Chapter 13: District Four! Welcome Home

"HELL YEH!" Axel yelled jetting across the sky.

He landed on the side of a building, skating across the window panels of shifters working in a business sector.

"Damn agents!" He heard a man in a suit yell at him from inside the building.

After reaching the buildings edge, he jumped off, doing a 360 backflip before landing onto a rooftop.

"Woah!" B said. "Nice moves Ax!"

"Heh, rollerblading in my previous life actually paid off!" Lars thought. "I definitely couldn't backflip off buildings before… but it looks like this new body is stronger! Much stronger than my previous one!"

As he landed on a rooftop he grinded on a railing leaving a trail of sparks behind him.

"Is this really Ok?" Axel asked B.

"Yeh, basically as long as we have sirens on were considered pursuing a CIP or crime in progress, otherwise all this stuff would be illegal!" B yelled.

"But where's the crime?" Lars asked.

"There is none silly" B said. "Seymour just did us a favor"

"But is that right? Aren't we abusing our power right now?" Lars asked. "Aren't we supposed to use power to protect people?" Axel asked.

"Relax" B said. "Right now were just using this to get you home quickly and safely, it would take us 30 minutes by skyrail, isn't your sister at home waiting for you?" B said.

"Nin… I mean Miraya!" Lars yelled.

"We stop at that large building ahead!" B yelled

"Woah" Lars said looking up at a huge yellow brick building. It was at least 300 stories high and had a huge clock tower on it's top. On the clock, dolphin fins replaced the hands and a pool of water circled around it's top floor.

"That's the Aquarius Mezzanine, it's the elevator that connects the four districts. Each one floats on top of the other, completely independent from the other accept the fourth… to get there is a little difficult."

Lars and B walked into the Mezanine. Inside its golden bricked walls, a series of Skyrails and lofts connected to each other with a huge information booth in the center.

"Since we are S.P.A cadets we skip the usual checkpoints and use this secure access elevator." B said.

"Level 1 First district" The elevator read.

B pressed a button on a panel and in moments they were brought down to level 3.

"I thought we needed to go Fourth district?" Lars asked.

"There are no access points to the fourth…" B said. "We have to go down the trench to get there…"

"The trench?"

"You'll see"

B led Lars into crowded market district with a bunch of intersecting hallways. After going through a few passages, they finally came to a stairwell labeled "Mezzanine" With Graffiti sprayed across the top of it.

B led Lars down a flight of stairs and then another as the group navigated through a series of hallways in the market.

"Uhhh where exactly is this place…" Lars asked getting nervous

"It's just up ahead…" B said, leading him to an elevator shaft. "You act like you don't live here! Make sure you get rest tonight man"

The shaft looked like a run down item that looked from the 21st century that had never seen any maintenance. A group of thugs were gathered around it. They were armed with bats and swords standing guard as B an dLars approached.

"Tskk SPA agents huh? The hell you guys want?" One said walking up to them.

"Wait hold up." A man with dreadlocks said walking up to them. "Thats B and Ax, they good man, their from here, they just going to school.

"Hey man! They could be leaking information about us! Next thing we know we got a raid goin on!" the man with the bat said.

"Relax" B said. "Even if we did you really think the S.P.A would care? Their terrified of D4 they wont even walk us home." B said

"Hehe thats right! They better know D4 belongs to Asapp, you guys wanna turn into snitches like Veronica and Viktor? Be my guess, their time will come when its due!"

Lars got onto the elevator silently without saying a word to B, too terrified to even think.

"Yeh… I hate them too…" B said. "When I'm an agent Ill bust their heads!" She said punching her hands together.

"Why don't you now?" Lars asked. "Your way stronger than those Bosos, I can sense it."

"Because if I did that Asapp would be after me, and trust me, even Seymour would have a problem with him."

When the elevator finally reached its stop B walked off the platform leaving Lars behind.

Lars, too afraid to leave the shaft, saw a corridor of darkness extending for what seemed like forever. There were lights but they were so poorly lit that you could barely see farther than a foot in front of you at a time. Struggling to see the end of the corridor Lars remained inside.

"Are you really going to leave your sister at home alone, in a place like this?" B asked.

Sucking up his fear, Lars took a step into the corridor and proceeded forward.

Lars had looked death in the eye… But this was worse. It was as if he had actually died and ended up in hell. Everything was warped in this place. From street signs to street lights to eveb the people walking around. He couldn't go more than two feet without seeing something severely damaged. The streets were filthy and filled with trash all around from unfinished burgers to syringe needles that were scattered across the ground like pollinated seeds.

"Geez!" Lars said nearly stepping on one

One wrong step and he could find himself severely intoxicated or on the other side of a deadly disease. But the worst part of it all was the people. Similar to those dressed above they walked around as if there was nothing wrong. Laughing, horsing around and frolicking through the waste almost as if they didn't know they were in hell.

"People… live like this.." Lars said looking around

"Where you're born is where you're born," B said picking up a needle. "After a while you just get used to it I guess" She said throwing it to the side

"Big Brother!!!" Lars heard from inside of a run down shack.

"This is your stop… I'll see you at class tomorrow I guess…" B said walking away.

"Thanks B…" Lars said running inside to get his sister.

"Miriya!" He cried hugging her tight.

"Big brother!" She yelled as tears filled her eyes.

Lars looked around his war torn house. Broken glass as far as he looked, breadcrumbs all over the floor and a pungent smell that seemed to stain the entire district he was inside. As he covered his nose from the fumes, he hugged his sister tight.

"What's wrong?" Lars asked. Cuddling her as she cried.

"I… I came to you today because a bully at school took my pet panda RJ…" She said crying.

"Who! Who did it!" Lars said fuming with anger.

"That kid you were on the field with, Jeff, his little brother Jet, he stole my doll and he won't give it back! Help me big bro! RJ is the only thing I have left from mom."

"Mom…" Lars asked.

(A memory flashed from his previous life)

"LARS!" his mother cried

(Back to present.)

"Where is mom?" He asked.

"She's gone… remember?" Miriya said.

(A memory flashed through Lars's mind.)

"I'm afraid we're all out of time," A blond human said, aiming his pistol. "With the SPA involved now, this will get tied up into a bunch of litigation, I'll never get my hands on you now… Alive that is!"

"Miriya...Axel… Vincent…" His mother said sobbing… "Im sorry"

"What were you saying earlier again?" The blond guy said raising the pistol "Oh yeah! Live! and let die!"

Booom!

"Axel…." His mother muttered as the light from her eyes slowly started to fade.

"Mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  Axel's mother fell to the ground, as the last of her life faded away into a pool of blood.

(back to present)

"Axel…" Lars said. "Your mother is… our mother is…."

"Don't cry big bro! It's ok I don't need RJ!" Miriya cried.

"No," Lars said, drying his eyes. "From now on things are going to change Miriya, I''m not going to let you get bullied anymore… no… I'm not going to let you live in a place like this anymore! I'm going to become as strong as I can and protect you!" Lars said going into his room.

"Big bro! What are you doing! You can't move the ground like that!" Miriya cried.

"I'm not moving the ground… I'm doing pushups!" Lars grunted. "I'm going to get us out of here! And then when I become an agent, I'm going to get everyone out of here!"

"Big bro!!!" Miriya said crying.

"Starting tomorrow! Things are going to change! Jeff!" Lars thought "You'd better hand over my sister's doll or your done for!"