly immediately, she picked up, and Jim put it on speaker so Zero could hear.
"So... You sure this thing's untraceable?" She said.
"Flare? That really you?" Zero said as Jim gave him the phone.
"Zero?! Fuck yeah, it's me! How's it going, dude?”
"So the Technomancer really did go to Chicago…"
"Yeah! So, how's it goin'?"
"Things are alright. Just a few more days before I come back."
"Sweet! I'll tell the guys when they get back here."
"Anything happening over there?"
"Nah. We've been keeping a low profile. We're good here."
"Alright. Just keep doing what you're doing. Wait for me. I'll ask Jim for my own phone soon."
"Jim?"
"That would be me." Jim said.
"Oh! Okay! Cyber-Punk's real name is Jim... Alright, see ya soon, Z."
"See ya."
Flare hung up and Zero gave the phone back to Jim.
"Okay. Thanks for giving her a phone so I can get updates."
"And thank you for... Partially telling the truth."
"Yeah... So, you still with us?"
"Under one condition."
"Name it."
"I have someone really close to me that's normal. He's in the know about all this. If I'm gonna be a part of this, he's gonna be a part of this."
"A normal... You sure?"
Jim just gave him a serious glare and an eyebrow raise.
"Okay. We really need your skills, so if those are your terms, fine. We'll let him in too. But if he backstabs us-"
"He won't. He's my brother. Not to mention, he's good with guns."
"That just gives me more reason to watch him."
"He's not a traitor. So do we have a deal?"
"Deal..."
The two shook hands. Zero's shadow snake coiled around his forearm.
"And now that I know you're legit, where do we meet tomorrow? For the fighting ring?"
"Meet me here at 10 tomorrow night. Fight starts at midnight, so if we're gonna get info, we better start early."
"Agreed. I'll see you here tomorrow."
"Bring the ticket."
"I will. Don't worry. See you then."
With that, Jim got out of the room with Zero and exited the store. Leaving Zero inside.
"With him on our side, we just might win." Zero thought. "Now all I need is some muscle... Where do I find that?"

The Neo-Human Nightcaps were in Albuquerque. After losing Jim and Tracy, then taking O'Hara back to the drop-off, they tried looking for signs of their targets, but nothing really came up.
They were in the middle of lunch, when Brooks contacted Arber.
"Arber. I need updates."
"Unfortunately, nothing. After our close encounter, the targets have gone silent."
Brooks let out a quick, audible sigh before speaking again.
"Alright. But while you and you're team are in New Mexico, I need you to look into something."
"Say the word, General."
"Reports of a giant raven with a 40 foot wingspan have shown up. Apparently it only travels in the night, and the most recent sighting of it is at the border of New Mexico and Texas. People can be reasoned with to a degree, distracted easily, can be read easily, but animals? They're unpredictable. And with abilities they can't control? They need to be put down before a volatile incident with the population happens."
"Don't worry. If I see it, I'll shoot it down."
"Hopefully you can find it in time. And get a lead on your main mission. That will be all."
"Alright. Over and out." Arber heard the line disconnect.
"What did the General say?" Hanes asked.
"We have another target. A big bird."
"So... Guy in yellow feather suit?" Kane joked.
"You're definitely eighteen..." Marcel stated as she gave a small cackle.
"Anyway, when night falls, I'll ride in back while someone else drives. I'll be on look out for any giant ravens."
"Fuck... What the hell is happening in this world?" Kane said.
"What it deserves. To give people power to even the stakes... Or to overthrow..." Savage said flatly, his hands secured with actual handcuffs.
"Thank you, but nobody asked for your opinion." Arber said.
Savage grumbled and looked out the window. Sick of being with these people.

Jim came back to the cereal factory to see Jeffrey and Tracy talking happily. 
"I'm back, guys!" Jim called out.
"Hey Jim!" Tracy said as she waved.
"How did it go, bro?" Jeffery asked.
"Well, Zero is legit. Just got back from Chicago and met one of his crew. So I guess he's cool."
"Whoa, really?" Jeffrey said.
"Yeah. But we're going to keep going and take Tracy home first. At least now I know the only other Neo-Human here won't try to kill us all."
"Well that's good news." Jeffrey said.
"Thanks, Jim." Tracy said.
"No problem. Tomorrow I'm gonna get the delivery truck so we can leave for the last leg to Oklahoma. But can I borrow my brother for a little private talk?"
"Sure!"
"Thanks, T! Come on bro!"
Jeffery stood up and walked out the door with Jim
"Okay... Confession... I'm not going just get the truck tomorrow night..." Jim said quietly. 
"What are you gonna do?..." Jeffery replied quietly, but deeply.
"A little fighting ring Zero introduced me to... He says there's a government lead as the guy running it is government and his kid is Neo."
"WH-" 
Jim covered Jeffrey's mouth with his hand.
"I can't let Tracy know that I'm going there because this is a fighting ring and her powers... She wants to protect me as well but if she goes in there she might not come out the winner, because she's not a fighter. Who knows what kind of sick shit is in there!"
Jeffery removed Jim's hand from his mouth.
"Alright, I see your point. So keep watch of her here?"
"Unless things go bad. If they do I'll send an SOS to you both."
"Dude... Okay fine, but this better not go wrong!" He said as quietly as possible.
"I promise it won't. Zero and I are going in there, so it should be good."
"Okay..."
"I'll be fine. Trust me...”
The two hugged, then went back inside.