Summary:

Book 1. AU. Freedom is what drives them to live for tomorrow. To soul is a delicate thing but how much can someone take until they break. They use to live in true darkness longing to live amongst the surface. When that wish comes true, how far will they go to keep it? When everything they ever knew is put into question, how can they differ from reality and lies? Chapters now merged.

Author's note:

Here's another chapter, I am hoping to put the next one up soon. Make sure to review, favourite and follow as I would love to further improve and would appreciate constructive criticism. Come on, it's just a few clicks!

New- Chapters 3 and 4 are now 2.

How long can you survive?: Chapter 2- Escape:

"Ah!" Blade cried out as a shard hit him and then gritted his teeth as he got as low as possible. With a grunt, he pulled the large piece glass out of his shoulder and threw it to the floor.

"What the hell was that?!" Shield yelled hysterically, turning to look in the passenger rear view mirror - still low- and growled, "Chianti. We're screwed!" He gripped the chair and cringed. Why her? Why can't it be Vodka or even Gin for god sake? It just had to be a professional sniper!

"Blade!" Silver cried as he crawled over and applied pressure to the small wound that was trickling blood.

"M'fine," he gave the smaller a reassuring smile. This didn't bring ease to either brother as Shield's head shot up and he scrambled over the smaller twin towards his injured comrade.

"Hold on Blade, I'll heal you right up-" he was interrupted by yet another bullet, this one actually clipping his ear; a steady flow of blood instantly spilling from the wound as Blade none too gently shoved his head to the ground.

"Ye aho! Do you want to die? It's just a scratch!" Blade yelped as his arm was grabbed by Shield's determined hand. "Look, I know you wanna heal dis skin of perfection, but could you hold it off, for, oh I don't know … when we are not running for our lives!?"

"But...you're bleeding and-," Shield tried to protest but was cut off by Blade's angry retort.

"So are ya!" He roared over the sound of another bullet hitting the side mirror on the driver's side of the car, causing Jodie to reflexively jerk away from the damage.

"Keep down and hold on," she warned through tightly clenched teeth as she quickly swerved as another bullet hit the back of Elextrix seat.

Shield refused to give up. "But I'm fine! I heal quickly and-."

He was once again cut short by Blade's enraged voice, "Bullshit. Da scratch on my arm is 'bout da same pain as de scratch on yer cheek. By de time we escape, it wouldn't 'av healed so stop worryin' about us and start worryin' 'bout yerself for a change. If yer can wait dat long, so can we. Just 'cuz your name is Shield, you don't have ta take all 'a our damage like one."

Shield opened his mouth to protest again but closed it. He couldn't find the right words. Deep down, he knew he was right. His guilty motivation had faded out the reality of the situation. He promised Vermouth that he would keep them safe and he defaulted to that. If he let them get hurt it was equivalent to a failure in his mind and he wouldn't let them down again. He made sure of that after Silver nearly lost his voice to those greedy scientists. It wasn't just Silver who was affected by that day and the consequences that came after, Shield also suffered from the blow. He could never trust people as easily as he did before, he wouldn't let them get close enough to hurt them. He wouldn't let his family suffer alone like he had with Silver.

"How did they find us?" Jodie asked frantically, missing the entire exchange when she was trying to drive while avoiding the bullets that flew towards them. Yanking on the wheel, Jodie made a hard turn left, trying to get more coverage from them.

Elextrix thought hard and gasped out. "Guys ..." he started slowly. They all remembered something and turned towards, giving each other horrified looks.

"Oh, crap"! Blade gulped. He had totally forgotten about that. How stupid could they be?! He felt like slapping his own forehead.

"What!" The women asked urgently as she swerved again.

Shield lowered himself so that he was able to dodge yet another bullet. "We have trackers implanted in our necks. They send out a signal and when it gets too far from the base without authorization, they go off!" He answered loudly as he pulled Blade down so that he was covered by the back seats, giving the sniper no clear shot.

"What!" She shouted before breathing to try and calm herself. Panicking is not what is needed now, they needed to think logically and fast.

"Is ... is there any way to ... get them out?" Jodie desperately suggested. This was not good, even if they escaped they would manage to find them with those trackers. Why didn't Vermouth at least warn her? Winging it was okay but this was something much more dangerous than normal missions and routines. This was important; if they got caught, they would be killed. Slowly and as painfully as possible.

"Technically yes but the chips are attached to our spinal cord and will take some time as it will be tricky and the person has to be unconscious for the entire thing otherwise we risk complete paralysis," Elextrix informed her bitterly.

"Er... right. Any plans to get rid of them?" she really hoped they had.

"Hai, a few but the outcome is still undetermined." Elextrix turned around in the seat slightly to face Shield properly. "I need you to make a trail of water so that I can use it as a type of fuse so that he is able to run an electrical current through it so that it would short-circuit the car. You ready?" he quickly explained.

"Yay, car go boom!" Shield cheered childishly with a grin while clapping his hands. He always loved blowing things up! He liked the lights that come with it and explosions. It was fun!

Blade muttered something about childish antics as his eyebrow raised slightly. A wince made him look away to Silver's concerned face and he smiled slightly. He had been through worse, this was minor.

Jodie moved the car to the side and Shield leant out the window, willing water to pour from his outstretched hands, making sure the water was abundant enough to cover a good portion of the street. The sniper seemed distracted by the head that appeared as he fired again, trying to hit Silver in vain when his head kept disappearing and reappearing just in time to avoid every bullet.

Elextrix quickly swapped with the other teen as he rubbed his hands together so the friction would create an electrical current before sending it to the water. After the first spark, Chanti finally stopped firing as the glint in the corner of her eye warned her of the approaching hazard. The driver hurriedly screeched to a halt before frantically shifting into reverse but it was too late as the electricity caught up and began to envelop the car. In one last ditch attempt, she hastily threw open the back of the vehicle, paying no heed to the driver that was struggling with his seatbelt, and dived away from it. Holding up her hefty rifle, she tried in one last attempt to shoot them but the teens had already disappeared from her scope. Damn, they got away. Well, they can't run or hide for long. Nothing can hide from the organisation; no matter how they try. They still had those tracking devices, those fools. Grinning wickedly, her gaze passed over the totalled car she had been riding in and saw that it was totally useless as sparks fell from exposed cable and a fire making it's way to the gas tank. Oh well, no time to save the begging driver. She would just have to get a new one. The organisation had loads of members and she was largely feared, respected and not to be messed with.

"That was amazing! How on earth did you do that?!" Jodie asked in a jumbled mess of amazement, relief and shock.

"That? That was just a trick we learned when we were about 10. It was hardly anything. A man that betrayed the black organisation tried to get away with stealing a truck full of equipment, naive fool thought he could get away. Well, let's just say that we proved him wrong," Shield snorted, crossing his arms while smirking.

"Don't get too cocky. We're hardly any type of free yet. Not with these things in," Elextrix warned, pointing to their necks.

"Now that we can get up, would ya heal my arm? It's kinda irritatin'," Blade unceremoniously shoved his hand at Shield.

"What no please or thank you?" Shield teased but leant over and took his hand before digging into his pockets and bring out a napkin. "Going to have to do" he muttered with a shrug as he tried to dab the blood away and then laid his fingers on the wound. After a few minutes, there was only a scar left.

"Thanks," he flexed the arm, experiencing only a tingle of pain that was left behind.

"What would you guys do without me," Shield grinned, "You're welcome," he pretended to tip an invisible hat on his forehead and bowed slightly as he leant forward in his seat. Satisfied, he grabbed the small boy and placed Silver onto his lap while wrapping his arms around him in a habitual, protective movement.

"Time for a change in plan," she told them, having already figured out somewhere secure enough for the trackers' removal and with the tools to do it.

"Wait. D'ere was a plan?" Blade coughed, surprised. The others equally dumbfounded.

"Vermouth didn't fill you in?" It was Jodie's turn to be surprised. Well, now that she thought about it, it seemed more likely that the boys were not informed. That damn woman and her taste for action and twists. "Never mind. Anyway, there is a location nearby that has led walls that could dampen the signals sent from your trackers. They'll need to be at close range to pick it up".

"It's risky but we haven't got time for being picky. The quicker we do this, the better," Silver mused out loud.

"I say we do this. The black ring should be distracted by all the agents running all over the base, and even if we are a top priority, they will most likely have trouble coming after us. If by some chance one slips through the cracks, I suggest at least one of us is awake and can deal with them. That person will go last and wake the first to go to stand guard," Elextrix proposed after thinking it over in his head. This way one can alert the others.

"I'll go first. I am able to heal quickly and that includes breaking down sleeping gas. I will be up before any of you guys will." Shield offered.

"And I'll go last. In this small body, if they find us I won't be as easily recognised. If they do find us and something happens, even if you cannot wake me up, you will be able to run and carry me," Silver suggested, thinking logically as always. The order seemed to work in his head; no matter if Blade or Elextrix chooses second or third. It would also provide them with a chance to get away.

The car pulled up around the back of a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Jodie turned off the ignition as she climbed out, looking around. Giving the boys an 'all clear' they almost silently opened the door and all piled out before heading inside. Jodie locked the car as she made her way inside after one last sweep. She walked inside to see them looking around in confusion. There was hardly anything here except old gardening tools, boxes and an unnatural amount of paint on the shelves. One thing that did strike was odd was that is was cleaner than expected, only a few bits of dust covering the corners.

"This way," she mentioned for them to follow as she led them to the back room and found a sort of small doctor's office with a bed, a desk, a chair and some knock-out gas over in the corner.

"This warehouse used to belong to a mad scientist. He used to make knockout gas out of paint fumes and other chemicals. We arrested him a few weeks back for human trafficking. He would kidnap patients that came to the doctors and selling them off to all kinds of people to do as they pleased. Made a fortune out of it. We never found the majority of his victims," she explained as if she saw the question of what this place was on the tips of their tongues.

"That's terrible," Elextrix commented sadly, running his fingers lightly over the bed. Shield shivered as he thought of all the helpless people that have probably been brought here. He dreaded thinking of what kind of life they had and what happened to those poor, innocent people. Were they dead? He thought of the loved ones that must be worried about them, were they coping? He knew if Silver was suddenly taken away from him- he would be going insane. No! He shook his head lightly- he couldn't think that way. Even the thought of being separated from Silver- hell any of them would drive him crazy. Even when Elextrix was being his annoying self. He made a vow to protect them from as much as were possible and he certainly had no intention to break it. Not now or ever.

"It's the only place that is near here with the necessary equipment. He had some normal knockout gas in case the one he created didn't work. I'll go and get it," she quickly left the room out the door that they came through.

A shuffling noise of something behind them caught their attention. They all turned to see Shield opening random draws and looking at the contents before moving on. "What are you doing?" Elextrix asked curiously.

"Snooping. What does it look like I'm doing?" He answered absentmindedly as he drew something that seemed to have peaked his curiosity out. "A Beretta U22 Neos? What is a pistol doing here?" He held up the rifle for the others to see.

Blade went over, intrigued, and took it carefully. "Looks like an Italian make, 'bout 2000's. Around that time anyway. It's gotta be automatic." he spoke as he examined it. "Not bad," he commented as he carefully put it on the table. He didn't want to be reckless and accidentally set it off. The gun was loaded.

"Let's get this over with" the women had re-entered the room and Shield jumped onto the bed, waiting for her to knock him out with the gas. "Ready?" the teen nodded as she took the gas mask and started to breathe it in. His eyes grew tired with every breath and after a few minutes, he was unconscious.

The three other teens were surprised that he went under so quickly. Normally, Shield could last for about half an hour to maybe an hour with his strong willpower coupled with his powers. But they guessed he sped up the process on his own. Well, they were in a hurry after all.

Jodie made sure that he was asleep before she held the scalpel with an unsteady hand. She was slightly nervous. She was an agent, not a doctor. "Maybe I should do it," a hand gently took the scalpel out of her own and she looked around to see Elextrix giving her a smile.

"Are- are you sure?" she blinked, not sure if the teen could do it. He could hurt the other. Yet there again, he wasn't a normal teen. He probably knew what he was doing. She was still unsure that letting him do it was a good idea.

"Most definitely. We all have the ability to disarm a radioactive nuclear bomb, I'm sure taking something out of someone's neck properly is considered child's play." She thought a moment before nodding and moving out of the way.

Smiling that he was doing it - it made him feel safer for his cousin- he cut the back of the neck carefully and with skilled precision, he pulled out the small microchip and placed it on the side table. He quickly sewed it back up with some thread that he saw Shield find earlier when looking through the draws. When done, he left the room, calling for Blade who was sitting in the corner with Jodie and Silver. They were all sitting on some cheap, plastic chairs that they found amongst the boxes.

Hearing his name, Blades got up, followed by Silver who ran past them and into the room to see his brother.

Giving one evil look at the tracker, he climbed onto the bed and pinched his twins nose. No response. Nothing. Great. Erm ... he thought. /Nii-san, wake up!/ He yelled mentally, gripping his tiny hands into the taller boy's shirt as he shook the material slightly.

They waited a few seconds before he stirred as his eyes fluttered open. "Otouto," he muttered, reaching out towards him.

Silver sighed and shook his head as he scolded him with slight anger. /what have I told you about calling me that?/

A grin spread across Shield's face. "You are so in denial," he teased before pushing himself up, causing Silver to slide down into his lap. Pouting, Silver whacked him on the head, earning a chuckle from the older twin.

"Okay, Blade you're up," Elextrix pointed over to the bed. Shield pulled Silver up and into his arms as he pushed himself off the bed before leaving the room to go and find Jodi.

"Yeah, yeah," the dark-skinned teen waved it off, as it was nothing, as he plopped down on the bed.

Jodie was baffled. Never before has she seen such impressive abilities and according to Vermouth, the four teens had multiple different abilities. She still couldn't believe the display in the car was something that they learned at the mere age of 10. It was astonishing, yet frightening.

"Jodie-sensei, are you okay?" A small voice asked and she looked up to see the two lookalikes approaching her. The taller was holding the other in his arms and when he sat down, he put Silver into his lap.

It took her a minute to notice that she was just asked a question. "Ah, gomen. Yes, I'm fine," she told him before looking up a bit to the other one "I'm sorry, but I don't know your name".

"Shield, subject C on the superhuman project and Silver Bullet's older brother by 15 minutes," he introduced himself cheekily, proud by the fact he was older than someone in the group.

"I wish you would stop bringing that up," Silver muttered with a shiver. He hated being called a 'test subject'. It made him feel like some freaky science experiment.

"So are you all ... you know ... related?" The women asked hesitantly. She was unsure how the whole 'artificially created human' thing worked and she was curious because when people say experiments, they usually think of androids and robots not living, breathing humans. But these teens had emotions, feelings- their own bodies and minds. Jodie did not really want to ask in case it offended them or something like that. It made her utterly confused. She went over what he said in her mind and the word 'made' being used so casually freaked her out. It wasn't normal, but this guy was making it out as if it was normal- natural even.

"We are. I guess we have come to think of ourselves as family because of how we grew up and mastered our abilities together. Elextrix and Blade are like cousins to each other and us." He pointed to the back room. "The organisation don't like us addressing or acting like we have been doing, so we keep our interactions mostly private. As long as we continue to do what we were made to do we were fine," Shield told her sadly.

Silver slumped, leaning his head on the taller's arm. He was getting tired from the transformation he had taken earlier today and the mission they had completed before coming back to the small base. He thought about all those men that were back there, trying to arrest the side criminal ring of the extensive organization. He was just thankful that it wasn't the actual headquarters, but only a small base. Even though he would like the whole organisation to go down, it would result in millions of deaths on both sides; not to mention killing was wrong. No matter how bad a person is.

He knew this, despite what he had been taught. Silver did not want to be this mindless killing machine that they expecting him to become. Nor did he want to be locked away forever; listening to orders and getting punished for doing something wrong. He wanted to be normal and walk free and without fear of being judged or having his life at risk daily.

"I'm just surprised they haven't found us yet," the woman mused out loud, glancing in the direction of the warehouse door. Now that they thought about it, it was weird.

"Yeah, it's like they're not even trying. And that's something they never do," Shield mused curiously, following her gaze and frowned.

"Shield, could you take mine out," the said teen looked over and nodded before putting Silver gently on the floor and made sure he stayed on his feet before running into the room. He knew his brother was tired but he couldn't do anything to help at the moment. It did make him feel a little guilty.

"Something ... doesn't feel right." Silver looked up at the women, who nodded in agreement. Pulling on her arm, he mentioned towards the door, "maybe we should cheek outside?" Standing up, they made their way outside to find it empty.

"Strange, I swore I heard something." They scouted the area to find nothing. A scream pierced the air and they turned to each other- frozen in fear.

"That was Blade!" They turned and legged it back in and through to the back to see Gin and Vodka standing there. The largest of the two had a disorientated Blade in his arms. The teen struggled weakly; trying to pry the arm from his neck, but was unable as his movements were sluggish from the drugs still lingering in his system, making his mind and vision obscured.

Gin had a smirk as he pinned Shield's legs and arms down, clamping a black, band-like object on Shield's wrist. "You won't be able to use your abilities with this. Try to fight it and electric shocks will wreck your body," he smirked evilly, letting his grip slack slightly and almost mockingly as the man gave him a challenging look. He wanted the kid to try; to see the runaway in pain. A flash of horror spread across Shield's face before he hastily hid it behind a frown as he tried to glare down the blond man. He refused to show his distress to a murderer. To anyone! Especially someone who worked for those bastards.

Jodie gasped as she saw Elextrix was unconscious, splayed out on the floor as if like something had hit him from the behind. From this distance, it looked like there was nothing wrong with him besides being unconscious, but she wasn't close enough to be sure. Clamping her jaw shut, Jodie bit her lip and tried to shove her worry to the back of her mind. That could come later. "Leave them alone!" She heard Silver shout. Everyone's head, excluding Elextrix's, snapped towards the growling child, who glared at the two men, his small hands tightening into fists as he stood in a stance of defiance.

"Get lost, kid. This doesn't concern you," Vodka snapped, giving him a glare to try and scare him off. The man almost laughed at little boys pathetic attempts of heroics. This kid was not important at the moment; just a nuisance that he could get rid of later. "No one would believe the brat if he told anyone." He thought dismissively, not caring to know or even consider who the kid was or what he was even capable of.

Shaking his head, Silver stepped forward. "Last chance." His voice became demanding. Demand became laced with disapproval when neither of them moved or even loosened their grip on either of his family members. Fine, it had to be the hard way! He ignored the silent pleading in the Shield's and Blade's eyes to go, to run and be free, but he refused to listen. No matter how much Blade or his brother pleaded, he refused to leave them to the mercy of the two men. He could never forgive himself if they got hurt. He lifted his hand and moved it purposefully until it was pointing towards the dresser and the men watched with rapidly widening eyes as it flew across the room at an immense speed into Gin, who got knocked down by the impact. Fortunately, Shield managed to roll out of range, narrowly avoiding the taller man falling on top of him.

"You little brat!" Vodka tightened his hold, making Blade's face twist into a painful expression as he winced. Seeing his friend in pain made Silver even madder. "Now, don't move or I will make sure you never move again," he threatened.

"You don't have the guts or the power to carry out that threat," he stated deceptively calmly, putting one hand behind his back and spreading his fingers slightly so he could create a spear of ice. Once created, he tightened a fist around it, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Vodka opened his mouth but he didn't say anything as it got stuck in his throat as the object came hurtling towards him, stabbing him in the ankle. When his grip loosened, Blade jumped into action, bending over and flipping the man over his back and onto the hard rock floor. He brought his foot down on the man's face, making him blackout from the impact.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked, running up to Blade first as he seemed the worst off.

"We're fine. Thanks for da 'elp" Blade ruffled his hair. "Shield, you okay?" They both turned to the teen sitting on the ground, who nodded, getting up.

"Ugh! Come off you stupid thing!" he tried to pull the damn band off but it seemed to be clamped tight. "Great, completely powerless! Just what I need," he grumbled to himself, giving Gin a satisfying kick to the ribs before making his way over to Elextrix. "There's not even a design on this thing. If you're going to make something like this, that doesn't even come off, get some colour. Is that too much to ask? Why does everything thing have to be fucking black?!" Blade smiled in amusement at his companion's outburst. Those weird little moments that could only be compared to a childish tantrum were one of those little joys in life that you were bound to see if you stayed around Shield long enough. Most of the time, Shield felt the oldest; leading them and always knowing what to do, but at this time it just reminded everyone that he was just as young as the rest of them.

"We can't stay here. If those two found us, there are sure to be others already on their way. We have to move," Jodie voiced, not paying any attention to the ranting teen- who stopped at her words. Nodding, Shield turned to Blade. "Will you be able to carry him or are you too dazed from the drug?" He asked, nudging Elextrix with a foot. "Ah, back to his normal, bossy self," Blade thought as he rolled his eyes. It amazed him how he could change so quickly.

"I should be fine," he walked over and picked him up bridal style with ease.

"Why are you the one with super strength! It's so not fair," Shield whined, crossing his arms with a pout.

"Shuddap." He thumped him in the shoulder before walking out with Elextrix.

Shield let out an offended squawk, "How rude!" Before childishly storming after them. Shaking his head at his twin's antics, Silver collected their medical supplies and then slipped the trackers inside each unconscious man's clothing, as well as taking some kind of black and silver object out of Gin's pocket that Jodie couldn't make out.

"That should buy us some time." He nonchalantly passed the collected supplies over to her and walked after the others. Blinking in confusion, Jodie stood there for a second before running back towards the car.

"We can't do anything with this mess! There's glass everywhere!" Blade scowled at the car.

"Then how about a change in vehicle. Tinted windows and perfect cover." They turned and looked down at the shrunken teen with nearly identical faces of confusion until they saw the keys he held up.

"Stand back." The teens complied as Blade unceremoniously dumped Elextrix onto Shield- who slightly struggled but if he didn't move it would be fine- before turning towards the car and bringing his hands into a loud clap. The car and debris around it exploded all at once as the ground shook slightly. "Now, they can't follow us in dis piece a crap." Seemingly satisfied with the complete destruction of Jodie's car, he took Elextrix back from an unbalanced Shield before he led the group towards Gin's prided Porsche 356A.

Unlocking it with the keys, they filed in. Jodie in the driver's seat, Blade in the front passenger with Silver on his lap and the other two in the back. Shield went back to work removing Elextrix's tracker, moving quickly so the process wouldn't be interrupted by his awakening. "I almost got it... almost… there." He exclaimed triumphantly, crushing it with his foot and then chucking it out the window with relief as he started to stitch his neck back up. As he was doing this, Elextrix started to wake up, just in time, groaning.

"Hey! Welcome back!" Seeing him try and scoot away made Shield laugh with a grin.

"Huh, where are we?" He asked groggily, trying to get up too quickly, making his head spin. He reached out and grabbed Shield's shoulder to try and stable himself.

"Gin's car after some unexpected visitors at the warehouse. Don't worry, they're not here or following us. Silver knocked them both unconscious," Elextrix nodded slightly at the explanation.

"Your turn, Otouto," Shield announced as he turned to his brother in the front. Scrambling to make it to Shield in the back, Silver stumbled as his foot caught on the hand brake.

"Gotcha," Shield caught him with an amused smile before setting him in the middle seat. He passed Silver the gas, who took it and nonchalantly placed it on his head. "You do this one; you do it better than me." He spoke over Silver to Elextrix who nodded. Within seconds, Silver was asleep.

Not wasting time, he started on removing the tracer, having to turn the small body to assess the back of the neck. Shield held Silver's long brown hair out of the way while the other worked. It was funny, Jodie thought, that they twins looked more like girls with their blueish eyes, long brown hair, and girlish figure. It was curious that someone would make them like that. None of it made sense. The other two teens looked manly enough. They both had long, black hair but the eyes and features were different. Not to mention that Blade had dark skin and the other was pale white.

Jodie was brought out of her thoughts by a voice, "what time d'we get d'ere?" Blades asked, turning his head towards the back of the car so that he could see the three teens and what they were doing.

"We're near. As soon as that tracker is out we can go to where the FBI is stationed and then we can strategize on how this is going to work. Remember, they don't know about your powers so you can't use them there. That means Silver needs to change back to his teenage form," she reminded them, slightly worried about what would happen if people found out. She would just have to trust them.

"Yeah... 'bout that. We kinda left the clothes he was wearin' so he doesn't 'av' anythin' ta put on when 'e regrows," Blade informed her.

"Seriously?" she sighed exasperatedly. This day was just getting weirder and weirder. "Great. Now we have to spend time at a mall." It's just one thing after another with this mission! She changed course towards the destination and they were there within 5 minutes.

"You want to come?" She asked Blade who looked kind of bored sitting there, doing absolutely nothing, then froze. She hadn't meant to get carried away and treat him like a kid. She often cared for her younger cousins, and the teens made her almost feel like she was going back to her babysitting days. Their adolescent appearance coupled with their childish banter and reluctance to act without an authority figure's direct order made them seem a lot younger than she heard they really were. While they were without a doubt young, she didn't know how they wanted to be treated; growing up in such a difficult environment.

"Na, m'good. Just in case somthin' 'appens." He didn't feel comfortable going outside just yet. He didn't want Them to find them.

"I'll come. I know my brother's size," Shield offered.

"But you don't have any powers. What are you going to do if we get caught?" She asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine. Besides, I can fight them. Our powers weren't the only thing we were trained to use," he answered with a small smile, not thinking it was the best time to tell her about the gun that he swiped when they were leaving. It might freak her out.

"Okay. But we have to be quick about it. Oh, and no wandering off or stopping because you're curious about something that's irrelevant," she warned him. Nodding, he got out of the car, stuffing his hands in his worn down jacket pockets as he walked beside her.

"Get in the back, just in case" the dark skinned teen obeyed as he climbed into the back and took the seat that was previously occupied by Shield.

"Y'Sure 'es gonna be 'lright?" he asked, looking at them speed walk into the mall.

"Shield's one of the best of us. Now, would you hold his hair so I can stitch his neck back up?" He handed the now slightly bloodied hair from when Shield had let go and it got onto the cut.

TBC: