2 --- 3

They all gathered in the uncompleted structure of the night club. Bennet rubbed his hands together and ripped open a portal to their destination. Nate watched in awe.

Even though Bennet was a pain in the ass, he was still a gifted porter and like Ronda, he was holding grudges against him about their first meeting. He wished he was also gifted as a porter and able to open portals to any destination he could see.

When the portal was wide enough, Bennet stepped through and they all followed into the chilly night air of the lonely street. Bennet clicked his fingers and the portal vanished. 

It didn't take long to find what they were looking for. It was kind of hard to miss.

In a dark corner, the scent of blood hung heavy in the air. This was definitely done by a breakout. It was a bloody mess. He looked down at the head on the ground with blood around and eyes staring into nothingness.

The kill lacked skill or finesse. It was all done in a rush of emotion. There was a gurgle in the corner. They all shifted their heads to look the way of the sound.

Nate focused his will to his hands and ignited fire to lighten up the darkness. He and Ronda stepped towards the sound, Bennet and Caleb hung back for support.

They found a big pale skinned man on the floor. His head was bashed in so many places. His eyes were both swollen shut and blood seeped out of numerous wounds on his head. Nate wasn't sure of how he was still alive. He must be very tough.

"Help." The man managed to say.

Ronda crouched to meet the man. "What happened here?" She asked.

"It was a girl. We wanted to….."

Nate thought the man had succumbed to his wounds and died but on a closer look saw that he was just at a loss of words.

"You tried to rape her, didn't you?" Ronda sated more than asking.

The man nodded and the movement brought him so much pain that he groaned. "Please help me."

Ronda softly caressed his bloody face. "Of course, I will." Ronda grabbed a dagger from her belt and slashed the man's throat wide open.

Nate felt no remorse for the man but was shocked at the ease and fluidity of how Ronda killed him.

Ronda stood up to take a phone call. He didn't need to guess to know who she was talking to. Nate looked at the grisly scene again and noticed something suck in the fingers of the headless body. It was hair. He knew it had to be the girl's.

He picked it up without the others noticing. He rubbed it between his fingers and tried to lock on to the signature of the will that was left in it.

Ronda broke his concentration as she ended her call with Victor.

"Clear out." She said and everybody backed away from the scene. She knelt down with one knee to the ground and splayed her hands on the ground. After a few seconds, her hands started to glow and molten energy flowed over the bodies and blood on the floor.

The energy covered the bodies and the body and they disintegrated under extreme heat. A few mice were also scuttling around. Nate winced when he saw them get caught by the heat. The energy faded revealing nothing but dust on the floor.

It was impossible to know that two dead bodies were once there

Ronda whirled to face them. "Now that that is taken care of care of, Victor wants us to find the girl and kill her."

"Kill her?" Nate blurted out before he could stop himself. "These guys tried to rape her and she defended herself. Why would we kill her?"

He looked at bennet and Caleb but both men seemed unruffled by the decision.

"Boss orders. She is a rouge breakout."

"That does not mean-"

"You will do as you are ordered. Is that clear?" even though he was a head taller than her, she still managed to look threatening.

Nate looked away from her intense stare. "Fine." He muttered. There was nothing he could do.  She was in control as second in command in Victor's absence.

"Okay guys, fan out. She is a girl who is scared and doesn't understand her powers." The more reason to help and not kill her.

"She shouldn't be too hard to find." Bennet added.

"Right, spread out and find her. Once you find her, you kill her immediately and destroy the body." Nate reluctantly nodded alongside the others.

They all went in opposite directions. When he had enough distance between the others. He opened his palm and resumed the scanning of the mild will present in the hair. His mind got splayed with a torrent of emotions. Anger, fear and despair. He ignored the will and focused on the emotions. When he got a lock on them, he merged them with his will and then sent out a wave of mild energy. His will carried the emotions far and wide looking for a familiar signature while he waited and hoped he got a hit.

A few seconds later, the energy bounced back to him from a signature displaying the same emotions some kilometers away from him.

"What do you know? I was actually heading in the right direction."

He lifted himself off the ground and flew low and fast. He had to get to her before the others. After five minutes of flight, he found her sitting at the top of the roof with her legs dangling off the edge.

*Pretty.* He noticed.

The emotions were stronger now that he was closer. She was crying and holding a can that had its top ripped off. He scanned the contents of the can while she was still oblivious to his presence. He did not recognize the liquid but he knew it was unfit for consumption.

*Oh no.* The realization of what she wanted to do hit him.

He flew out of the shadows to face her. "It's not going to work."

She flinched at the sound of his voice and spilled some of the liquid. She hastily wiped the tears of her cheeks. She didn't want to show weakness. For some reason, he respected that.

"If you drink that," He continued. "You will be in a lot of pain for sure but you won't die. The will to live is too strong. Suicide is sort of hard for our kind." Another information he had no idea he knew but right now, he was grateful to have it.

She looked at him while he was hovering in mid air. "I don't deserve to live."

"Why? Because of those assholes back there? They deserved it."

"It is still wrong to kill."

"I don't disagree but you were just protecting yourself."

"No, I could have beaten them up and left but something snapped in me and I got so angry. I couldn't stop myself."

"That's probably because you broke out with anger." He looked at her intently. "This isn't your first time, is it? Killing someone I mean."

She nodded, struggling to keep tears back. Whoever it was seemed to be close to her. She wasn't really affected by what happened tonight. It only sparked the memories of her killing someone she loved.

"Have you ever killed someone before?" She asked suddenly.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

She looked confused at the answer but continued anyway. "It feels like I left a piece of my soul with a life that I take and in place is this dark void that makes me feel empty."

She needed someone to talk to and counsel her but he couldn't do that back here now. He didn't have long before Ronda would call him to report.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Anna."

"Anna, my teammates and I have been ordered to kill you." She looked at him with wide eyes. The prospect of death seemed scary to her now that someone else was going to do it.

"But I think you have gone through a lot and you deserve a second chance."

She stared down at the darkness below. "I am probably gonna die anyway. I don't have any money to survive in this city and I don't have anybody to help me."

He hurriedly removed his new wallet and gave her all the money in it. It was at least three thousand dollars. She looked in shock at the amount of money in her hand.

"I will get you more later but for now you need to find somewhere to hide. The people I work for don't mess around."

"Thank you." She said looking genuinely grateful.

"You are welcome. Do you have a phone?" she nodded and they exchanged numbers.

His phone rang. It was Ronda. He signaled to Anna to be quiet before answering the call.

"Do you find her?"

"No." he lied. "She just seemed to have vanished."

"Same here. She has probably left the city by now. Return to base immediately."

"Yes." She disconnected the call.

He faced Anna. "Don't try to leave New York, they are probably expecting that. Hide very well and try hard not to use your powers. They will find you easily. She nodded.

"I have to go before they start to suspect me." He floated himself into the air to fly away.

"Wait, what is your name?"

"Nate." He said and left.