Not too far away from their civilian friend, Static and Gear roamed the concourses of the mall, searching for Ebon and the rest of his crew. When they had first arrived at the scene, they had expected to be attacked by the gang the second they had entered the mall. However, to their surprise, the mall was eerily quiet. The bang-babies had left behind some evidence of their skullduggery, as some of the stores appeared to have been ransacked. Merchandise was strewn across the floor in several of the shops. But the Meta-Breed themselves were nowhere in sight.

"See anything?" Static asked his partner, who was keeping a watchful eye on the ceiling, in the event Talon was observing them. He had learned that the hard way a little over a week ago.

"Nothin'," Gear answered. "It's like they vanished into thin air."

Static stroked his chin, puzzled. "Huh. I wonder why they chose to rob the mall of all places. And on a Friday afternoon. Not a great way to keep a low profile."

"Beats me," Gear said, shrugging. "Though the Meta-Breed isn't really known for their subtlety, aka Hotstreak."

"Good point," Static replied. "But it makes it even weirder that we haven't seen them yet."

"Maybe they already left," Gear suggested. "Maybe Ebon transported them elsewhere."

Even though his partner's hypothesis was certainly probable, Static was not ready to give up just yet. "We should split up. Cover more ground that way."

Gear nodded in agreement. If they weren't able to find the bang-babies, they could potentially find some clues as to where the gang possibly went.

"Sounds like a plan. Meet back here in, say, fifteen minutes?"

"Sounds good," Static said as he slowly stepped away from his partner. "Catch you in fifteen. Oh, and keep your Shock Vox on, just in case."

"Roger that."

And with that, Static and Gear went their separate ways, neither certain about what they were going to find.

Meanwhile, Zoey casually roamed the second floor of the mall, silently mulling over what her next course of action should be. She figured not enough time had passed for the police to have left the premises yet, though she still didn't know what they were waiting for, considering the mall appeared to be vacant.

This was useless. Maybe Static and Gear weren't here, after all. She had figured that if there had been reported meta-human activity inside the mall, then the heroes would surely be here. They wouldn't ignore a call to action. But if there weren't any bang-babies here, then they probably weren't here either. Basically, she had risked her neck for no reason, which was enough to bring about some reasonable degree of frustration within her.

Though, she still had this strange feeling as if she was being watched by someone. Or something. She couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. At first, she thought the feeling may have been her intuition sensing the heroes' presence nearby. However, as the seconds passed, the feeling was growing more concerning to her. It wasn't comforting. It was, dare she say, evil. She didn't believe in ghosts, demons, or anything of that sort. But the sensation she wasn't alone was becoming hard to ignore, enough for her to glance behind her.

"Hello?" she said aloud, which she immediately regretted. As soon as the words left her mouth, she heard a faint rustling not too far away from her.

"Static? Gear?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly. She didn't want appear timid or vulnerable for whatever was following, but it was getting harder to save face.

As she frantically began looking around for whatever was pursuing her, a short burst of movement caught her eye. It was close to the ground, almost shadow-like. Too far away to be her own shadow, plus she was standing perfectly still.

"Static? Gear?" she called out again. It was probably just her imagination playing tricks on her.

"Not quite," a voice answered.

Zoey turned her head towards the source of the sound, and what she saw would be permanently etched into her mind forever. A dark, purplish shadow, with no facial features other than two stark white eyes, was staring back at her, enough to make her gasp in fear.

"Who are you? What do want?" she demanded. She wasn't about to give it the satisfaction of scaring her so easily.

The nightmarish figure began approaching her.

"Who I am doesn't concern you."

Instinctually, Zoey began to slowly back away, doubting that whatever it was, she could outrun it.

"I think the more important question is, who are you?

It continued to close in on her until she could feel her back hit the railing.

"Why do you care who I am?" she snapped, trying her best to ignore the pounding of her heart against her ribcage.

The entity's white eyes glowered at her.

"Watch your mouth, girl. I'll be asking the questions here. Now, I'll ask you again. Who are you, and why you hangin' around here?"

Zoey thought for a moment. She figured there wasn't any use in resisting it. It's cold, penetrating gaze was enough indication that it meant business.

"Zoey. Parker. And I was looking for..." She was about to mention the superhero's name when the thought occurred to her: If this was one of the meta-humans that was attacking the mall, then it, or he, must be an enemy of Static. And she wasn't sure how well that would go over if he knew there was some association between her and the superhero. "...someone."

"Who?" he demanded. "There's no one here but you."

The teenager was silent. Even if both options-revealing who she was looking for or saying nothing at all-weren't great, she felt saying nothing was the slightly safer choice.

Ebon's cold eyes narrowed. There was something she was hiding from him. "Not talkin', huh? Either way you're comin' with me."

Before she knew what was happening, a blanket of darkness enveloped her. Her body began to feel weightless as if it was dissipating into thin air. She tried to scream for help, but it was like she was encased inside some kind of bubble where no sound could escape. Although she herself could hardly produce a sound, she could hear the entity's chilling voice echo in her ears.

"We're gonna go have a chat with a little special someone."