"There's no way…is he…dead?" Digits said.
"Fuck!" Eezo cried. "Owl! What the fuck!"
The three of them ran over to Owl's body. Eezo checked it and then shook the body when he found it pulseless.
"Goddammit Owl!" Eezo cried.
"What was he doing? What was he putting in his body?" Baby Spice asked with her hand over her mouth.
Digits picked up a syringe and answered, "Athenadrine a.k.a. love sugar. It's like Hallix's badder, bolder, older sister. When people use it, it's called 'wiping out.'"
"Holy shit—athenadrine? That's too fuckin' much! I can't believe Owl got involved with that!" Baby Spice said.
"Yeah I'm a little surprised myself. He always seemed to be…in control." Digits said with fustration.
"Fuck. Where did he get this shit?" Eezo asked.
"Let's find out." Digits answered soberly.
The three of them walked away from the body and towards the refrigerator. Upon reaching it, Digits opened the freezer. He moved away the frozen vegetables and freeze pops until he found a reservoir of love sugar packets. He pulled one out and examined it.
"This little snowman? That's Ice's signature seal. She's from the Blues," Digits said.
"Of course, she's from the Blues," Baby Spice said. "That gang will do anything."
"The Blues would try to sell Superman kryptonite," Digits agreed. "And it looks like that's exactly what they did."
Baby Spice crossed her arms and agreed.
"How can you two be so calm?" Eezo asked. "He is dead. Owl is dead."
"We all deal with grief in different ways, Eezo," Baby Spice said.
"Come on, Shepard. You don't think we care?" Digits said.
"Overdosing is NOT RENEGADE!" Eezo cried.
"I know," Digits agreed soothingly.
"I can't—I should go." Eezo said.
"But Eezo we have to report to Red Reef," Baby Spice said.
He stormed off as Baby Spice and Digits called after him.
The Reds were an old gang. The gang had been the revolving faces of lost youths, troubled teens, and disgruntled adults for a little over half of a century. In the beginning, when they were known as the Red Tides, they found their sanctuary "Red Reef," in an abandoned prison.
The Black Wall prison was a for profit prison built by some overly rich venture capitalist. It was supposedly going to be a new prison which would attempt to rehabilitate prisoners with several alternative methods. On the surface it was a lot of tai-chi and cheap seafood attempting to change the world for the better. However, below the surface, prisoners were being experimented on by pharmaceutical companies inside of the prison. Once this scandal was brought to light, Black Wall was brought down by the government.
As the prison closed down crime continued. The Red Tides flocked to the prison as an oasis and base of operations. They went through their own little golden age of varren fighting, drug peddling, and gang fighting. They still called the prison Red Reef even when they became the Reds fifty years ago under the leadership of the gangster called Tiger.
In the prison yard's basketball court, adepts and vanguards were testing their abilities against each other while a captain coached them along. Eezo wandered through the chain fence to the court. He took his place by one of the biotics at the end. He stood next to a lanky boy named Slippy. Slippy asked him if he was getting any bitches and Eezo told Slippy that he wasn't in the mood. They watched two biotics as they battled.
One boy was pulling on the other with all his biotic concentration. His arms stretched outwards and glowed purple as he attempted to drag the other boy. The boy being dragged was using his biotic power to resist being pulled. The boy suddenly felt a rush of power and as he was being pulled he let forth a biotic blast that knocked the boy pulling him into the ground on the other side of the court.
"That's enough," Laser said.
Laser was the captain leading the exercise. She had long brown hair and a freckled face. Both of her ears and her nose were covered in piercings. She wore a red hoodie covered in a chilli pepper pattern with the sleeves cut off. Her arms were covered with tattoos, as was her neck and lower lip. She looked into the crowd of biotics and found Eezo.
She said, "Hey, Eezo, move your ass. Lookit you, showin' up whenever you want. What do you gotta say for yourself, little renegade? Nothing? Tell you what, why don't you fight…Exit."
Eezo looked tiredly over to Exit. Exit had small black gauges in his nose and much larger ones in his ears. He was covered in tattoos from his neck to his face. He also was wearing black mascara on his eyes. His hair was black and spiky. He wore a red hoodie with an upside-down skull on it. Exit looked at Eezo and raised both eyebrows jokingly. He then laughed.
Exit said, "Shit, alright. I'm gonna hurt him, though, ma'am. Sorry, Eezo" He smiled coyly at Eezo, but looked at him as if he were idiot.
"For the record, I don't give a shit about you," Eezo said neutrally.
"Damn. Eezo's not afraid of aaaanything," Exit said sweetly.
"I'm gonna fuck you up, you walking gloryhole," Eezo warned.
"Alright, both of you, get on the court," Laser instructed.
Exit and Eezo both walked to the middle of the basketball court. They stood five feet apart and faced each other, waiting for the command to fight. Eezo looked at Exit. Exit was bathing in biotic energy. He was just showing off. Eezo and Exit both knew that Exit was two years older and much more experienced in biotics. Eezo had watched him power house unfortunate gangsters before. It was a grisly sight.
Laser whistled and the brawl began. Eezo leaped at Exit with two biotically charged fists. Exit stuck both of his hands out and the biotic energy flowing around him ran down his arms and formed a wall in front of him. The biotic wall caught both of Eezo's fists easily, jamming him in place. Eezo growled as he forced biotic energy into his fists.
He forced more energy into them as he tried to pierce Exit's wall. Exit responded by making the biotic wall stronger and stronger until he finally collapsed the wall into a biotic explosion. The energy pushed Eezo back fifteen feet but kept him on his feet.
He ran back towards Exit at full speed with another biotic fist. Exit watched him for a few seconds and then sent a bullet of biotic power at him from. The biotic energy hit Eezo right in the stomach and he doubled over in pain.
Eezo struggled to stand up as he held his stomach. Just as he did Exit walked backwards and sent three quick bursts of biotic energy out of his palm. The bolts of energy flew arcs around the court before colliding into Eezo. The first two knocked him over to his knees and the third knocked him down.
"It's too bad Eezo. You're really going down like a punk. Lemme ask you something, did you ever think you had a shot?" Exit asked. Telekenetic balls of energy floating around Exit in a circle as he watched.
Eezo stood up, staring at Exit the entire time.
"You talked some shit. What were you thinking little man?" Exit asked. "What possible advantage, or counter or strategy could you have? What was your trump? What do you have, kid?"
Eezo spat blood. "I got a really big chip on my shoulder."
Biotic energy staring flowing around Eezo. It collapsed around his body and formed a purple layer of shielding energy. Eezo bolted and ran straight for Exit. As this happened Exit stretched out his arms and sent forth a powerful biotic wind of energy to slow down Eezo.