Getting back to the surface was easy enough, even with five people on my shoulders. The real challenge came after—and what better way to start than by staring at the giant crater where half a neighborhood used to be?

  Somehow, the sidewalk in front of the big store where we were standing was mostly unscathed. Knowing my power caused this was pretty scary. Especially since Sunshine and her friend were in the vicinity of the explosion.

  Thank God they weren’t hurt, but who’s to say that wouldn’t happen again. If this was the kind of power Consequences was packing, then I needed to get a handle on it. And speaking of explosions, I had to make sure Sunshine didn’t meet the same fate, and whether our new ‘allies’ were on board with that.

  Noticing her concerned expression, I placed a reassuring hand on my daughter’s shoulder. “Everything’s gonna be alright, kid. We just gotta get to Hallowsville, and we’ll force those pricks to disarm that bomb.”

  She glanced at my hand, and then stepped closer to Moonlight. “Um… sure.”

  That look of subtle fear in her eyes was something I knew quite well, and there was no mistaking it—it was aimed squarely at me. What the heck did she have to be afraid about though? Was it really that Sunflower business?

  Actually, everyone was noticeably keeping their distance from me, like touching would inflict a curse upon them. I guess they couldn’t be blamed. With this big ass crater plus my accidental temper tantrum, I’d stay away from me too. Good thing there were plenty of more interesting topics to talk about instead.

  “So, um, Ben… jamin?” I said, catching the teleporter’s attention. “So you like seeing little girls get blown to bits, huh?”

  “I’m sorry, alright!?” he exclaimed, grasping his neck. “I don’t even remember most of what he was talking about. All I knew was that your daughter had marijuana in her possession, and I was tasked in taking it. That’s it!”

  “Hey, the only one who should be raising their voice is me—her goddamn father,” I replied, slowly approaching him. “You’re lucky you helped Sunshine when she needed it, or else I would’ve taught you a real painful lesson.”

  Benji laughed weakly. “Oh, kinda like what you were gonna do with that girl back there?”

  “What did you say?” I asked, grabbing his throat.

  Before any serious damage was done, Sunshine came in between us and gripped my leg. “Don’t hurt him, Dad. He’s my friend, ok? I’m sure he’s telling the truth.”

  I let him go, and he immediately started coughing. “Y’all partner up for a couple hours, so that makes him your best friend who can never tell a lie? That’s not how it works, Sun.”

  “Well, that’s how it works for me. And he’s not my best friend. Just a friend.”

  I placed my hands on my hips. “You can’t just bend the rules in your favor like that.”

  Sunshine copied my gesture. “Ironic coming from you. Are we gonna talk about that girl you wanna adopt into our family? Didn’t she want to kill me?”

  She waited for an answer, but I hesitated in giving it. Luckily, a sudden giggle from Lyra got her attention.

  “You think any of this is funny?” I asked the laughing woman.

  “That’s three,” said Lyra, holding up three fingers. “I wonder if you’re gonna make it four before the sky gets dark.”

  “Three what? The heck are you counting?”

  She flashed a cutesy smile. “As of now, you’ve threatened the lives of three of us. Oh, but don’t get so twisted about it. It is in your nature, after all.”

  “I don’t like what you’re insinuating here,” I said, pointing at the woman.

  Lyra’s happy expression faded. “And I don’t like that you came here alone without my brother. Where is he? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Her brother’s Dante,” Sunshine told me. “Don’t you remember? She’s an Underground Radius member… But she helped us out, so she isn’t totally bad.”

  “Don’t tell me you gave in to your urges and ate him?” Lyra asked condescendingly.

  “I would never do such a thing!” I denied. “That’s disgusting. And I’ll have you know that Dante told me to leave him behind. We were fighting this Corleone Family member, and things went a little south. Dude’s name was Consequences.”

  “Consequences!?” Lyra gasped, covering her mouth. “You went after that freak of nature, and you still left him alone?”

  “He told me to leave, alright!? Besides, the guy snuck up on us. Not even Dante could sense him, and you should know how strong his Energy Sense is. None of that was my fault.”

  The woman grabbed her head as she paced in circles. “Oh no. Oh no. There’s no way he’s alive. You just left him there to die. He’s d-”

  “Some sister you are,” I interrupted. Memories of Dante’s impaled body flashed in my mind, but I had to suppress them. “Dante’s not some weakling, you know. He doesn’t just make forcefields anymore—he’s out here making arrows and bullets out of that energy too. He even taught me a few of his tricks. So why don’t give him a little faith ‘cause he’s not gonna lose. And he won’t die either.”

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  Lyra shook her head in disbelief and muttered, “Go to hell, Hunter. I can’t wait to tell Daddy all about this.”

  “Wait, Lyra!” Sunshine jumped in front of her. “Y-You don’t have to leave. Maybe you could stay… and we could talk more. With each other. I like being around you.”

  Lyra pursed her lips, her eyes softening. “Oh, Sunshine. You’re a nice kid, but…” She then glared at me. “We’re not on the same side. I’m sorry.”

  With that said, the UR member speedwalked away, never once turning back. Well, good riddance then. I’d rather not have someone who taste tested blood on the floor like a new sauce on our side anyway.

  I sighed. “Is there anyone else who has a problem with me? Speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

  “Yeah, I got a problem!”

  “Oh, great,” I said, turning around to the voice behind me. “Who is it… this time?”

  I couldn’t believe what was stomping towards me was real, but after rubbing my eyes, it was still coming. Looked like the Easter Bunny wasn’t a myth. Didn’t know he came strapped with knives though…

  “Flash, you’re here!” said Moonlight, running to give the animal a hug.

  The humanoid rabbit embraced the girl. “Moon, we were all so worried about you! We felt this rumbling underground, and a loud boom. I check up here, and you’re nowhere to be found. What were you thinking leaving like that?”

  “Well, it’s not like I left to goof around. We were attacked by these men. They wanted to kill Sunshine, so I wanted to help her.”

  Flash’s red eyes bore into my daughter. “I should’ve known it was that human.”

  Moonlight quickly held her hands out. “Wait! I helped her because… she’s my friend. My first friend.”

  “Hey, Bugs Bunny, direct that glare to somebody else or you won’t be seeing anything for much longer,” I threatened, pushing my daughter back a little.

  “Your name’s Jerome, right?” the rabbit asked, ears twitching. “Maybe instead of threatening me, you and your daughter give my innocent girl a goddamn apology. She could’ve died wherever she was.” He pointed at my kid. “And it was all her fault.”

  “Hey, don’t act like your kid’s a saint,” I responded. “Last I checked, she threatened to do some serious indirect damage to my child if I didn’t give her what she wanted. Maybe do a background check on your girl ‘cause she’s not as innocent as you think she is.”

  “Wait what?” Sunshine whispered, looking up at me.

  The rabbit grabbed the handle of one of his knives. “You take that back, undead!”

  “Sunshine’s dad, that isn’t true!” Moonlight exclaimed. For a human who was damn near a zombie, her ‘begging face’ was a work of art. “I was only saying that to get you to do what I want. My power… mostly doesn’t work like that. And that was before I realized how nice Sunshine was.”

  After some moment of thought, I placed my arm back at my side. “S-Sorry, kid. I don’t know what I’m doing. Antagonizing a kid shouldn’t be my style. And, uh, Flash, right?” I gestured for Sunshine to apologize, and she obliged. “Sunshine is very sorr-”

  “No! I don’t wanna hear y’all’s bullshit ass apologies.” Flash took Moonlight by her arm, and the two started to walk away. “Unlike you, I actually wanna keep my girl out of danger. As for me, I’m a fighter. So keep your kid away from mine, or else I’ll show you what that means.”

  “Is he someone I gotta worry about?” I whispered to my daughter.

  “We already met him before, remember? If I could beat him, then you could,” she whispered back. “But, I don’t wanna beat her dad up, even if he makes me mad. That’s her family.”

  I held her shoulder. “Sorry you had to lose your friend like that. Maybe you’ll see her again.”

  The light in her eyes dimmed. “Hey, Dad, are we… bad people?”

  “We’re just people trying to find some happiness in this world, Sun. Some people don’t mesh well with what we want. That’s all there is to it.“

  Sunshine folded her arms, shaking her head. “Some people? More like everyone. The team I built is all gone.”

  “Not everyone, luz solar.” We both turned. Jesus strode closer, a palm-sized orb glowing green in his hand. When it came to leaving us alone in our time of need, this guy was second to none. “You still have a few guys left, don’t you?”

  “Oh, wow!” I exclaimed sarcastically, folding my arms. “So, we got you, who left my daughter unsupervised, and…” I looked at the teleporter, who had rolled himself into a ball. “And Bobby, a coward who put a bomb inside of my kid.”

  “I told you I didn’t know anything about that!” the man shouted. “And my name is Benji!”

  As Sunshine went over to comfort Benji, Jesus came closer to me, flashing his shiny new ball at me.

  “Don’t worry, man. It’s not one of your balls,” he chuckled.

  “Shut up,” I sighed, lightly punching his shoulder. “Where the hell were you this time? Hopefully, finding a clean pair of underwear. I think I see shit stains on yours.”

  “For your information, I just helped you out big time.” He raised the orb to my face. “This is what I’ve been working on. Remember that green humanoid entity? Nice, petite bod? Short hair?”

  “You mean Emmy?”

  “KB-124 actually. Get a load of this.”

  The palm-sized orb pulsed, then twisted, stretching into shape until a body spilled out of it. The woman he’d just described—short-haired, slight frame—hit the ground with a heavy thud, her face twisted in distress. Without hesitation, I bent down and rested my hand on her hand.

  “You know her shapeshifting abilities, right? Well, before it was very limited. She could only turn into other females, and she copied their last known appearance and voice, but nothing else.”

  I could barely pay attention to what Horse Head was saying when Emmy’s panting had my ears more concerned.

  “But after the training I gave her, she added mannerisms, memories, and even how their aura lo-”

  “Hold up, Horse Head, will you?” I cut off, holding my hand out. “I mean, look at her. That’s a face of pure fear right there.”

  She grabbed my shoulders. “Type Two Surfer… This man is a complete maniac. He had me performing physical exercises way beyond a KB’s limitations. Forcing me to shapeshift for nearly an hour straight. Mimicking voices, repeating past events ocer and over… Y-Y-You have to save me, Radion!”

  I looked at Jesus for an answer, but all he did was shrug his shoulders. “Is this the type of shit you put Sunshine through?”

  He shrugged his shoulders again. “Your kid could handle it. All these KBs are made out of energy. She’ll be fine.”

  Emmy gritted her teeth. “That may be true, but my kind still feels the pain, strain, and tiredness you humans feel, you small-minded flesh bag.”

  “Just be happy we don’t dispose of you,” Jesus replied, spinning his sword in his hand. “Your love for Underground City’s king doesn’t go unnoticed.”

  “Calling him a king would suggest we live in a monarchy when that’s obviously far from the truth! Daemon makes sure every obeying citizen is equal to-”

  “Where’s Dante? You two did what I asked of y’all, right?”

  I stood back up. “We ‘powered up’ the head, but problems came up. A whole bunch of ‘em.”

  He glanced at the unconscious Ricky Saints a few meters behind me. “Will they explain why he’s tied up, and why Dante isn’t here?”

  I gave Jesus the quick rundown of everything that happened while he was off giving his training sessions. The stuff with Dante, the Corleone Family, and most importantly, that damn tracker. With a bomb now strapped to that small device, it felt like a lot of the blame should've been going to Horse Head for not telling me anything about the status of Sunshine’s tracker.

  An apology was meaningless at this point, but it would’ve been something. Instead, all I got was silence.

  “You really got nothing to say?” I asked, my anger building up.

  The swordsman rubbed the chin of his horse head like it was his own chin. “The reason I kept the tracker inside your daughter was because Daemon told me to. I mean, how else is he gonna keep track of the girl’s growing power without it? In fact, I also placed a tracker on y-”

  I smacked the tip of his nose, putting an end to the nonsense he was spewing. “Stop being so weird, man.”

  Emmy’s mouth gaped as she stared at me. “Were your earholes incapable of taking in any of what he just said? Your supposed ally is working with your enemy! And while Daemon shouldn’t be antagonized, you surface people do. According to my brain, that should be a bad thing.”

  “The hell are you on about? All this weirdo said was some stuff about his junk and my junk. Nothing out of the ordinary for him.”

  “I would’ve said you lacked a brain, but your zombie physiology already makes that comment a literal fact.”

  If I had a nickel for every time a green humanoid female insulted my character, I’d have two, but it’s weird that it happened twice…

  Jesus tapped my shoulder. “Let’s get back on topic. He gave us five days to get to Hallowsville. However, from here, you can get there in only half a day. You know what that means?”

  “Ummm… I guess there’s obstacles in the way.”

  “No, you fool,” said Emmy. “You’re correct in saying there will be some obstacles presented to you, but they’re nothing someone of your power level can’t handle. Obviously, the longer time limit is there to lull your solemnity, so you take longer than expected to get there.”

  I’d ask what “solemnity” meant, but I didn’t wanna sound dumb. “So, Michaal wants to stall for time. For what though?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? He’s preparing for a battle, for war even,” Jesus answered. “The three guys he sent after y’all to keep the group busy are all out of commission after only a couple hours. Corleone needed the fights to last much longer than that to give his group the time to get to Hallowsville.”

  I scratched my chin while my mind processed that info. “Sooo you’re telling me Jason is alone there?”

  “Don’t say the answer and mask it as a question, surfer,” said Emmy, pinching her forehead. “You surface dwellers are all so needlessly complicated.”

  “Ok, cool. He’s alone.” I smashed my fists together. “Then let’s handle that murdering psycho before he hurts anyone else.”

  “Actually…” Horse Head placed his hand on my shoulder. “We can’t attack him yet. It’ll ruin the plan.”

  “Dude, the plan is to invade that prick’s ’happy place’, tear shit up, and kill him. We got Geremiah’s head, and I used it to make myself stronger. What else is there?”

  “Trust me, hombre muerto. Once you get to Hallowsville, you’ll understand everything I mean.”