Bargaining

As the last of the townfolk dispersed, the heavy silence of the empty town hall settled around them.

Lilian sat across from Gideon and Mayor Thorne, frustration weighing on her chest.

"How the hell do we even do this?" she muttered, rubbing her temples. "Barry's locked in Abysra—the mutant hellhole. We can't just ask nicely."

Gideon leaned back, kicking his boots up onto the table. "We could bribe someone."

Thorne scoffed. "With what money, Gideon? The Edenian Government isn't about to let a Level-Three werewolf out for a bag of coins."

Lilian exhaled sharply. "So what then? What's our move?"

Thorne hesitated before sighing. "There are ways... Legal loopholes. Bureaucratic nightmares the CPG doesn't want to deal with. We could try petitioning his release under a technicality—arguing he was acting under extreme duress. Or…" she trailed off.

"Or?" Lilian pressed.

Thorne grimaced. "Or we could spin it politically. Force the Capitol's hand. Yuccavale could declare Barry a protected citizen under local law. If we get enough signatures, it could put pressure on the CPG."

Gideon let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, 'cause a bunch of dirt farmers signing a petition really scares the biggest military force in Edenia."

Before Lilian could argue, a sharp knock rattled the town hall doors. They all turned, startled. The doors creaked open, revealing a silhouette standing in the doorway. Samuel.

Lilian gasped, shooting up from her chair. "Samuel?! You're alive?!"

He stepped forward, his presence almost surreal. The last time they had seen him, he had been bleeding out in the dirt, tossed aside like a ragdoll by Fletcher.

Yet here he was, standing—strong.

"Not just alive," he said, voice steady. "I feel better than ever."

They could see it now—his pale skin had regained color, his posture firmer, his movements smoother. There were no bandages, no lingering signs of his fatal injuries.

"How?" Thorne asked, eyes narrowing.

Samuel exhaled. "CPG gave me something. A serum."

He reached into his jacket, pulling out a small vial filled with a shimmering black-gold liquid.

Lilian stared at it. "What… is that?"

Samuel turned the vial in his fingers, watching how the liquid shifted, almost alive.

"They called it Nexus Revitalis."

Thorne's expression darkened. She knew that name.

"A Nexus Serum?" she muttered, crossing her arms. "You let them inject you with a prototype?"

Samuel shrugged. "Didn't exactly have a choice. I was dying."

Gideon chuckled lowly. "Well, shit. Guess they really do patch up their own, huh?"

Samuel ignored him. "Listen, I come here because we don't have much time. Fletcher's still out there. And if the CPG is handing out experimental serums like candy, then things are getting worse."

Lilian stepped closer, her mind racing.

Samuel had barely survived Fletcher, yet now he stood before them like nothing had happened. Barry is rotting in Abysra.

And somewhere out there… Fletcher was still free. She clenched her fists.

"We need to get Barry out."

Samuel exhaled, running a hand through his short, dark hair. "Look, I know this sounds insane, but I'm telling you—Abysra isn't just a prison."

Lilian crossed her arms. "What do you mean?"

Samuel's jaw tensed. "It's a slaughterhouse."

Gideon leaned back, scoffing. "We all know Abysra's bad, kid. What's new?"

Samuel shook his head. "You don't get it. Mutants don't just disappear in there. They vanish. Like they were never booked, never processed. I've seen the numbers. Abysra holds thousands of mutants and witches, but records show that every few months, entire wings of inmates are wiped from existence. No transfers. No executions on record. Just gone."

Lilian frowned. "That… doesn't make sense. Where would they go?"

"That's what I need to find out," Samuel said firmly. He lifted the vial of Nexus Revitalis, shaking it slightly. The shimmering liquid almost pulsed.

"When I was in the hospital, the CPG doctors kept running tests on me. Way more than necessary. The way they were looking at me… Like I was a test subject."

Thorne's face darkened. "You think they're experimenting on mutants?"

Samuel met her gaze. "I know they are."

A heavy silence settled in the room. Then, Gideon let out a low whistle. "Damn. So the government's really playing mad scientist, huh?"

Samuel exhaled sharply. "It's more than that. Think about it. The CPG is efficient. They track and hunt mutants like clockwork. Have you ever wondered how?"

Lilian stayed quiet, processing.

Gideon, however, leaned forward. "Go on."

Samuel's eyes flickered with something cold. "Have you ever seen a regular human—no augments, no tech—take down a high-level mutant in direct combat?"

Thorne stiffened at that.

"…No," she admitted.

"Exactly," Samuel muttered. "Because humans shouldn't be able to. Even the strongest, most elite soldiers don't stand a chance against a Level-Two or lower. It's just biology. Mutants are stronger, faster, deadlier."

Gideon raised an eyebrow. "So what are you saying? CPG's using mutant abilities against other mutants?"

Samuel nodded. "Think about it. Where do all those missing mutants go? The ones that don't show up on execution lists? The ones that don't make it to labor camps?"

Lilian's stomach twisted.

"…They're harvesting them."

Samuel clenched his fists. "Mutant blood, tissue, DNA. Spliced. Augmented. Weaponized. They're stealing their power, Lilian. That's how they fight them so effectively. The Nexus Revitalis I got? It wasn't made for humans. It was made from mutants."

The room went deathly quiet.

Gideon let out a low, humorless laugh. "Well. Shit."

Lilian's voice was barely above a whisper. "And you're saying… Abysra is the source?"

Samuel nodded. "It's not just a prison. It's a harvesting ground. And if we don't get Barry out of there soon, he won't just be a prisoner. He'll be a test subject."

Thorne rubbed her temples. "Alright. Let's say we believe in you. How the hell do you plan to break into Abysra? No one's ever escaped—except for Fletcher, and that bastard had an entire army."

Samuel's expression hardened.

"We're not breaking in."

Lilian narrowed her eyes. "Then what's your plan?"

Samuel leaned forward.

"We're getting in legally."

Gideon snorted. "Yeah? And how the hell do we do that?"

Samuel smirked, tapping his fingers on the table. "We don't need to fight our way into Abysra. We just need to find the right leverage."

Lilian frowned. "What do you mean?"

Samuel leaned back, stretching. "I mean we have a bargaining chip. Someone who can get us inside—without raising alarms."

Thorne narrowed her eyes. "Who?"

Samuel chuckled darkly, then said the name with a slow, deliberate tone. "General Victor Halloway."

Silence.

Lilian blinked. "Wait… Victor Halloway? The former CPG general? That old war dog?"

Gideon's grin widened. "Ohhh, this just got interesting. Didn't he retire, what, five years ago?"

Samuel nodded. "Yeah. He retired. Or, more accurately, he was forced to retire."

Thorne folded her arms. "Why?"

Samuel's smirk deepened. "Because of his little secret affair with Captain Stone."

A beat of silence. Then—Gideon burst into laughter, a deep, menacing chuckle that rattled through the dimly lit room. "Ohh, shit. You mean to tell me that the iron-blooded Captain Stone—the CPG's ice queen—is riding a sugar daddy all these years?"

Lilian's face tightened. "This is serious, Gideon."

Gideon waved a hand, still grinning. "Oh, it's very serious. That's why it's so goddamn funny." He turned to Samuel. "And you're thinking if we threaten her with this, she'll let us stroll into Abysra like friendly visitors?"

Samuel nodded. "Stone is ruthless. But she's also career-obsessed. If this got out? If the CPG or—hell, the 0-6 Council—found out she was screwing her superior for favoritism? Her entire career would collapse."

Gideon chuckled darkly. "So, all we gotta do is tell her: 'Let us in, or we expose your gold-hungry whore ass to the public'?"

Samuel smirked. "More or less."

Thorne pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is insane. But… it's also the best shot we've got."

Lilian still looked uneasy. "And what if she calls our bluff?"

Samuel exhaled. "Then we move to Plan B."

Thorne raised an eyebrow. "And Plan B is?"

Samuel's grin turned razor-sharp.

"…We make her worst nightmare come true."

Gideon chuckles, then he asks them to get in his car. Gideon's car looked like it had been through three wars and lost all of them.

It's an old, battered Gearbox Stallion, a rust-covered hunk of metal that had probably been considered vintage before the first Mutant Treaty Act was even signed. The windshield had a massive crack running through it, the left-side mirror barely hanging on by a strip of duct tape, and every inch of the body is dented, scratched, or completely rusted through. The exhaust pipe coughed out smoke like an asthmatic dragon, and the tires so bald they practically reflected the sunlight.

Samuel, Lilian, and Thorne all stood in front of it, staring in silent horror.

"…You cannot be serious," Samuel finally said.

Gideon patted the hood proudly, which only made something inside the engine clank ominously. "What? This ol' girl's been with me longer than my ex-wife. Ain't let me down once."

Thorne raised an eyebrow. "I can see the ground through the floorboard, Gideon."

"Ventilation," Gideon said with a grin. "Helps with the heat."

Lilian crossed her arms. "Does it move?"

Gideon rolled his eyes. "Of course it moves. Watch this."

He climbed into the driver's seat and twisted the key. Nothing. A long, painful silence. Samuel pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, for f—"

Suddenly, the car jerked violently as the engine let out a sound that could only be described as a dying animal's final scream. The entire vehicle shook, metal rattling so hard that a chunk of rusted debris actually fell off and hit the ground with a pathetic clunk.

Lilian took a step back. "Is it supposed to sound like that?"

"She's just warmin' up!" Gideon shouted over the noise. He slammed his foot on the gas, and the car let out a sputtering wheeze before lurching forward like a zombie learning to walk. The movement is so sudden that the entire group had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit.

"Get in, losers! We're breaking into Abysra!" Gideon cackled.

Samuel gave him a look before hesitantly opening the passenger door. It creaked like it hadn't been used in years. Lilian and Thorne climbed into the back, making sure to avoid stepping on any suspiciously weak-looking spots in the floor.

The moment they were inside, Gideon slammed his foot on the gas.

The car responded by coughing out a massive plume of black smoke before crawling forward at the speed of sadness.

Samuel blinked. "Is… is this as fast as it goes?"

"She's purrin' like a kitten!" Gideon declared proudly.

Lilian leaned forward. "Gideon, I could walk faster than this."

"Shut up, I'm goin' easy on her!"

Thorne braced herself as the car jerked violently with each gear shift. The whole thing shook every time Gideon turned the wheel, and the suspension is so bad that every single bump in the road felt like getting kicked in the spine.

After what felt like an eternity of painful, agonizing travel, Samuel sighed and slumped against the seat. "At this rate, Fletcher's gonna take over Edenia before we even get there."

As if on cue, the entire dashboard fell off. Lilian screamed. Thorne groaned. Samuel buried his face in his hands.

Gideon just laughed, patted the now dashboard-less front, and said, "Ain't she a beauty?"

The old farmhouse sat on a quiet stretch of land, golden fields swaying gently in the afternoon breeze. The sun hung low, casting long shadows over the wooden porch where a lone man sat in a battered rocking chair. He's watching his cattle, a slow, steady rhythm to his movements as he rocked, puffing on an old pipe.

Victor Halloway—once a feared general, now just an aging veteran—looked every bit the part of a man who had earned his peace. His face's weathered, deeply lined with years of war and hard decisions. His once-powerful frame had softened with time, but there's still strength in his posture, in the way his sharp gray eyes scanned the land as if watching for enemies that no longer existed. His hands, veined and scarred, rested lazily on the armrests, though one never strayed too far from the revolver holstered at his hip.

As Samuel, Lilian, Thorne, and Gideon stepped onto the porch, Victor didn't turn to greet them. He simply took another drag from his pipe, exhaled a thin wisp of smoke, and finally spoke in a voice that carried the weight of years.

"I was wonderin' when trouble would come knockin' again."

Samuel gave a polite nod, keeping his tone measured. "We're not here to bring trouble, sir. Just a request."

Victor snorted, finally turning to face them. His piercing gaze settled on Samuel, sizing him up like a soldier evaluating an untested recruit. "A request, huh?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "Boy, I've been out of that damn game for five years. Ain't got no reason to get back in."

Samuel held his hands up. "We get that. We're not here to drag you back into CPG business. We just need one thing from you."

Victor leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "And what's that?"

Samuel exhaled, his eyes locking onto the old man's. "We need you to get us into Abysra."

For a moment, there was nothing but the soft rustling of the wind. Then—Victor laughed. A slow, deep chuckle that turned into a wheezing cough. He wiped his mouth, shaking his head again. "Boy, you must be outta your damn mind."

Thorne stepped forward, her arms crossed. "We're serious, Halloway."

Victor's laughter died in his throat as his gaze hardened. "You are serious," he muttered. He let out a heavy sigh. "And why in God's name would I ever do that?"

Samuel didn't flinch. He took a step closer, lowering his voice just enough to make sure only Victor could hear.

"Because I know about you and Captain Stone."

Victor's expression didn't change immediately, but Samuel caught the slight twitch in his jaw. A tell. The old man slowly sat back, tapping his fingers against his chair. "That's a mighty big accusation," he said evenly.

Samuel smirked. "It's not an accusation. It's fact."

Victor's eyes narrowed. "How'd you find out?"

Samuel shrugged. "I was at a bar a few months back. Drunk outta my mind, just like a lot of CPG agents. And wouldn't you know it? A certain high-ranking officer was having a very interesting conversation with a certain former general."

Victor's lips pressed into a thin line. Samuel leaned in slightly. "Didn't take much to piece it together. The way she spoke to you? The way you called her 'darlin' when you thought no one was listening? Yeah, it wasn't hard to figure out."

Lilian and Thorne exchanged glances, while Gideon fought back a smirk.

Victor exhaled slowly. He stared at the ground for a long moment before finally looking up, his expression unreadable. "And if I don't help you?"

Samuel's smile didn't waver. "Then the whole 0-6 Council finds out about your little romance."

Victor let out a dry chuckle. "Blackmail, huh?" He shook his head. "You've got some balls, kid."

Samuel grinned. "I try."