Collaboration with Glorifiedscapegoat.

"Nezumi," Shion gasped, and even though he was sprinting right on Nezumi's heels, he sounded a million miles away. "What—what are we going to do?"

"Keep up," Nezumi snapped back. He and Shion were sprinting down the sidewalk, and Nezumi didn't care if they looked suspicious about it. He knew how he and Shion must have looked. Two sixteen-year-olds, no adult in sight, clearly in distress. Hardly a penny between the two of them aside from the pocketful of leaves and stones Nezumi could convince most people were coins and dollar bills.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Nezumi focused on the street ahead of him. There were a few people on the sidewalks, even in the early morning, but no other men and women in black suits. Nezumi didn't let that calm him. As bad as things were now—he'd underestimated how much of a lead he and Shion had on the Lab—they would be so much worse if they got cornered. Nezumi's only hope was that he and Shion had put enough distance between themselves and the town before someone called the police.

Nezumi dared a glance over his shoulder. Down the street, nestled between two empty trash bins, was a dark red vehicle. It looked cramped in the back, and Nezumi's heart clenched at the sight of it.

Nezumi recognized the taste of fear. He had been cornered by two of Horizon Lab's agents only once in his lifetime. After he twisted their unexpecting minds and turned them away with a desperate thought, Nezumi vowed it would be the only time. Years on the run had transformed him from a trembling child into a master manipulator. He had avoided run-ins with the Lab before, and he would avoid them again.

All he needed to do was keep running.

That was why he'd lived as long as he had. If he kept running, he could stay two steps ahead. The black uniforms and that stupid orange logo made their agents stick out like sore thumbs. Most of them were arrogant and easy to evade. The issue Nezumi had with them wasn't so much the quality of the agents, but the quantity. Nezumi had seen many different agents over the years. The Lab never seemed to run out of new recruits, and it was only a matter of time before they uncovered a particularly good one.

But Nezumi had been a little boy when he first ran from them. Two agents had cornered him in his bedroom, attempting to coax him out from under the bed and into the transport van they'd failed to corral his parents into. Nezumi had curled in on himself, tears dripping down his cheeks, and thought "go away, go away, go away" until the two agents stepped back, their eyes vacant, and returned to their cars without a glance back.

Nezumi had crept into the woods, in the dead of night, leaving his parents' and the old woman's corpses behind. There had been no time to stay and mourn them.

On that day, Nezumi vowed to never again give someone the chance to corner him. He kept his guard up at all times, always looking over his shoulder and sneering at every person he passed with distrust.

Behind him, Shion stumbled over a crack in the curb, and he almost crashed into an old woman and her tiny white dog who stepped out from one of the stores lining the walkways. The dog yelped and snapped at Shion's ankles.

"Watch where you're going," the woman growled. She stormed down the curb with her nose stuck in the air. The dog mimicked its owner and marched along the pavement with its tiny snout pointed skywards.

"S-sorry!" Shion called back after her.

Shion's presence complicated the matter. Nezumi had someone else to look out for now. Just a minor complication, Nezumi had told himself while he stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited for Shion to pack his entire life into a backpack.

Nezumi had only ever been responsible for himself. It wasn't an ideal situation, but he needed Shion. Horizon Labs would have taken advantage of such a perfect weapon if Nezumi hadn't swooped in and snatched him up first. It had been impulsive to bring him along, an investment Nezumi hoped paid off in the end.

Shion was much different than Nezumi would have expected. It seemed almost comical that someone capable of causing mass destruction could be so disarming and kind-hearted. Nezumi wasn't accustomed to charity. Everyone had an agenda—but Shion just wanted to see the best in everyone.

Shion had made an attempt at small-talk last night. He'd offered up a secret about himself and tried to communicate and understand. Nezumi hadn't known what to say. That ridiculous smile made his stomach twist. It made it hard for Nezumi to be angry with him without feeling uncomfortable about it. It was…unsettling. Nezumi was beginning to think that taking Shion along with him might have been a huge mistake.

Although, it had been Shion who spotted the Lab agents in the hotel. I should have known better.

Nezumi tried to make Shion feel at ease for the sake of progress, and a comfortable bed in a hotel had seemed the quickest method. He couldn't deny the idea of a soft bed and one night when he didn't have to worry about being ambushed had quickly become appealing. His nightmares kept him from sleeping well. Even in the hotel room, Nezumi refused to sleep with his back to the door. He didn't feel comfortable letting Shion at his back, either, but it was the best option of the two. Nezumi hadn't slept well, but it was better than another night in the woods.

Nezumi didn't want to do it again. If nothing else, he hoped Shion understood the danger staying in a town presented. Too many chances to get cornered. Too many eyes watching. Too many people with hidden agendas who'd turn them over the moment a Lab agent wielding a badge came to their door. Nezumi never wanted to become so accustomed to comfort and luxury that he made unsafe decisions. Nezumi had done it to be helpful, but helpful was a liability. Shion was becoming a liability.

And Nezumi was a fool who'd abandoned his basic survival instincts for something as ridiculous as hope.

Nezumi ducked into an alley three blocks away from the hotel, Shion right on his heels. In broad daylight, every corner of the city was a possible nightmare. How many agents had followed them into town? How many of the men and women they'd passed on the sidewalk might have been agents in street clothes, documenting their whereabouts? Too many "what-ifs." Too many streets and corners separating them from freedom.

There had been two agents questioning Karan at the bakery, and Nezumi had always spotted them traveling in pairs or trios. Now that the Lab knew Shion and Nezumi were traveling together, Nezumi doubted they would be foolish enough not to send in a number of reinforcements. Five, ten, maybe even twenty agents. No number seemed unreasonable. Shion was a powerhouse, and Nezumi had evaded them for almost ten years. The two of them together could be devastating for Horizon Labs.

Shion gasped for breath behind him.

It was Shion's first time running from danger. Nezumi remembered the panic that came with that first time, the terror that took over the mind and made it difficult to think of anything other than escape. Shion wasn't used to sprinting the way Nezumi was. He didn't know the best places to duck into to avoid a crowd. He didn't know how hard it was to pretend he wasn't being chased when he walked into a store, to avoid questions and stares from strangers who might turn him in. Entering a store in a state of panic made people wonder if he was running from the authorities—which was accurate enough.

"Where should we go?" Shion choked, and Nezumi hissed at him to be quiet. There was no telling where the agents would pop out of next. Nezumi hadn't asked for a description of the agents. It didn't matter. Those idiots always wore those black suits with the gold and orange logo, just announcing their presence. Nezumi had trained himself to spot them well before they spotted him.

Need to get out of town. Quickly. Nezumi's eyes scanned their surroundings. The pale sunlight illuminated an empty street and a few storefronts with darkened windows. Alleyways lined the street, the sidewalks pristine and well-maintained. Perfect.

It would be too easy to duck out of town and vanish into the woods. The agents didn't have dogs with them, or else Shion would have mentioned it. Nezumi didn't think the Lab wanted that kind of attention. People tended to panic when there were too many indicators that the agents were there for anything other than a few questions and to collect information.

The town was small, but fear made the streets long and the gaps between the buildings terrifying. Agents could have been lurking around each corner. The middle-aged mother rocking her screaming child and raising an eyebrow at them from her second-story window could have pointed them out to the agents if they happened to be right on their trail.

Nezumi couldn't trust these people. He couldn't trust anyone but himself. He couldn't even trust Shion, who had given him no reason to believe he wouldn't crack under the pressure of being a fugitive and hand himself over to the authorities in exchange for a promise that his mother would be left unharmed. Shion seemed like the self-sacrificing type.

"Nezumi?" Shion whispered. He struggled to catch his breath and kept close to Nezumi's back. It was almost impressive. Shion was a pampered kid with no experience on the run, and yet he managed to keep up well. Nezumi would have praised him if he weren't so busy looking for telltale signs of black and orange.

Nezumi stood at the edge of a dead-end alley. Graffiti in an assortment of colors stared back. A collection of trash cans and a single green dumpster, overflowing with white garbage bags, sat clustered against the brick wall.

Shit, must have taken a wrong turn. He hadn't spent enough time getting used to the layout of the town.

"Come on," Nezumi said. The hotel was several blocks away from them. Shion had said they were checking rooms. It bought them a few minutes, at best. There were a few ways back to the forest. Nezumi would bring Shion back the way they came, knowing the agents would be expecting him to move forward in a straight line.

Nezumi turned around, and froze as a dark figure stepped into the alley.

Shion gasped. The man in the black suit was pale and hawkish, and Nezumi stared into a pair of deep eyes set above a mouth that grinned back at him.

"Found you," said the hawkish man.

⁂

Shion's mind went into panic mode. How? How had they been found so quickly? Hawk and Mountain had been checking hotel rooms when Shion and Nezumi ducked out the window and onto the fire escape. He's supposed to be there! He's not supposed to be here!Shion's body burned, and his skin prickled as if a thousand little bees had jabbed their stingers into him. He thought quickly to the kind woman behind the hotel desk.

Did one of the employees tell them about us? Shion tried to count how many other people he might've passed in the hallway who could have told the agents about him, but his thoughts blurred together in a terrified cluster.

Someone must have bought their "missing sons" story. Shion could have kicked himself. If he was going to survive, he needed to learn better than to believe that people wouldn't immediately cooperate with the authorities. People had no way of knowing that Horizon Labs was up to no good. Until a few days ago, Shion had also believed they were just a prominent pharmaceutical company and not an agency that ensnared people with superpowers.

"I'm not surprised you tried to run," Hawk said. His voice was sharp and wheedling, a perfect match for the harsh lines of his jaw and the length of his pointed nose. Mountain grumbled at his side and cracked his knuckles.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person," Hawk went on. His eyes flicked over Shion's face and then settled on Nezumi. "You've been evading us for quite some time, Nezumi. You're something of a legend back at the Lab, y'know? The boy no one can seem to catch. It's impressive you've been able to evade us for so long. You were just a little boy when we first approached you, right?" Hawk's jaw twitched, and his dark eyes flickered in the sunlight. "I never had the, ah, the pleasure of meeting your parents, but I went through their records. I saw the footage. You look so much like him, you know."

Nezumi tensed at Shion's side.

"You have her eyes, sure," Hawk said, "but you look the most like him. From what I heard, he was a terror to deal with. He hurt a lot of people. I saw the data sheets. The statements. The incident reports. Christ, it took seven bullets to bring him down... And those teeth." Hawk shuddered. "Creepy, weren't they? Like a shark's. Thank goodness you didn't end up with those. Your smile wouldn't be nearly as charming."

Nezumi's fists curled at his side. From his periphery, Shion could see Nezumi's shoulders shaking. It worried him. In the few days they'd traveled together, Shion had picked up bits and pieces about his unorthodox companion. Nezumi didn't talk about himself. Shion had tried to open up to him, but Nezumi hadn't volunteered any information about his personal life.

Even so, Shion considered himself decent at reading people. Nezumi's frustration when Shion mentioned Safu or his mother back at the bakery, the tension in Nezumi's shoulders and the way his jaw tightened the longer Hawk kept talking—there was something there, something about Nezumi's life before going on the run.

The "him" Hawk kept referring to must have been Nezumi's father. Seven bullets to take him down. Shion's heart clenched.

Mountain took a step forward. No chance of breaking through the alley and sneaking past them. Shion looked at Nezumi from the corner of his eye. Make them leave, he thought. He avoided saying it out loud, if only to keep the agents from knowing what he planned. Why aren't you telling them to leave?

Nezumi had made so many people bend to his will. He'd tossed the agents in the bakery aside with only a few gentle words. He'd convinced an old man who'd never seen him that he was a regular customer. Nezumi was strong. Shion had no doubt he could simply wave his hand and make the two men towering before them disappear.

So why wasn't he?

Mountain reached up to his left ear and toyed with the earbud Shion had noticed in the hotel lobby. Shion looked at Hawk, and saw he had one as well, nestled among the slicked-back tresses of his hair. Were they receiving orders from somewhere? Recording the encounter? Hawk had mentioned "footage," and the thought of having his face recorded by these two men made Shion sick to his stomach.

Hawk folded his arms over his chest. "It was a nice effort, but this game of cat and mouse is over." He cocked his head to the side and addressed Nezumi. "Look, how about we make you a deal? We'll set you up with a nice little room of your own, two meals a day. And all you gotta do is help us understand your powers. Pretty posh, right? Sounds way better than what you've got now. Living life on the run can't be very comfortable."

Nezumi made a sharp noise in his throat. "You're asking me if being on the run is better than a prison?"

"Whoa, now. A prison?" Hawk's eyes widened. "Is that what your parents called it? You've got it all wrong. I don't know what your parents told you about Horizon, but it's not true. Your parents were a mess when they staged that riot, went completely nuts for no reason. We were trying to help them. That night…things got a little out of hand. We tried to reason with them, but your father was—" Hawk exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry it happened the way it did, Nezumi. I really am. The Lab didn't go there planning to hurt them. Your father attacked them. He was unstable, and the tranqs weren't working. What else were they supposed to do, let him rip them apart?"

Nezumi's jaw twitched.

"Look, you have the wrong idea about us," Hawk went on. "Horizon Labs doesn't imprison superhumans; we work with them. We're just trying to create a better future. How about you, kid?" Hawk turned to Shion.

Shion flinched. Hawk had an almost pitiful look on his face, and Shion felt a twinge of uncertainty in the pit of his stomach.

"You were dragged into this against your will," Hawk said. "You got caught up in some crazy conspiracy theory about us, and I get it. I really do. I saw the damage to your mother's bakery. Karan, right?" The sound of his mother's name sent terror spiking through Shion's blood. "She seems like a nice lady. Had no idea where you went when we questioned her, or why this kid had come in and taken you away. Didn't even know you had powers. Did Nezumi here erase her memories?"

Hawk shook his head and gave Shion a sad look. "All we want to do is help. You got pulled into this because Nezumi told you some crazy stories about us, but you're only getting one side of the story. Horizon Labs doesn't just go around kidnapping people off the streets. We're not monsters. We're trying to help people, like you, control the things they can do before someone gets hurt.

"Nezumi's been fed stories about us since he was little. His parents were unwell. We tried to help them, but they had these delusions about what we were trying to do. They were dangerous. You should see the incident reports we had to write about them. The brutal murders in the local town the night they escaped. We were just trying to keep them safe, Shion. That's all. We don't want anyone else to get hurt. We just want to help."

Shion could hear the lilting rise of Hawk's voice. Baiting him. He knew he shouldn't trust what Hawk was saying, but doubt twisted through his stomach like a garden snake. Nezumi was, by all accounts, a strange boy. He'd swept in out of nowhere and turned Shion's whole world upside down. Could it be possible that Shion had misread the situation at the bakery? Had the two agents harassing his mother simply been bad at their jobs, with no sinister intentions beneath it?

The more Shion thought about it, the more he began to wonder if he'd been strung along. Nezumi was so paranoid about the Lab tracking him down that he viewed everything as a threat. The thought made him sick. It wasn't possible that Shion had given up his mother, his best friend, his childhood home for the ramblings of a madman…right?

"Shion," Hawk said, and his voice had hardened. "What you did to the bakery was...explosive. You understand why we can't allow you to walk around unsupervised."

It was true. Shion knew it. That didn't stop it from stinging, all the same.

His stomach rolled as he thought of the damage he'd caused. He'd broken so many things. He had no control. His anger took him without warning, and when it did, Shion had no choice but to push it away from him. When that happened, he destroyed the things around him. Shion needed to learn control—but how was he supposed to do that when Nezumi was dragging him on an endless road with only a flimsy goal lighting the end of the tunnel?

But then Shion thought back to the kind woman at the hotel. Hawk and Mountain had tasered her for not giving them information. The way Sachiko and Toshiya had grabbed Karan's arms and tried to drag her toward the door until Shion's explosion caught them off-guard.

"We don't want to hurt anyone," huh? The confusion twisting through Shion's mind settled into an angry fog. Nezumi might have pulled him from the world he knew, but Nezumi had always been upfront with him about how he viewed the world. Shion hadn't known him long, but he'd never felt a reason to doubt him. Horizon Labs had done things in the past few days that undid all the good intentions Hawk attempted to sell him. They didn't need to grab my mom. They didn't need to taser that woman.

Shion didn't know the whole truth, but he was certain of one thing.

He didn't trust Horizon Labs.

Hawk took Shion's silence as affirmation and softened a bit. "I knew you'd understand. You're a smart kid, Shion. Come quietly, and I promise things will go smoothly. You'll like where we're going. It's not as nice as your bakery, but we'll treat you well, and you'll be doing the world a big favor."

Mountain took a step forward—and Nezumi suddenly dove forward and took him to the ground.

It was horrifically graceful. Nezumi's arms wrapped around Mountain's waist. He was far smaller than Mountain, but the combination of his body weight and the element of surprise had Mountain tripping over his own two lumbering feet.

Both of them went crashing to the ground.

Nezumi's silver eyes flashed in the morning sunlight. He was a flurry of black and silver, and as Mountain threw an arm out to grab him, Nezumi drove his fist forward into his nose.

They rolled on the ground, one over the other, with Nezumi's hands clutching Mountain's thick wrists and keeping his meaty fingers from catching anything vital. Mountain was much larger, but Nezumi was quicker. One of his black combat boots struck Mountain's stomach, giving him enough space to wriggle out of his grip.

It was quick and terrifying. Shion had seen cats in the alley outside the bakery fight with each other in the middle of the night. Nezumi's manner of fighting was much the same. He used all of his body, twisting and making himself a difficult target to strike. Mountain's meaty hands grabbed for his arms, his legs, his throat—but Nezumi raked his nails across Mountain's face, jammed his fists into his chin and his exposed throat, and delivered swift kicks to any part of his body he could land a hit on.

"Son of a bitch!" Hawk reached for his pocket. Shion saw the handle of what appeared to be a gun. He didn't want to think Hawk might actually shoot them—but there were ways to shoot and injure a person without killing them.

Shion threw his hands out. "STOP IT." Anger bubbled through him at the thought of Hawk firing off a round and hitting Nezumi. Shion's eyes darted around the alley and landed squarely on one of the trash cans huddled in the corner.

It lifted off the ground and went hurtling into Hawk's side. He made a sound like a rubber duck popping as the wind burst out of him, and the metal clattered on top of him. Old food wrappers, rotting plants, and a used diaper tumbled onto the ground next to Hawk's face. The gun struck the ground and spun into the concrete wall.

Shion's body burned as he threw his hand out again. The gun went sailing up and away. Shion didn't watch where it landed. As long as it was away from Hawk's hands, it was good enough.

Nezumi scrambled to his feet. His hair was disheveled, falling out of the messy ponytail he'd dragged it into earlier that morning. He bolted forward, and Mountain snagged his ankle. Nezumi fell with a curse, his chin striking the ground.

Mountain's eyes burned with vengeance, and Shion looked at the dumpster. It shuddered and then fell onto its side, just inches from crushing Mountain, the heavy lids bursting open and spilling bags of trash all over him. The massive lid thumped against Mountain's back, and with a grunt, his hand slipped from Nezumi's ankle.

Shion dove forward and grasped Nezumi by the bicep. He hauled him to his feet and shoved him toward the mouth of the alley. "Come on, come on, come on!"

Nezumi didn't need to be told again. Immediately taking the lead, he bolted into the open street. Shion ignored Hawk struggling to climb onto his knees and searching for his gun. Mountain rolled onto his back, gasping, and struggled to kick the lid and the piles of garbage aside. Shion didn't look back.

He and Nezumi didn't stop running until the town was nothing more than a black dot on the horizon.