22 DAYS BEFORE THE REMATCH IN HALLOWSVILLE

  Kofi and I were in handcuffs being aggressively pushed toward the gates of Williams Penitentiary. My partner in crime was barking like a rabid dog, while my eyes were focused on the sole guard sitting in front of the gate. Judging by his green skin, he was a KB like Emmy, and he was wearing a cheap looking samurai costume.

  Once we were close enough, the samurai stood up and prepared to unsheath the sword resting on his hip. “Well, if it isn’t Flamazing. And I see you have brought me some unique looking men into my presence.” His voice told me he always put himself on a pedestal. His long, spiky hair only strengthened that opinion.

  “Caught these two fucks near the scene of Zandalf’s, uh… battle,” Flam said with a serious demeanor. “I suspect they know something about Jason, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. I think a day in one of your infamous cells will get them talking.”

  The KB gave Kofi a suspicious look. “This one looks familiar. Can you remove his hoodie?” Flam did what was asked, and the KB smirked at the sight. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Underground City’s biggest disgrace. Was being a lapdog for the Resource Adventurers too hard for you?”

  “I really need to dig my nose,” Kofi murmured.

  “We’re not telling you shit!” I growled at the guard. “Suck my fucking dick!”

  He backhanded me, shutting me up. “Such obscene language coming from someone cut from the same cloth as me. And that odor?” He pinched his nose. “When is the last time you’ve showered?”

  “You can see why I think they’re suspicious now, right?” Flam asked.

  The KB nodded. “Trust me, Flamazing, I would've put these fools in here even if they were respectful civilians.” She handed us over to him. “I’ll make sure to teach these two the Williams Penitentiary way. After all, I — KB-223 — was created for this.”

  Flam glanced at us, her eyes softening. Then, she walked off as 223 ordered someone inside to open the gates.

  That’s when I saw it — a long, red and white ticket to Lyra’s show tied to his sword’s sheath. We just needed to find the perfect moment to steal it before Flam returned to get us. Daemon already knew we were down here, but as long as we didn’t cause any citywide panic, then doing stuff like this was fine.

  At least, that’s what Kofi and I agreed on. He couldn’t hurt me and he couldn’t hurt the kid ‘cause I needed him around.

  The sound of buzzing filled the air, and the metal gates slowly opened.

  “Just a heads up, you two are going to be here a lot longer than a day.” 223 got behind us and pushed us inside. “I have a ticket to see the greatest group of singers the New World has ever seen. So while I have fun out there, you two will be in a nice, cozy cell here.”

  As he continued to take us toward the building against our will, I checked out what we’d be dealing with. There were guards posted up everywhere, and most of them had green skin. Were Emmy’s kind mass produced like toys?

  “You might be surprised to see me in my new position after only a couple of weeks,” the samurai said. “After all, I was a simple peasant, but now I’m on track to taking your spot on the Seven.”

  “I have no idea who you are, man,” Kofi said casually.

  “Simple peasant?” I chuckled. “You speak like a loser.”

  He slapped the back of my bald head, causing me to grit my teeth. “Of course your brain would try its best to block out the memory of the man who will soon surpass you. Just wait till Mr. Williams hears about this treachery, and how I captured you! I’ll have your spot in no time!”

  I was guessing “the Seven” was another name for the Radius.

  After some more walking, we were taken inside the building. Kofi and I went through the usual process — fingerprinting, mugshots, and a change of clothes.

  In the cell area, there were a lot less normal prisoners than I expected. One of them was a half-bird, half-girl redhead who was glaring at me from the second floor. She wasn’t the only one giving me a death stare. A shirtless dude with the skin of a shark and outdated palm beach shorts looked like he wanted to kill me too.

  Everyone there began chanting “Fresh meat!”. Even the guards joined in.

  “Put ‘em in my cell, warden!” shouted a giant, anthropomorphic bull, shaking his cell’s metal bars. “I need a new ramming bag!”

  “Who’s the cutie with the dreads? I need that, warden!”

  “Hey, is that Kofi Kingston?” a blonde guy asked in a Russian accent, sitting ominously in the middle of the room. “Let me have some fun with him, warden.”

  I always knew to steer away from someone bold enough to be in nothing but his underwear in prison, so I felt bad when 223 placed Electro in the cell with the Russian.

  “Our reunion might be cut short, but we’ll see each other again, Kofi,” 223 said with a wicked smile. “Or maybe not. Drakunov here is an insane, ruthless killer from the most dangerous family in the world.”

  “Clean up after you’re done sucking, dude,” Kofi laughed.

  “Quiet!” the samurai demanded, punching the bars.

  Once the kid regained his composure, I was led upstairs and all the way to Bird Girl’s cell. Her scowl became more intense while she flew backwards, clinging onto the bars of the only window inside.

  “You are going to regret whatever involvement you had in Zandalf’s death, rogue KB,” 223 said, removing my cuffs as another guard unlocked the cell. “The Slavelands is nothing like Williams Penitentiary. People would rather commit seppuku than spend a day here.”

  I didn’t know why he was gassing this place up so much. It seemed pretty standard.

  Before he shoved me inside, I swiped the ticket off of his sheath and put it inside my right pocket. The warden didn’t even blink yet.

  I landed on my ass, getting a laugh out of the nearby prisoners. “I’m gonna call you Sammy instead of whatever your name is. Sammy because you’re a bootleg samu-”

  Sammy unsheathed his katana. The sharpness of the yellow metal and the fact that I came this close to losing my head shut me up swiftly… was probably what he was thinking was the reason for my sudden silence.

  “I’ve watched tons of videos, strengthening my swordsmanship with each one I watched.” He readjusted his glasses, looking at my bandaged chest. “Do not test me, boy, or I’ll hurt you worse than whoever put you in that damaged state.”

  I put my arms up and the warden took that as a surrender. Sheathing his sword, Sammy walked off, satisfied with his horrible skill to instill fear.

  I walked to my bed and sat down, hoping to get a moment to chill out for a while. Bird Girl ruined that, grabbing my throat with her yellow, spindly feet and pulling me down to the floor.

  Her wings blasted gusts of wind at my oozy skin as she descended toward me. She wore prison pants that had been torn into shorts, showing off more of her scaly legs. Bird Girl’s brown feathers covered most of her body, aside from her grimacing face.

  “Long time no see, Jerome,” she growled, leaning her face down to me. “You look different since I last saw you, but you still have that pathetic face of yours.”

  “Do I… know you?” I asked.

  The half bird gripped my neck, but her talons didn’t even pierce my skin. “Don’t play dumb. I’m Alicent.” She said that name as though it’d be a big reveal.

  “Still not ringing any-”

  “You punched me through a fucking wall! I would’ve died if it wasn’t for the Mighty Terror’s essence fusing with mine. And now, I’m gonna make sure you, your disease ridden daughter, and Dante all die!”

  I searched through every memory in my mind, and still couldn’t find who this girl was. And yet, she knew me, knew I had a daughter, and knew about Dante too. Tha5 brought me to one conclusion.

  “I know who you are now!” I exclaimed.

  Alicent’s eyes lit up. “You do?”

  “Yeah, you’re a creepy fucking stalker!” I guessed, pointing at her face.

  “Wh-What!?”

  “Yeah, I get it now. You must’ve been watching us for a pretty long time up in the skies, huh? You goddamn weirdo. You better not have been watching my daughter during her privacy times.”

  “What the hell are you talking-”

  “Listen here, lady, there’s three types of people I hate most in this world: people who disrespect wrestling, people who hurt my family, and people who hurt kids. And right now, I’m thinking you’re that last one.”

  I sent Alicent flying upward with a punch before another word of confusion couldn't leave her mouth. She bounced off the ceiling and landed next to me with a loud thud, attracting the attention of the guards outside our cell.

  One of the KB guards struck the bar with his baton. “Hey! If you’re going to be fucking in here, then be quiet with it!”

  I was like a butterfly compared to the pack of monkeys in the downstairs area, so I had no idea what he was talking about. Another thing I didn’t know was why my strength was still intact. I could just break out if I really wanted to.

  “Hey, Guard Man,” I said, standing back up. “Does everyone here still have their powers? Well, the ones that have them in the first place.”

  “Yeah. What about it?”

  I paused. “Aren’t y’all scared of a massive breakout or riot?”

  “And if they did, we have Daemon Williams on speed dial. Everyone here understands that, and you’ll understand that too.” He spent time chewing his gum before continuing. “Well, in your case, you’ll be disassembled.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You’re a KB with powers, aren’t ya? If one of you Kill-Bots acts out of line, then the scientists will break you down, figure out what went wrong, and then give your power to some other guy.”

  I thought they were called “Kare-Bots”. Did Emmy lie to me?

  “Well, then I guess I better have fun while it lasts,” I said, walking back to my bed.

  “Not too much fun, you damn animal!”

  ********

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Peace and quiet finally did come during lunch time, but that was only ‘cause every prisoner was glaring at us like we were old men at a playground. That included the bird girl who was perched on the giant black bull’s shoulder.

  The two that really had me weirded out were the mom and her son sitting near the kitchen. They were both Type Two Radions, and yet there were still a couple humans sitting around the cafeteria. Given the tight embrace the mother had around the kid, they could’ve been like me.

  They both had deep purple oozy skin, long hair, and nineteenth century frilly dresses that were the same color as their bodies.

  I was beginning to notice a key difference between other Type Twos and me. I was an average-looking, humanoid shmuck while they all had cool, unique looks, as though this was a fashion party and I didn’t get the memo.

  I turned my attention to Kofi, who was chowing down on the prison food special — meatloaf and a mysterious white slop. “I’ve been meaning to ask, how did the big man on top get all this made? Not just this building. The two cities. Not to mention, it’s all underground.”

  “Lyra created it,” he answered after swallowing a bite of his food. “A lot of it took her years. But I’ve heard rumors that years ago, the gyal made the foundation for it in only one hour.”

  “For two cities? You Radius people are powerhouse freaks.” I glanced at the Russian named Drakunov bench pressing a cafeteria table while doing sit ups. “Did blondie over there give you any trouble?”

  “Surprisingly, nah. I was actually trying to give him trouble, but all he wanted to do was talk.” Kofi placed a hand on his tummy. “Besides, I’ve been more worried about something else lately.”

  “You pregnant?” I joked.

  He raised his eyebrows and spat his food out. “Men can get pregnant? I knew it. No wonder that bull keeps checking me out.”

  “That was a j-” I laughed softly. “Never mind. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  I think I’ve been poisoned,” Kofi said worriedly. “Ever since that B Team bitch left, I’ve been getting this sinking feeling inside of me. Like a hole inside my stomach. She must’ve gotten her revenge on me. I could tell how jealous she was of my status.”

  “First of all, don’t call her a bitch. Second of all, your status right now stinks. And third of all, you’re not poisoned. What you feel is, well, feeling bad.”

  “Feel bad?” He slowly rubbed his chin like a detective. “What is this strange term?”

  I sighed, rubbing the space between my nonexistent brows. “Jesus Christ, it means you regret what you said to her earlier.”

  “Regret? That sounds disgusting! How do I get rid of it?”

  “By apologizing,” I said while he started crossing the street.

  He gagged. “Haven’t done that in a while.”

  “Yeah, I could tell. But it’s the only way you can cure that horrible feeling.”

  “Then how come you didn’t forgive Sunshine when she apologized to you?”

  I hesitated to answer that. “It’s ’cause she wasn’t actually sorry.”

  Kofi scratched his head. “But she said sorry.”

  “Look, I know my child better than anyone, and I know she didn’t mean it,” I argued as a sharp pain filled my left pec.

  “I’mmm not really understa-”

  “Let’s just drop it, alright? Let’s just focus on-“

  “Eat your food, fresh meat.”

  I turned my head to the squeaky voice behind me, wanting to see who was finally brave enough to step up to me.

  It was a kid. A bald boy with one eye, purple skin, and a cheeky smile.

  “Yeah, you heard me, fresh meat!” the kid exclaimed, his eye switching from my plate of food to me. “I’m Tiny Bigs! Why don’t you eat your food, fresh meat? All you do is talk, talk, talk, but don’t eat, eat, eat.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said, smiling awkwardly.

  “Yes, you are. You took the food, so you’re hungry. C’mon, fresh meat, eat the food. We’re not too nice to people who waste food.”

  The other prisoners seemed to share his sentiment as they were all baring their teeth at me like dogs. “Why don’t you run along, kid? Back to your friends.”

  Tiny Bigs snickered. “What’s wrong, pussy? You’re scared of a little kid, fresh meat?” He roared at me like a dinosaur, trying to make me flinch. “C’mon, let’s see what you got, fresh meat! You can't handle me, huh? Or do you wanna give up and eat your food?”

  I couldn't let this little shit get to me, or else I’d prove once again how much of a hypocrite I was. But then, he started slapping my leg, and that got my fist shaking. If there was a reason he was in here, I’d bet all my money it was for being an irritating prick.

  “Appreciate our food, fresh meat!” he laughed sinisterly, releasing an onslaught of strikes on my thigh. “Look at fresh meat! Getting flustered by a little kid! Your beard looks dumb. Looking like a dumb idiot. Does that make you mad, fresh meat?”

  “Don’t fall for the rage bait, Unc,” said Kofi, resting his chin on his palm.

  “The hell is a ‘rage bait’?” I asked.

  His eyes brightened. “It’s a term I made up! He’s purposely trying to get you mad so that you can retaliate through words or violence.

  I noticed the burn mark on Tiny Big’s prison jumpsuit. “Looks like someone already fell for it.”

  “Oh, that was me,” Kofi admitted. “But that was only because I wanted to see what his powers were. The kid is, like, immortal or something.”

  The kid began pushing my back. “I bet you’re pooping your pants right now like I did in the past, fresh meat! I can tell you wanna punch me. Do it! I bet you’re a fucking coward! I can see it in your eyes, fresh meat. You actually wanna punch an innocent, defenseless little kid like me? Just because I’m really annoying? Do it, pussy!”

  I gave Tiny Bigs exactly what he asked for, knocking him out with one chop to the skull.

  It turned out that the kid was more liked than I could imagine as chaos erupted soon after. Kofi and I obliterated the tables thrown at us with fists and lightning. Guards started to participate, ordering everyone to stop.

  No one listened.

  The floor surrendered to the might of the black bull’s hand, causing dust to erupt. But three people moved into the smokescreen anyway. Me, Drakunov the Russian, and the one who'd been staring at me the most: the blue skin dude.

  Drakunov threw a fist. Not his own, but the fist of another person. I dodged the projectile and struck him in the face. However, I couldn’t dodge Blue Dude’s attack. It wasn’t ’cause of his speed. He hit me with something I didn’t expect.

  His tail.

  I hit the ground hard, the smokescreen beginning to clear. Blue Dude landed in front of me, and a snarling, metallic scream chewed through the air. Chainsaws popped out of his arms, and memories of a past fight appeared like wildfire.

  “Hey, zombie dude,” he said, grinning. “It’s been a while. Check out this rad new bod I got!”

  “Sharky, it’s you!” I said in disbelief. “I thought my hammer blew you up!”

  He gritted his sharp, bloody teeth. “The name isn’t Sharky. It’s Megalodon! And you thought wrong! Well, I did blow up, but then your attack totally changed me. Turned me into, like, a half-human, half-shark guy. And now I totally want revenge, dude! You’re dead meat!”

  The bull swung at us with a gigantic clothesline from behind Sharky, but we both jumped on top of his arm, wind blasting our faces. Alicent soared toward me, shooting a green, gooey beam from her mouth.

  I threw my arms up to block, but that move proved to be pointless. The beam traveled to the shark man’s chainsaws and enveloped them. I remembered he only did something like that with water before. Guess his Radius Ability evolved.

  Alicent and Sharky exchanged blows with me in unison, competing to see who would be the one to bring me down. The giant we were on top of also wanted dibs, blasting a wave of fire from his nostrils at all of us. My body took the full force of the heat. If handling this was a problem, then I’d never beat Incinivon.

  “If you wanna be a part of this grudge match so bad-” I charged through the flame and leaped toward the bull’s angry face. “Then be my guest!” My foot slammed against his forehead. He released a bellow of pain while Sharky rushed for me.

  The shark man raised the spinning metal blade into the air. I sent my fist toward him, and that’s when I saw Sharky’s smirk. I put myself in the perfect position for him to slice my chest open, and that’s exactly what he wanted.

  But thinking I messed up is exactly what I wanted him to think. Sharky brought the chainsaw down, however, he only hit air. I was already behind him, arms coiled around his waist.

  With a sharp pull and a burst of strength, I arched backward, driving the shark dude skull-first into the bull’s thick shoulder.

  Once Sharky slid off the giant, I shot a thumbs up at him. “Thank you, Vladimir!” Alicent drove her talons toward me, but I backhanded her out of my sight. “That girl’s weird.”

  “Hey, zombie!” I looked up and saw a smiling Drakunov was sitting on top of the fire-nose-breathing bull’s head. “You gave me a good punch back there.”

  “Want some more?” I asked, throwing my fist up.

  “No. I came to compliment you on that German Suplex. Are you also a professional wrestling fan?”

  He sounded genuine, so I gave him a genuine answer. “Yeah. What about it?”

  “Let me show you something truly amazing!”

  The Russian rose to his feet atop the bull’s skull, claws digging in as the beast snorted flames through its nostrils. Before I could blink, he bent his knees and launched himself forward.

  I kicked off the bull’s back and rolled clear just in time.

  Drakunov’s toes hooked deep into the creature’s fur. He then whipped his body downward and snapped his weight around, twisting hard. The massive head was yanked sideways as momentum took over.

  The bull’s hooves left the ground.

  With a violent flip, the monster was torn off balance and hurled onto its back, the impact shaking the ground as Drakunov released and landed in a crouch nearby.

  “A Hurricanrana,” I murmured, staring in awe.

  The collision left everyone stunned.

  Except for one person.

  Kofi was in the air on a white saucer with a giant electric ball sitting on his palm. “The fun isn’t over yet!”

  “Kofi, no!” I roared, stopping him right before the orb left his hand. “Do you wanna kill me, boy!? No? Then get down here right now!” When his electricity still didn’t disperse, I went in a little harder. “Do not make me repeat myself!”

  That last line finally put a dent in the kid’s brain, and he descended back down to me, head bowed.

  “Did he just son the Kofi Kingston?”

  “What a loser. Needing to be tamed by his daddy.”

  The laughter made Kofi’s body shake with fury, but I put my arm around his neck and smiled. “Remember what I said before, Electro. If you wanna zap someone, let it be me.”

  Sweat ran down his face. “But I don’t want to.”

  “Huh?”

  “I don’t want to zap people I like. Not when I’m this angry.”

  If I had a heart, it would’ve skipped a beat. “How about this? Think of the person you hate most in your head. And then blast them in your mind.”

  Kofi squeezed his eyes shut. “Ok… Boom!” His eyes opened. “I destroyed the President of the United States.”

  “That’s ni - wait what?”

  “What have you fools done to my cafeteria!?”

  Every prisoner flinched and immediately regained their composure. The warden had returned, and his pissed expression silenced everyone. His face grew more shocked with each unconscious guard he saw.

  “I was in a good mood today because I had a front row ticket to see the beautiful Lyra Williams on stage, so I was going to let you idiots have your fun. However…” Sammy showed his sheathed katana to us. “I have come to realize that my ticket is gone! Where is it? Which one of you stole it!?”

  Obviously, no one said anything.

  That made Sammy even angrier. “You do not think I will call Daemon here? I have his ID on speed dial! I can ask him to kill one of you disgusting gremlins for every minute my ticket is back in my hand.”

  I placed my hands in my pockets, avoiding eye contact with the warden. To my dismay, the ticket wasn’t inside. I side-eyed Kofi, hoping he’d give me a sign that it was in his possession. Yet he gave me nothing.

  I must’ve dropped it during the fight. But I could stick my hand and my whole wrist in these pockets. There’s no way it just fell out.

  Tiny Bigs erased that doubt the moment I saw him raise his hand. The ticket was in his grasp. “Hey, warden, is this your ticket!?”

  Sammy looked relieved from the sight. “My-My ticket! Thank Daemon!”

  “I thought I knocked that little cyclops out. Comes in and steals the ticket? What the hell?” I whispered to Kofi without looking at him.

  “Kid’s stronger than he looks,” he whispered back. “But worry about the past later. Let’s get the ticket back.”

  I waited for the warden to rush past us to reply. “In front of the warden? What did I say about not causing a panic? We gotta wait for Fla-”

  “You said citywide panic. In-prison panic doesn’t mean shit. Besides, even if he does go whining to Daemon or any other higher ups, they can’t do shit to you. You got the high ground, remember?”

  Kofi had a point.

  Ever since Hallowsville, I’d been so worried about the risks of everything that it blinded me from the fact that I haven’t had this much high ground in years. Most of my enemies —even my allies — knew how much power they had, when to utilize it, and when other options were needed when that power wasn’t enough.

  It was time for me to learn those same skills.

  “Hey, why are you two whispering like school girls talking about their crushes!?” We turned back to the warden who was holding up his ticket toward us. “Did you two have something to do with this?”

  Tiny Bigs grinned. “I found it inside the green man’s pocket. And I’m pretty sure he’s a zombie too!”

  “Oh, is that so?” Sammy unsheathed his blade, scowling. “Everyone, back to your cells at once! I need to teach our new residents a lesson in manners.”

  The prisoners followed his command, but Kofi’s words stopped them.

  “What’re you going to do if it was us?” the kid asked, furrowing his brows, smiling deviously.

  The warden tilted his head. “If? I have direct confirmation from someone that your sidekick was responsible. And now, I am going to make him regret it!”

  “Are you though?” Electro nudged my arm, trying to get me in on this.

  I obliged. “Yeah, can he though?”

  “I am the warden of Williams Penitentiary,” Sammy spat, face turning a darker green. “I can and I will!”

  “Spell ‘penitentiary’,” I said.

  “Yeah, spell it. Why’re you making up words?”

  “Spell it!? Are you an imbecile? The word is spelled P - E - N-” The warden growled, slashing the floor. It wasn’t damaged at all. “I will not fall for your verbal trickery! Prepare to face the might of my Lightning Splitt-”

  I punched him, putting a stop to his annoying voice. Sammy landed near my feet, green liquid oozing out of his mouth. The guards he had brought as backup ran away with their tails tucked between their legs.

  A lot of the prisoners’ mouths gaped.

  “He knocked out the warden!”

  “I’ve been wanting to do that for months, but he kept using the D card.”

  “If the zombie can do that, then what’re we so afraid of?”

  “We’re free! Fuck Daemon!”

  A collective “Yeah!” filled the cafeteria as the bull rammed a hole through the wall. Here I thought they all hated my guts, but every prisoner ran out of the prison, cackling and hollering.

  “Letting every prisoner escape is bad, right?” I asked.

  “Daemon will handle it. Just ride the wave, Unc.”

  This felt more like a tsunami than a wave, but screw it.

  I grabbed back the ticket and decided to take the warden’s katana too. Would make a nice gift for Sunshine since she lost that baseball bat.

  The two of us ran toward the front door. Flam was already there with two men in handcuffs. They were gonna be Kofi and I’s replacements if everything went as planned. But plans were always susceptible to change, and I didn’t wanna waste any time explaining what went wrong here.

  So I grabbed Flam and continued running.

  “What the hell did you two do in there!?” she exclaimed angrily.

  “Fine, I’ll keep it short!” I shouted back. “We stole the warden’s ticket, caused a riot, and then punched the warden!”

  “You punched the warden!?”

  “Fire Lady, I need to get this off my chest!” Kofi joined in. “I’m sorry for saying your friend died — even though it’s true!”

  “That’s not even what you should be apologizing for! And you don't even remember my name!?”

  “Sooo, apology accepted?”

  “Fuck off!”