If you were to ask me whether I had any regrets in life, I would say many. Getting hungover on finals day back when I was graduating… Googling certain things people had told me to never Google… Oh, and also going along with this punishment game which was about to result in my death!

“You’re not going to kill her, Pack! You’re not that kind of person!” the floating woman, Nova, shouted.

“Try me. Are you gonna risk it?” the villainess next to me said in a chilling tone.

Still hadn’t peed myself. I really was a man.

Iron Pack then leaned closer to me and whispered, “Please, play along. I don’t want to hurt you.”

God. Suddenly hearing her voice shift from bloodthirsty to soft and kind jolted my entire being. Were you supposed to feel weird things in your stomach when you were held hostage by a villain? Probably.

Anyway, what the heck had she meant play along? Play along with what? Was I supposed to appear to be scared shitless? Well, I think I was already doing a splendid job with that.

The two heroes stopped in their tracks just as Iron Pack asked. Nova then flicked her head sideways and narrowed her eyes. “Why are you still here?! Get out!”

I just realized she was shouting at Miranda, who was watching the entire ordeal from a safe distance. I managed to move my head with jerked movements and met her eyes. She looked horrified and was shaking. My condition probably wasn’t much better than hers, though.

After a second of indecision, she turned tail and ran. I let out a whimper.

I’d been left alone in the clutches of a scary villain. Well, the villainess herself wasn’t that scary, it was mainly the snake’s fangs about to chomp down that terrified me, but for some reason, I felt more thrilled than scared now. Jeez, hand it to me and my manly bravery for not panicking in such a situation.

“Pack! I know you aren’t stupid! Hurting a civilian will put you on the hit list! Let her go!”

“I don’t think so, Nova. I think I’m gonna leave with her now and if you dare follow me, I’ll feed her to my wolves.”

It was a good thing I was barely breathing because I had to hold back a very unmanly yelp.

“Pack! Don’t you dare!” the woman shouted.

The iron snake constricted around me even further, binding my arms to my torso. This time, I couldn’t stop the hitch-pitched squeak escaping my lungs. The dang thing squeezed it out of me.

But it also felt oddly comforting, somehow. The fact that the snake’s teeth weren’t about to bite my neck anymore probably helped me feel safer. Yes, that must have been it.

The ground then erupted and produced a wolf-like creature, also made out of metal. Iron Pack hopped on the construct and dragged me with her, slinging me over the wolf’s back. More snakes emerged and lay over me before biting into the wolf’s fur, effectively fixing me in place and preventing me from falling off.

God, I was being treated like luggage. Well, better than being fed to iron wolves. Yeah, actually this was a pretty good deal, I didn’t mind this. Please go ahead and treat me like cheap baggage.

“As I said, if you even think about chasing me, this girl’s a goner!” the villainess threatened before the wolf took off.

My heart was beating a million times per second at this point. It felt like I was about to fall off the wolf at any moment, even though I knew I was fastened to my ride. It was terrifying… and also exhilarating. Argh, stupid adrenaline! Why was I enjoying this?!

I watched as we got further and further away from the heroes from the comfort of my bumpy ride. The wolf dashed through the square, ran through an empty street, and continued going.

The wolf hauled itself over a car and I let out a yelp. My kidnapper seemed to be driving her construct at random. We zig-zagged through the streets and entered an empty sidestreet with nobody around.

The wolf finally stopped moving. The snakes binding me loosened and I found myself falling off with a squeak. Uh, I meant, a very manly grunt, not a squeak, yes.

I clamped my eyes shut, preparing to hit the ground, but before I did, someone caught me. I carefully eased my eyes open and found myself face-to-face with an oddly charming, no, I meant, a very scary iron mask. The villainess was holding me in a princess carry. It suddenly got very hot for some reason, especially around my face area.

“Sorry about that. I kind of used you to get away. You alright?” she asked me in an almost gentlemanly manner.

I opened and closed my mouth, but it seemed like my vocal cords were out of commission, so I gave her a meek nod instead.

She put me down on my feet and I wobbled a bit before leaning on a nearby wall to support myself. I kept my eyes on the villainess as I tried to calm down my shaking body.

“I hope you can find your way home from here. Just go that way and you’ll find yourself at Usher’s Square.” She pointed somewhere but I didn’t move my eyes. I only nodded to acknowledge her advice.

“Alright, I’m going then, see you later.” She hopped back on her wolf. “Or rather, I hope I don’t see you later. It’s dangerous to be in the middle of a super fight. Next time, just run away, alright? It would be a waste if the world lost a cute girl like you.”

I was about to nod again before she said the last sentence. Then, my brain reconsidered and concluded the best response was flushing bright red and opening and closing my mouth like a fish.

“Bye, then, Aster.” The wolf took off. I followed her with my eyes until it turned around a corner and disappeared behind another building.

A moment later, I fell down on my butt. I was alone now, and it was dead silent save for my heart trying to escape from my chest. There should have been a million thoughts running through my head, but somehow, there was only one… the image of Iron Pack’s eyes peering at me through her mask.

I whimpered as I tried my hardest to get that persistent image out of my head.

I tilted my head backward and stared at the night sky. There were no stars, courtesy of the light pollution of the city, but it was still nice to look at. Just boring old blackness. Beautiful. Yes, I decided to spend the rest of my night staring at the empty sky. That sounded like a wonderful idea.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world had different plans for me. Something inside my fox hoodie pinged. Apparently, miracles were a thing, because my phone hadn’t fallen out of it during the crazy ride.

I fished it out of the hoodie pocket and stared at the piece of technology as if it came from the future before remembering how to use it. I swiped it to unlock it and noticed all the missed calls and messages from Troy, Miranda, and Kelly.

I scrolled through the messages in a daze. There was some apologizing, some demands that I stay alive, and some self-insulting going on. I couldn’t fully focus on the contents though. My thoughts kept going back to Iron Pack.

I shook my head and tapped Troy’s name before clicking the little green phone icon and putting the device next to my ear.

Dull ringing resounded in the otherwise empty and silent alleyway. On the third ring, he picked up.

“Oh my god, Cain! Are you alright?! Cain?!” My roomie’s voice came through.

It took me a second to answer him.

“Yeah…?”

“Cain! She didn’t do anything to you, right?! God, if something happened to you because of this stupid bet…!”

“I’m… fine…” I said, still dazed.

“Where are you?! Are you really alright?!”

“I… ” I looked around. “I dunno. She dropped me off… somewhere. Uh, she mentioned… Usher’s Square?”

“Usher’s Square. Okay, I’m getting into my car and I’ll be there in a few minutes. Please, stay safe, Cain!”

The line went dead. I stared at the phone with a frown.

“It’s Aster,” I whispered, surprising myself.

Uh, what? Why had I said that...? Jeez, I’d probably hit my head or something.