Supernatural

32

FEBRUARY — DOWNTOWN PENNSINGTON — 9:28 PM

2832 was an idiot.

She couldn't turn Light Glider in. Not when this new threat was arising, and when he lost his powers. If she told the AMO about Siphon, they'd kill Capes and his friends for knowing too much.

Why the hell should she care, she kept asking herself. They were just people. She barely knew them. Yet she just made an enemy of something that could very easily find her and kill her, in order to protect them. She wanted to scream out in frustration as she walked subconsciously in the direction of the warehouse. She wasn't supposed to feel emotions. She wasn't supposed to care. And she didn't, just the other day, so why did she now?

She had been walking around, just wandering for the last few hours as she gathered her thoughts, the sun dipping down below to surround in darkness, safe for the yellow light of the lampposts.

For all she knew, the AMO already knew she betrayed them and were sending a team out to get her at that very moment. She bet Madilyn was gloating about how right she was about SNs being untrustworthy.

2832 just needed to let out her stress and anger. Usually, she'd do that in training but she couldn't just go to a gym, seeing as there were cameras everywhere and she'd be caught in seconds. Instinctively, she pulled the hood of her jacket down further.

The first thing that came to mind was street fighting, but she had no idea where to find them. They were difficult to come by, since it was illegal and it was kept quiet as to avoid the police from finding out. But knowing the crime-filled Pennsington City that Capes had slowly began to clean out, there was bound to be a few.

The obvious place to go seemed to be downtown, the more dirty, illegal and dangerous part of the city. She took a taxi and drove down to the area, telling the driver to drop her off vaguely at a street side. She gave him most of the money she had, not bothering to count, leaving her with only two hundred dollars to her name.

She dropped by a cornerstone and bought a pack of cigarettes, disappearing into the alley by an older man to take a smoke. She breathed in the tabacco greedily. She didn't smoke that much, only occasionally but wouldn't call herself an addict. Right now, she knew she needed it.

As smoke escaped her lips, she casually began a conversation. "You know your way around here?"

"Ups and downs," he replied. "You probably shouldn't be 'round here, missy. With all the party supplies and fighting."

She recognized the slang as a code word for drug dealing, and was unfazed. "I'm not worried," she assured. "Looking for a place to fight. Know any?"

"One," he answered. "Most of 'em been busted. How do I know you ain't the police?"

"If I was the police, I'd be more interested in party supplies than some street fighting ring. Can you give me the place or not?"

He dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his foot, rummaging through his pockets pull out a slip of paper and a pencil. He scribbled something down, ripped the small piece off and gave it to her. "You didn't get it from me."

"I didn't," she confirmed, then went out of the alley and looked at the address. It read, '15 Tenith street'. She scrunched it up into a ball and stuck it into her pocket, beginning to walk towards where she guessed it was.

She passed building after building, not nearly as tall as the skyscrapers in the centre of the city. She turned to go onto Tenith street, counting the numbers until she found the one she was looking for. She pulled the metal door opened, and cautiously went down some steps into the basement. She could hear a crowd the deeper she went.

Finally, the staircase ended and she approached a guard or bouncer at the entrance. "Fifty to watch, twenty-five to fight," he stated the clearly rehearsed line in a bored tone.

"Fight," she said, pulling out a twenty and a five. He gave her a sign up sheet, and after a short moment of hesitation, she scribbled down, 'SAVAGE'.

2832 slipped into the crowd, watching the current fight. She went over to the bar and asked for a shot of the strongest they had. Being an SN, alcohol didn't really affect her, but it gave her a spike of adrenaline. She downed it quickly, and waited patiently for her name to be called.

The ring was more of a cage, with a tall metal fence surrounding it. The guests were allowed to get as close as they wanted, as long as they didn't go in, and grabbed the cage, rattling it in encouragement when the one they betted on began to lose or win.

The way the place went, from what she saw, was that the winner of the previous fight, should they agree, would fight the next person on the list. Almost anything was allowed, even killing but it wasn't preferred. The winner got three hundred dollars per win.

An hour later, she was finally called up to the stage, snaking through the crowd to the stairs up to the cage. She was going against a man named Reece, who proudly showed off his muscles that he earned from years in the gym and steroids. He must have been in his thirties or forties.

Even though she had just had a quick fight with Harpo, Madilyn and Sean, she was bouncing on her toes with excitement to fight. She wondered if anyone had bet on her or Reece, and if so, who had the most.

She waited for the bell to ring, and immediately after it did, Reece came running for her. Idiot, she thought. His bulk slowed him down, leaving her plenty of time to sidestep, elbow his back then push him with her foot into the metal. The crowd roared in approval of the unexpected fast movement.

He whipped around, his face already red with either anger or embarrassment. She had a suspicion it was both, and struggled to hide a smirk. He swung his large fist forward, and she dodged only to be hit on the side by his other hand, throwing her to the ground. She bit her lip at the pain, but turned over and threw herself to her feet.

2832 delivered an uppercut, and swung her leg to kick his torso. She began to back him up, barely noticing the pain in her knuckles as they met his skin. Then, she jumped into a powerful roundhouse kick, directly in the spine, one of the fatal spots she was taught about.

He collapsed and didn't come back up. She didn't have to wait for the host to test for a pulse to know he was dead. The three hundred dollars was all she was thinking about.

But suddenly, she felt her eyes begin to glow and looked at her hands to see them glowing. "No, no, no," she muttered.

Why was it happening? She remembered a particular skill of charging up your power until you burst an immense amount. Almost like a ticking time bomb. And it seemed it was doing it all on its own without her permission.

She needed to let it out before too much charged up. If it went to full capacity, she could move an entire city block a good few bit. So, she spread her arms and let it free.

The power practically melted from her, blowing everyone to the walls, even Reece's limp form and the cage. Some hit their heads so hard they fell unconscious or died on impact. The building shook, rocking slightly for a couple seconds before settling. When people came to their senses, they looked around in confusion, but 2832 was long gone.