Chapter 16

"What the hell is that?" Adam asks as he hands over to Floyd a glass bottle leaking a green substance.

"This will burn your skin if touched and probably contains small traces of rakushin. Shit, it's everywhere!" Floyd panics as he glances below them, seeing a stream of thick green poison gradually leaking into Wood Oak's water supply.

"We'l have to get the city council to shut it down" Adam observes.

"This place looks more like an underground nightclub than a sewage system" Floyd comments, surprised by the amount of speakers scattered around the tunnel and it's unusual lighting. "This must have taken years to build" he says as they continue to walk through an underground enclave.

"Watch your step kid!" Adam warns when he notices a large gap in metallic platform they are walking on. "If anybody falls through that, they're toast!" He says as he looks down at the stream of green poison just metres below them.

"Wait!" Floyd halts Adam from walking any further. A large plume of fire suddenly projects forward out of one of the holes in the tunnel wall.

"Thanks man! That was too close for comfort" Adam sighs.

"Currently we're standing below one of the bars on the main street. 300m that way is the concert hall then down through that other tunnel there leads back to the pier."

"That's probably our quietest way out of here" Floyd answers, having previously arrived from that entrance.

"Estel is also stationed over at the pier in case we need any backup" Adam replies.

"Wait, can you hear that?" Floyd says as they carefully try to identify a strange noise coming from further down the tunnel. It sounds like metal banging repeatedly and echoing against the tunnel walls.

"Get down!" Adam shouts as several metal poles spin and fly forward at speed towards them. Fortunately Floyd catches one.

"What the…?" Suddenly he feels a magnetic pull from the pole in his hand but luckily he is strong enough to ground himself and pull it back. After a short gust of wind that breezes past them, there is a nervous silence in the air as the two of them try to figure out what exactly is going on.

Simultaneously, they immediately jump to opposite sides as a cyborg with the face of a skull crashes down into the ground where the two of them were just standing. They look up at it with amazement as he magnetically pulls back the remaining metallic poles off the floor. They start to quickly rotate around his body as Koobo aims for a double kill.

Again, the cyborg projects two of the metal poles each in Adam and Floyd's direction. One of them breaks the platform where Adam is taking cover, forcing him over the edge and holding onto the rail. He briefly glances down at the poisonous stream below him before using his upper body strength to lift himself back over the platform to safety.

Suddenly Adam is in awe when he witnesses two blinding purple laser beams being emitted from each of Floyd's arms that now appear to be large weapons.

"Holy shit!" Adam is speechless when Floyd annihilates the cyborg in front of them. The large muscular fighter then calmly walks over to Koobo lying on the ground. He lightly drops the pole he caught earlier which magnetically sticks onto the cyborg's forehead.

"That's a better look for you" Floyd smirks.

"I gotta admit ,I'm impressed with you Floyd." Adam's eyes widen.

"Shit, not these guys!" He complains as a group of signals, female acrobats and low level thugs flood through the tunnel. The two men immediately ready their fighting stance.

With ease, Floyd grapples a signal and a thug holding a knife in a denim jacket. He then raises the two of them up off the ground in each hand then knocks their skulls together in the air. The rest of the signals cautiously glance at him with uncertainty on their faces. The young Maori fighter smiles and walks towards them with his hands raised in the air, appearing not to want a fight.

The signals give each other a nod then lower themselves to the ground to slide forward. In doing so, Floyd crashes his fists into the floor. He creates a purple electrical current that sends shockwaves through his enemies.

Meanwhile Adam does his best to remain focussed on his own fight, having just kicked the lights of five other street thugs armed with knives. He then finds himself surrounded by the three female fighters.

"Ruby, what do you think of this one?" One of them says to her friend.

"I think he's cute" she replies, glaring at Adam.

"Ladies, we don't have to fight!" He smirks back at them, holding his hands up.

"What do you plan on doing instead then?" Diamond flashes him a smile.

"Well err… if you really wanna know…" Suddenly Adam is almost caught off guard when she hits him around the face whilst the other two ladies jump and kick towards his direction. Adam quickly somersaults backward. "Sworddd strike!" He shouts out as several sharp yellow auras fly out his body, knocking the three of them back. One of the ladies screams as the impact of his chi forces her over the edge of the platform and into the green poisonous stream below. The rest of the fighters lay there weak and motionless.

"I'll call Estel to bounce in and get these motherfuckers arrested. That was some pretty cool shit that just came out of your arms by the way!" Adam complements Floyd as they start to walk away from the scene.

"I could say the same about you Hunter!" He proudly grins.

"Well err, you know I could have defeated those chicks without using my powers, but since you showed off with yours, I couldn't help myself" Adam confidently smirks back.

"Ow, that's a shame. Ruby back there thought you were cute!" Floyd laughs.

"Eh, those bitches wern''t my type anyway!"

"Wait…" The two of them cautiously stop when they hear music echoing from the underground speakers.

"That could be playing from the concert hall above" Floyd investigates.

"Look!" To their shock, they notice the fighters and the cyborg they defeated in the distance rising to their feet whilst turning on each other by attacking one another.

"We need to get out of here!" Floyd shouts as the music starts to become louder.

"My daughter is up there!" Adam panics.

The two of them quickly run through the tunnel then up the ladder towards the basement of the concert hall. The bass and echo of the music becomes even clearer and more painful for their ears when they enter the premises.

"Come on!" Adam encourages Floyd up the stairs.

As soon as they reach the main concert hall of the building, it appears to be a blood bath with party goers going crazy whilst trying to kill one another.

"Cherry! Cherry?!" Adam frantically shouts out as he scans the flashing dance floor. The lights flicker from darkness to bright, each time revealing more blood around them as the crowd use anything they can to stab and attack each other.

"How do you know she's even here?" Floyd shouts whilst he throws two civilians backwards in the air with ease after they try to stab him.

"Because the girl never listens to me!" He answers with certainty.

"I think that's her!" Floyd points towards the far distance.

They then witness Cherry with a blood stained neck and t-shirt. She appears to be attacking anyone and anything left around her whilst screaming.

"Cherry! It's me!" Adam shouts but instead of hearing him, she charges forward attempting to break his face using her guitar. Adam slides to one side, still on the dance floor.

"Cover her ears!" He shouts towards Floyd, but then they are each caught off guard when a disc-like energy floats towards them and burns their skin.

The DJ suddenly rises up in the air then glides around the room.

"That motherfucker is fast!" Adam shouts.

"You're faster than me so try to take him whilst I'll get Cherry out of here" Floyd replies.

Still under a trance, Cherry attempts to kick, punch and attack Floyd in any way that she can. "I'm sorry…" Floyd apologises as he places his arm which is almost half of her size around her neck to place Cherry in a sleeper hold. With ease, he carries her towards the exit whilst using his firepower to attack anybody standing in the way who attempts to fight him.

"Where are your friends now Hunter?" The DJ smirks as he throws forward several more laser discs that force Adam backwards away from him. They end up striking some of the crowd left still fighting one another, all oblivious to their conversation and fixated on the music.

"What have you done to these people?!" Adam snarls.

"These simple civilians here don't possess powers like you or I. This music they hear does wonderful things to their mind" K-Washi grins under his blacked out helmet whilst folding his arms. His lean chest and torso are on full display with a black, white and yellow jacket concealing his arms.

Adam suddenly has a flashback to Wood Oak hospital 9 years ago where the same thing happened when the patients and doctors heard music blasting from the radios.

"It's a shame, your daughter is such a talented girl. We were looking forward to working with her!"

"I'll kill you before you ever go near her again!" Adam shouts with rage as his arms and body light up with yellow electricity.

K Washi shakes his head. "I'd hold back with that power if I were you. Today is not our time to fight. Besides, if anything happens to me your friend Max dies!"

"NO!" Adam shouts, infuriated as his powers strike the ground around him.

"See you soon Hunter..." The DJ waves before quickly flying back past the rest of the crowd towards another exit.

"Countdown, 30 seconds…" Adam hears a female voice. Again like the hospital, he realises this place is about to blow.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" He does his best to try and rally up some of the civilians but with the music still playing, they are oblivious to his voice and are fully focussed on killing one another.

Adam quickly pushes himself past the crowd towards the main exit. With seconds to spare, he makes it out onto the street in time before the entire concert hall explodes into an inferno.

He catches his breath then he runs over towards Floyd on the other side of the street when the authorities start to arrive. The civilians around scream for help and plead with him as they know some of their loved ones were inside that building. All Adam can do right now is block out any strangers who approach him as his priority is to make sure that his daughter is ok.

"She's right here and is just waking up" Floyd reassures him when Adam notices Cherry waking up on a stretcher.

"Daddy?" Her vision is blurred and confused whilst the paramedics lift her into the back of an ambulance.

"It's ok baby girl I'm here, you're gonna be ok" his voice shakes as he notices her bleeding on one side of her stomach.

"Seems to be a stab wound but hasn't cut too deep. She's in more shock than anything and has lost some blood but your daughter is going to be ok" one of the paramedics reassures him.

Adam anxiously nods, feeling thankful that Cherry is alive.

"Make sure you tell the authorities to switch off the entire water system…. And ask one of the others to call Cherry's mother" Adam requests from Floyd. He remains with his daughter inside the ambulance when she is rushed off to hospital.

"I'm sorry ma'am, we can't allow any visitors due to security reasons''. Two police officers halt Keri at the entrance to the hospital ward.

"I'm here to see my daughter!" She angrily demands.

"It's ok" Adam appears, giving the officers the all clear to let her pass.

"I should have known you were behind this! Which enemy of yours was it this time?" She frustratingly paces through the corridor.

"This happened at an audition Cherry decided to go for. I was there saving our daughter, this isn't my fault Keri!"

"I told you, it's Kim now and yes, this is your fault! What the hell were you thinking allowing your 15 year old to party in some nightclub like that in there?" She argues.

"Firstly, that was a concert hall not a nightclub. And secondly Cherry was attending an audition with her band".

"What band?" Keri sighs.
"Maybe if you weren't so focussed on your new perfect life, you would know much more about our daughter".

"Like you do? I've raised that girl and Chris without you for the past 9 years! She's been living with you for less than 6 months and already her life has been in danger! I should never have trusted you and if you think you're ever gonna see Chris again….."

"Mom! Dad! STOP!" Cherry shouts as Sammy wheels her outside into the corridor.

"Cherry! Thank God you're ok!" Her mom smiles with relief. She reaches forward to hug Cherry but the teenager turns her head away.

"I don't wanna see either one of you right now. It's true, dad warned me not to stay there so this is not his fault. But the truth is both of you need to listen more. Mom, all you care about is your new family life and pleasing Terrence and his kids. They don't give a shit about me! And dad? Even though the last few months have been great at times, your job is still everything to you. You're sometimes still acting like a kid yourself! I think I'm gonna stay with Uncle Sammy for a while when they discharge me" she decides.

"Can we go back to my room now?" Cherry asks Sammy.

"Ok" he nods.

"Cherry! Sammy, wait!" Adam shouts out as he paces forward.

"Just leave it man! She's right, you've always been the same. You can't help it, you love your career more than your family. I understood that growing up around you too" Sammy explains to him.

"Wait! I'm sorry!" Adam replies with guilt on his face as they turn around to leave.

"Are you happy now?!" Adam glares back with a mix of sadness and anger at his ex.

"I've tried, I really have Adam. You brought this on yourself! I don't think either of our children should ever be in your custody again. I think it's best we settle the matter of custody in court" she threatens before walking away, leaving Adam in shock and distraught.