Chapter 4

There was once a survey that was taken a while ago. Nekane had read about it when he was on break from his job one day. It asked random people what city they thought was the best city to live in. To no one's surprise Northern Spor managed to top the charts. It was the capital city afterall. The city is known for power and riches. The city that could take the smallest of business owners and turn them into some of the most powerful people in the world. The only issue was that with one same gamble you could end up losing everything on the spot. It was almost like a battleground for rich people to fight against each other. On the other end of the charts though was the city known for the worst standard of living in the plante. That city was called New Burn and it was the poorest city in the country. No one really has a chance to get that far ahead and most people that do would end up disappearing with their last known location being unknown. New Burn was also the city that Nekane had been living in ever since Thane came into his life. Nekane and Dolores seemed to be one of the lucky few to have a nice looking house. Still, New Burn was the only city that didn't just outright do everything in its power to kick out Nekane. Then again who was going to kick him out? Everyone there looked the same regardless of their situation.

They say that New Burn is the city that holds the most DPHC officers in the country. Mainly because New Burn is the city that hides the most super powered humans. So because of the amount of super powered humans it has, it started to gain a reputation of being one of the most dangerous cities to live in. Due to that reputation that New Burn gets as a city the DPHC decided it was best not to just simply set up shop. In fact it resulted in one of the most secured Cities in the government. "You know it is kind of ironic that New Burn ended up getting one of the toughest HQs to take down. Seems like everything is going to be against us." Nekane said as he started to take a deep breath. "Why did we have to be in the lowest rated city in the world? It's almost like we are just meant to be caught by

some unknown force." Nekane continued as he turned to look at Dolores. "Well you said that we were going to start our plan today. Don't tell me that you're starting to have regrets?" Dolores told Nekane in an effort to motivate him. Nekane just simply took a second to think to himself just how much of a drag everything everything was starting to feel like. "Man, I am starting to hate the fact that we are public enemy number one. I wish I just had complete control over this country and make everyone stop treating us like this." Nekane continued again.

"If you were to do that. It would mean that you are no better than those who put you in that situation to begin with." Dolores said in an angry tone. She was mad that Nekane would even consider that something that would be a good idea. "You are right… Sorry I was not in the right mindset there." Nekane told himself as he took another deep breath. "Just don't go saying things like that ever again ok. I am tired of these things as they are and I don't need you adding to the stress." Dolores continued to talk in an angry tone. Nekane just took a second to clear his mind. They were about to enter a secure location with a lot of possible bad outcomes and he didn't want to be dealing with it all through a clouded mind. "You ready?" Nekane told Dolores. "Ready as I'll ever be." Dolores answered as they ran in without a plan. Nekane had somehow managed to find a hill near the HQ that made it easy for them to scout the surrounding area beforehand. As Nekane looked at the HQ he started to think of one thing and one thing only. "Who did Thane make happy to end up getting a HQ that looked like it was powered by the entire military?" Nekane asked Dolores as they started walking down towards the HQ.

"How would I know?", Dolores told Nekane. She seemed pretty annoyed by the fact that Nekane was talking a lot as they started to get closer to the base. There was a little unease that Dolores had as they approached the HQ. She couldn't help but wonder why this base was so easy to find. There must be millions of DPHC bases all over the country and yet somehow none have been located. Only the one in New Burn and Northern Spur. It started to make Dolores second guess herself on the idea of invading the base. Nekane on the other hand started to feel determined. He didn't want to settle with just defeating Thane. That was not going to make him feel better after everything he had felt. He wanted to break Thane and the only way he could come close to doing that was by taking down his empire along the way. As he looked at the HQ Nekane started to map out his surroundings. Just because he didn't have a power that would make him super smart didn't mean he was going to slow down on his plans. As they soon reached the base it seemed to be surrounded by a large area filled with armed men and vehicles. A thought soon entered Nekane's head as he started to realize a good amount of the DPHC personnel in the HQ could be hiding super powers of their own. He knew that if they were going to get away with stealing the information of the locations that DPHC had set up, they were going to have to do everything in their powers to stay hidden. That was easier said than done because by the time they made it to the base Nekane realized just how hard it would end up being to just simply end up avoiding the searchlights.

"This is why we should have come with a plan, '' Dolores said as her frustration started to build up. She started to believe the task ahead was almost impossible to achieve as her self-esteem took a huge hit . Nakane just started to think to himself of just what they could possibly do. He almost was starting to get frustrated with the fact that he was not able to travel using electrical currents. "You know, for people that are trying to break into a highly guarded base surrounded by people that could be super powered… We sure seem like newbies." Nakane said. Dolores punched him on the head, angry at the fact he decided to make another joke. "Is now really the time to be making Jokes?!" Dolores said in a frustrated manner. "Sorry… sorry… sorry…" Naken started to tell himself in a fast way. He was struggling to catch his breath at the realization that this would end up taking his life. Until he finally catches his breath. "Sorry… It's that I just make jokes to keep myself from getting lost in my head. I can't help it and it keeps happening even when I do not mean it." Nakane told Dolores in an effort to be honest. "Well that is not really reassuring when any random noise could result in us getting caught now does it." Dolores said as she shut down Nekane. As Nekane looked around the area he started to truly take in how many people he would end up having to avoid. From when he could count it was around thousands of people in that HQ.

Nakane even started to believe that there was no way that there were less than 5 thousands DPHC officials in that HQ. Even worse was the fact that he didn't even know who was running the HQ or if he would even run into that person. By the time they got right beside the HQ they ended up running into a bigger problem. You see, not only was the HQ surrounded by thousands of army officers but there was a huge wall around and jumping over it would result in them being caught. The only real entrance that the HQ had was the front but that was always guarded by 6 guards. Nakane and Dolores had taken note of that during their time scouting the area beforehand. That was not even the biggest problem though because behind all of that madness there was a huge guarded building towards the middle that was impossible to scout from the outside. Truly they started to feel like they were out of their league. "We should have made a better plan. How are we going to enter with so little openings?" Dolores asked Nakane as they stopped to think about a better approach. Nekane just started to take a second to think to himself about the possibilities and how they could end up passing through all of the security gates. Surely though Nekane would not be ready for what would happen next.

"Hey, you right there! Stop walking towards the HQ or else we will be forced to fire", One of the guards towards the gate started to yell. Nakane and Dolores jumped for a second, scared until they realized the guard was not talking to them. "Stop!? Surely you can't believe that I came here to talk. I am here to do one, and one thing only. That is to get revenge on the man that runs this place. You hear me!? I am coming for your head!" Man said as he appeared out of nowhere. He had an angry look as if he had a score to settle. As Nekane looked more closely the man seemed to be in his mid 20s and had Black hair with brown eyes. Though he was also pretty tall, maybe 6 feet. That was what Nekane guessed and he watched in disbelief. "That's it. Fry that guy" one of the guards said as he started to become trigger happy out of fear for his own life. Nekane soon saw a couple of the guards walk out of the base with a weapon he had never seen before. Big and glowing though it seemed hard to use with how difficult it was for the guards to carry it around. "Finally we get to see what this bad thing could do" One of the guards said as he noticed the weapon being pulled in. "Just one weapon? Where are the rest?!" Another guard asked as he started to stake in his boots believing that it could be his last day. "I am sorry sir. These prototypes are expensive to produce and convincing the HQ in Northern Spur has been extremely hard to do. So we have to make due with what we have." One of the men told him. Nekane watched from the shadows as he watched the anger in the man approaching the gate start to turn into fueled hatred. "Give me that!" The scared guard yelled as the angry man started to approach faster. "You can barely aim that thing and you believe you will stop me? No, it's too late for that. Nothing will come between me and my revenge!" The man approaching said. Nekane started to notice the angry man wasn't your normal man. As he soon started to change forms in front of his eyes. "My name is Eduard Maier!I will not stand by you any longer as you stand there committing the worst crimes against humanity. This ends today!" Eduard yelled. His arms soon started to turn into a sharp form. As if they were turning into swords that could be used during a battle. "Oh no! Oh no!! It's one of those freaks! Someone please just fire!" One of the guards yelled in horror as he saw the transformation that just took place.

Time seemed to pass slowly as Nakane watched the man walk without fear. For sure he thought that he was going to die in this battle. Thoughts flooded Nekane's mind as he soon started to question his own determination. He felt almost challenged by that man though it didn't take long for things to get out of hand. "Ready, set,...." Eduard said as he started to prepare for a sprint. "Go!" He yelled and he launched himself towards the entrance of the HQ. The guard that asked for the weapon stopped in fear when he saw the speed that Eduard was moving at. It was made even worse by the fact that his entire body has transformed into the sharpest blades he had ever seen. It only took one second for the first man to fall as Eduard took down one of the guards that stood in his way. "That was fairly easy, but you're not the one I am here for." Eduard said as they watched the men's lifeless body fall to the ground. Eduard soon started running in a sprint as he ran into the HQ. Nekane on the other hand realized it was time to take action as an opening as soon showed itself thanks to the sudden arrival of Eduard. "Hey, now is our chance. Everyone is distracted." Nakane told her as he started to try and climb the wall that surrounded the buildings. Dolores was in complete shock from all the events that were happening. It felt like it was going way too perfectly. Though that was why there was starting to be a small amount of doubt filling her mind.

As Nakane and Dolores managed to get over the wall they watched as Eduard ran around the base taking down anyone within his sights. The man looked fearless through all of the fighting and Nekane started to feel more doubt in his ability to change anything. Right before him was a man who jumped into a battle head on and Nekane was just simply hiding in the shadows because he didn't believe himself strong enough to take on any of them. Still as Nekane continued to watch, something started to feel off. "Wasn't a good number of the DPHC officers supposed to have at least a little bit of power?" Nekane asked Dolores as they managed to enter the HQ. "Yeah actually. I was wondering the same thing but for some reason those guys look like powerless people. Maybe they needed the personnel with super powers elsewhere?" Dolores told him. "I got a bad feeling about this." Nekane told her as they started to run towards the building. They continued to hold on to hope that they would find the locations of the DPHC HQs when entering. Among all of that chaos they had somehow managed to get into the building. Though things got weirder for them as they entered the building. At first thought you would believe there would be a lot of tunnels and paths to go through but it wasn't like that. The building had one open room that took up most of the space. It almost seemed to be built for the specific reason of making sure everyone was under watch.

It was almost like a workshop built for the simple reason of creating forms of transportation. As Nekane looked a bit closer though he started to realize that the situation was a lot worse than that. "Oh God…" Dolores said as she noticed thousands of lifeless bodies laying down on beds throughout the room. They had heard rumors about the DPHC doing experiments but they never once thought it was going to be this bad. A large amount of the surface area that made up the floor was filled with beds and people in them that looked to be in an endless sleep. Some seemed to have gotten off easy while others had looks of fear in their eyes. "They all were experimented on…" Nekane said with a heart broken tone. There was a part of his heart that wanted to scream out in pain. He saw so many people being taken away and not once did he care to help them out. He just simply watched as they got taken away. He started to feel a guilt so big in his heart that it felt like someone was cutting into his chest with a butter knife. "I can't believe that this was happening from underneath our noises… How could they be treating people like this?" Dolores asked as they tried their best to process everything that was going on. Before they could continue to watch though two workers soon entered the scene. Both of them seemed to be in their 50s and had smiles that made you feel sick inside.

Something about the way they walked or the way they talked made Nekane hate them with a passion. "What do you think is going on the outside?" One of the old men asked as they started to walk toward the beds full of people. "Who knows. Apparently one of the freaks decided to come and pick a fight with the entire base but it seems like they will soon have everything under control." The other man replied with a fake smile. "You do say. Well, everyone fighting on the outside are people that refused to get powers when they decided to join the DPHC. Almost like lambs to be slaughtered. To think the base that has had to deal with the most attacks is the one base that uses the most powerless officers. You would think that they would want to keep any information about this place hidden." The first man replied as they sat down beside someone in a bed, they started to do x-rays on the person, as to see what was going on in their bodies. "Do you honestly think the public would even care about the fact that we are testing on these subjects? They are so fearful of them that any sign of them losing would feel like a victory." The conversation continued. "Guessing you are right. Still, are you sure they have everyone under control? I wouldn't want to die today after all." one of them said as they started to pull things out of their bags. "Yes, the boss is here after all. The Great Christian Smallings. Ironic name but he is one of the few men that Thane is willing to trust with such a place. Now let us proceed with the experiment." The conversation ended.

Anger started to fill Dolores as she noticed what the old man pulled out of his bag. Tools that you would see used to disgust frogs in school were being used on living humans. Just the idea was making her sick to her stomach. Nekane on the other hand was starting to feel sick from all of the guilt that was starting to haunt him. "I have had enough." Nekane told Dolores as they stood there watching. "What do you…?" Dolores tried to speak but Nekane managed to cut her off. "I have had enough of just turning the other way. All it has caused was pain and suffering and who cares if I would have ended up being caught. No one deserves to have to deal with this." Nekane continued as he started to stand up. "What are you doing?" Dolores asked as she couldn't process what he was going to do. "I am going to wake them up." Nekane said as electricity started to build up in his hands. "Um… Nekane, whatever you are planning on doing it better be worth it!" Dolores said as her whisper started to become a yell. Soon Nekane started to pull in all the electricity in the building as he started to build up a huge attack. "Nekane stop! You are going to end up killing all of them." Dolores yelled as she started to panic at the events unfolding. Nekane couldn't hear her though because his anger was overwhelming him.

"Nekane!" Dolores yelled and he soon got ready to fire. "Boom!" Nekane said as he released all the electricity onto the workers testing on those human beings. One by one the doctors fell as the electric current overwhelmed their body burning them to death. Dolores fell down behind him fearful at the idea that he could have just killed millions of innocent people. As she jumped up to her feet though her fear became chock as she realized Nekane didn't strike a single innocent person. She watched all of the workers in the building fall down one by one as if they were paying for their sins. Soon the people in the beds started to wake up due to the shock they felt from Nekane's attack. Through his attack Nekane managed to not only take out those experiments on the innocent people but he also managed to wake them up from their dormant state. One by one people started to wake up as Nekane turned his head to Dolores. "I Think I see a room that holds the location of every DPHC HQ they know of", Nekane told Dolores. "Aren't you going to say something to them? Do they even know where they are?" Dolores asked Nekane. "Who knows but I am no leader to lead them to safety. It's up to them to decide where they end up going." Nekane told Dolores as he started to wobble around from being so tired. "I will not let them get hurt anymore though. I will change our faith. I will be the rebellion that saves us." Nekane said as he started to walk forward.

"If you know where you are and have any way of defending yourself. Run and go grab your freedom!" Nekane yelled. The people started to yell with happiness at the fact that all of them had managed to survive all of that experimenting. They all started to run out of the building as every single one of them started to use their abilities to get out. Nekane and Dolores still needed to grab the one thing they came for though. As they started to walk towards the center of the building amongst the chaos they managed to find it. The map… No the blueprint to taking down Thane and his empire. "Finall…" Nekane started to speak but he got cut off. As soon as they managed to grab the map they watched as the wall in front of them started to fall apart. As they jumped out of the way Eduard came flying straight through the wall as if he was struck by a strong attack. "Ow that hurt." Eduard said as he started to stand up from the wreckage. "Wait, who are you two?" He asked as he saw Nekane and Dolores standing in front of him. "No!!!!!!!!" They heard a man's voice start yelling from outside of the hole. "Daif you idiot, you just had to make an even bigger mess of… Wait who let the test subjects out?" A female voice yelled from the outside. "This is bad Nekane" Dolores told Nekane as she started to realize just who it was that was talking.

"Looks like I have to always clean up after you two." Another voice said as a man walked through the hole. "Are you two the ones that let all of those people out?" The man asked. "I will take you down Christian Smalling!!! Even if it cost me my life!" Eduard yelled. As Nekane and Dolores heard that name the situation went from bad to worse. The Leader of the HQ Christain Smalling and his right and left hand workers Daif Thornton and Charlotte Larson have now found them. Now it was time for Nekane and Dolores to go into survival mode for they have just run into their biggest challenge yet.