A lime green rabbit poked its head out of the tall grass, sniffing the air before bounding further into the field accompanied by twenty similarly hued companions. The warren stuck together in one massive clump as they romped and played in the morning sun, unaware of anything except each other and the moment. Remnants of the morning dew exploded into small clouds of mist as the rabbits made contact with the grass, with a few of the group nibbling on the blades for nourishment. It was a beautiful sight, one that Zahra regretted having to ruin as she observed the warren through a set of binoculars. "Awww, they're so adorable," she said as she passed them to Haneesh. "Just look at them."

Haneesh did just that, but as soon as he put the eyepieces to his face, the first thing he saw was a pair of rabbits going at it. He couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head, saying, "Yeah... yeah, they are pretty cute. What's the strategy?"

"Stay as quiet as possible," Zahra replied as she pulled up a topographical map on her gauntlet. "Try to keep them contained to one specific area so they don't scatter."

"Well, I have a forcefield upgrade, so that shouldn't be an issue," Haneesh said with a confident grin. "I figure sixty square feet should do the trick."

"Perfect. And the best part: Mitch is nowhere to be found," Zahra cracked with a grin of her own. "That XP is ours, partner."

"Then let's go get it!" The pair exited their van, making sure to close the doors as quietly as they could to avoid startling the warren of glitches. As they crept up on their location, Haneesh's scanner showed that aside from a few curious departures, all of the green rabbits were still clustered together in one big group. Zahra crouched down in the grass as Haneesh did the same, whispering, "I wanna keep one so bad..."

"Well, you've got 21 to choose from," Haneesh replied as he entered the coordinates for the forcefield on his gauntlet. "I say go for it." One tap of the OK button later, a dome began to form from the top down as either side descended to meet the ground, encasing the perimeter in a half-circle. The clear wall vanished just as quickly, leaving no trace of its presence save for one of the rabbits bumping into the barrier. It laid on the ground for a few seconds before it shook itself off and bounded back through the grass. Just as it was about to rejoin the warren, a bolt shot out and reduced the rabbit to a burst of green energy before it was sucked back into Zahra's gauntlet. A huge smile was on her face as she checked the glitch's stats on her screen before giving the image a playful poke, saying, "I'm gonna name you Minty!"

Her declaration caught the attention of every other rabbit in the warren, and within seconds, they bounded as far as they could before the forcefield halted their progress. Zahra and Haneesh used that to their advantage, with their teamwork resulting in a twenty-rabbit warren being cut down to six in under five minutes. They high-fived each other before Haneesh glanced down at his gauntlet. "Two minutes till the forcefield vanishes," he announced. "Let's finish this!"

Zahra replied with a determined nod as they chased the remaining glitches down. It didn't take long for them to capture five of the six rabbits, but the time spent hunting them left the duo with only ten seconds to catch the last. That rabbit began to bound away, landing just in front of the forcefield. Haneesh readied his gauntlet just as the rabbit jumped again... right at the exact moment that the barrier deactivated. It hopped away from them towards a farmhouse in the distance, but the pair were in hot pursuit. The rabbit dashed from left to right and evaded their attempts at capture, bounding up the rear steps of the house and entering the kitchen through the doggy door. Zahra headed to the front door while Haneesh brought up the rear, entering the house with his gauntlet at the ready. As he made his way through the kitchen and into the dining room, the first thing he saw was the green rabbit resting against the wall. Haneesh moved as gingerly as his stocky frame could muster, creeping up on the glitch with his palm outstretched. "C'mere, little guy," Haneesh whispered with a smile. "Time to go back to your game."

"Not if I can help it."

Before he could react, a chloroform-soaked rag was thrust over Haneesh's nose and mouth, held in place by a tattooed hand. He fought back as valiantly as he could, letting out muffled yells and pounding on his attacker's arm to try and loosen his grip, but it didn't take long for the chloroform to do its job. Haneesh's eyes rolled back as his body went limp, and his attacker lowered him to the floor before heading upstairs. Zahra, for her part, had checked every room on the second floor and found no trace of the glitch. She let out an irritated grunt as she contacted Haneesh. "No glitches up here, partner. You see anything?" When there was no answer, Zahra raised her eyebrow and tried again, unaware of the man approaching her from behind. "Haneesh, are you there? Were you able to catch the bunny?" Once again, there was no answer. Her voice took on an added tension as she exclaimed, "This isn't funny, dude! Just give me a sign that you're listening!"

"How about this?"

Zahra let out a shocked yelp, which soon turned into a scream as a pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders. What happened next was all instinct as she reached behind, grabbed her assailant's right arm, and performed a shoulder toss. When her attacker landed on the floor, dust flew off the boards and into the air as Zahra dropped into a fighting stance. However, when she got a good look at his face, a thunderbolt of recognition struck her and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. With wide eyes and a nervous twinge in her voice, she exclaimed, "You... you're the guy..."

"That's right," he replied with a grin as he laid on the floor. "But I'm not just any guy. You know who I am... so say my name." Whatever nervousness Zahra still possessed was taken over by anger and determination as she narrowed her eyes and snarled, "You're the Neurosurgeon... and you tried to kill Mitch."

"Kill? Come on now; that's a strong word. I was just trying to get his attention. And speaking of Mitch..." He rose to his feet with his back to Zahra, and turned around to face her once he was standing. "That guy downstairs isn't him, and he isn't Hector, either. And you sure as hell aren't Miko, so tell me: what are you two doing here?"

"Chasing glitches," Zahra replied as she activated her plixel sword. "We were just going after some little green rabbits... but taking you down will be even better!" She swung the blade with as much force as she could, taking aim at the Neurosurgeon's head. He saw the blow coming, however, and he ducked out of the way as the blade crashed into the wall. Zahra pulled it out just as fast and struck again, but the glitch deflected the blow and swept her legs, knocking her to the floor. The sword fell from her hands, landing at the Neurosurgeon's feet with a static-filled thump; he picked it up as he drove his foot into Zahra's chest and pinned her down. A mischievous, sinister grin was on his face as he looked the weapon over, wielding it in his right hand and waving it around as he observed, "It's hefty, but it's not cumbersome. You could do a lot of damage with this." He thrust his free thumb towards the blade mark in the wall and cracked, "I mean, you already have."

Zahra gritted her teeth and tried to lift his foot, but he shifted his weight and kept her pinned down. She let out a scream of frustration and pain as the heel of his shoe ground into her chest, a scream that was silenced as he thrust the tip of the blade beneath her chin. The glitch grinned in satisfaction as he declared, "And besides, I did give Mitch and your boss specific instructions. So, I guess I'm gonna have to make an example of you and your friend. After all... you were warned." The Neurosurgeon reared back and prepared to drive the sword through Zahra's chin, but she fought back by way of a full-force kick to the crotch. The glitch let out a harsh, pained scream as he dropped the sword and grabbed his groin, clenching his teeth in agony. Zahra took advantage of her opening and followed up her kick with a tackle, grabbing his foot and twisting it to the right. The move threw off his balance and he crashed to the floor, rolling over just in time to see Zahra throw a punch that connected with his jaw. Two more punches landed before he caught her fourth attempt in his hand and rose to his feet. He shoved her backwards into the bedroom and picked up her sword once again, shutting the door behind him as he brandished the weapon once again.

"I hope you've got your affairs in order," the glitch declared as he stared Zahra down. "It's time to shake hands with the Prophet!"

He raised the sword over his head and brought it down where Zahra was standing; the force of the blow cracked three of the floorboards as she dove out of the way and fired an energy blast from her gauntlet. It struck the Neurosurgeon in the side, and his torso began to fragment into plixels as he recoiled from the blow. That was all the motivation Zahra needed as she fired two more shots that struck him in the leg and his sword-wielding arm, with each blow achieving the same result. The glitch fell to his knees in dumbstruck shock, breathing through clenched teeth as he tried to pull himself together. A blow to his jaw halted his recovery as Zahra hit him with an uppercut, rocketing his head back and leaving his neck exposed. She picked up the sword and swung it with all her might, but just before the blade met his neck, the glitch regained his bearings and ducked out of the way. Zahra let out a shocked yelp as the momentum sent her into a 360, but she only completed 270 as the Neurosurgeon grabbed her by the neck and thrust her against the wall. She pushed off with a grunt of effort before turning around and bringing the sword up over her head.

"GAME OVER, ASSHOLE!" Zahra swung the blade down with all her might, shutting her eyes as she did so. It didn't take long before she was met with resistance, but instead of a green burst of energy, what she saw when she opened her eyes was the Neurosurgeon holding the blade between his palms, having caught it just before the blow was dealt. His eyes were focused on the weapon as he attempted to stretch his arms overhead, but Zahra countered by shifting her weight onto the hilt of the sword. A tug of war ensued as each combatant strained against the other in an attempt to gain leverage, with Zahra pushing down as hard as she could. The Neurosurgeon's arms began to shake as he took a step forward, not daring to loosen his grip on the blade as he continued to move towards Zahra. He couldn't help but break into a psychotic grin as he took two more steps, watching with glee as his target began to strain under the pressure. The glitch shifted his focus from Zahra to the sword, and then to her gauntlet, and back to the sword again... and that was when he made his move. He dropped to his knees and let go of the weapon, rolling out of the way as it crashed into the floor. Zahra let out a shocked yell as the Neurosurgeon got to his feet and grabbed onto her gauntlet; when he did so, the sword began to flicker in and out of existence like a glitching TV screen before vanishing altogether.

Neither she nor the glitch could believe their eyes, and while the Neurosurgeon looked at his hand in sheer dumbfounded amazement, Zahra attempted to contact HQ for backup. However, the screen on her gauntlet remained dark as she moved from tapping it with her finger to hitting it with her fist to slamming it against her chest. Each action was more futile than the last as Zahra's eyes filled with panic, and it wasn't long before they rolled back in her head as she was struck from behind. She fell to the floor in an unconscious heap as the Neurosurgeon dropped a broken piece of wood beside him. After looking her over for a few seconds, the glitch picked her up and carried her downstairs to the spot where Haneesh fell. He was still unconscious as the Neurosurgeon laid Zahra down beside him, and once his hands were free, the glitch retrieved his backpack.

"I hope you're happy, Hinobi," he said as he pulled out a pair of velcro vests. "You done forced me to use force."