The corpse changed shape into that of a man, with a large belly and short brown hair. Blood filled into the cracks of the stone walkway as Almuz’s face got rounder, and his lips bigger. Within seconds Almuz’s body had changed into that of a complete stranger.

“Who the fuck is this,” he screamed. “Who can change their-”

Nero took no joy in killing Jack, and kicked his bullet-ridden corpse, yelling obscenities.

“You ugly fuck,” he screamed. “No wonder you never showed us your face!”

Nero returned to the ballroom, where the others were holding those who didn’t get away hostage.

“Where is he," yelled Nero. “Where are you hiding him!?!”

“You didn’t get Almuz," Pumpkin asked.

“No, but I got Jack, filthy traitor. Question everyone until they tell us where he is."

After an hour, more Federales had appeared. They searched every inch of the building. They questioned all the hostages, but no one knew where he or the baby was. While walking through the ballroom, Pumpkin noticed something peculiar.

A foot was sticking out from underneath one of the tables, covered by a tablecloth. She lifted it and underneath she found a man on the phone.

Pumpkin dragged him out from under the table, kicking and screaming.

“Let me go you bitch," yelled the man.

Pumpkin kicked him in the hand and he let go of his phone.

She grabbed it and then sat on his chest to keep him down. While the very rich yet balding man was screaming obscenities underneath her, Pumpkin went through his phone log and text messages.

“Hey boss," said Pumpkin. “ He made a call. On here it says ‘emergency’ but the number isn’t for the cops.”

Nero looked at the man and simply pointed his gun at him.

“I don’t have time to figure out what you’ve done, and quite simply I don’t care. Just tell us where Almuz is."

The gun made his lips loose.

“We really don’t know where he is," said the man. “But if I were him I would have escaped through the underground tunnel.”

“What underground tunnel," asked Pumpkin.

“All these houses have underground tunnels since most of us are wealthy and people try to break in all the time. If someone wants to do us harm we need to escape. You can check for yourselves."

Nero, Adonis, Pumpkin, and Diamond, made their way to the basement while their backup watched the hostages.

In the basement, they didn’t find much of anything at first glance. It was filled with musty old furniture covered in dusty blankets. After searching through the basement they found a large metal door hidden behind a dresser, with a lock on it.

Without hesitation, Azara ripped the door off its hinges with her herculean strength. The ground shook where it landed, and she walked right into the dark abyss.

They all crowded inside the room but it was hard to see. They could hear breathing and soft whispers, and Nero’s eyes turned black, preparing to kill the next thing that twitched.

“Hey," yelled Nero. “Who’s there!?”

A soft cry came out.

“Shut up," said another voice.

“Show yourselves or else you die," yelled Nero.

No one spoke. Frustrated and impatient, Nero lit his hands on fire to illuminate the room.

Dozens of dirty, small faces stared back at them. Children covered in rags, in fancy clothes, in old clothes, some even naked peered at them through the bars of the cells. The entire room was outfitted with many jail cells, and the children were its prisoners.

Nero turned the fire out and shuddered.

“What the fuck. What the fuck is this ?”

Everyone was silent for some time. Either from the shock of Nero’s group or the fear of strangers from the children. Suddenly, someone spoke.

“I’m scared of the dark.”

Nero sighed.

His hair went ablaze and it lit up the room again.

“What… what should we do," asked Adonis.

“We were gonna torch this building, but we can’t with all these kids in here," Nero said.

“Set them free," said Diamond. “Save them the way someone should have saved us."

Azara walked up to one of the cells and the children all pressed themselves to the back of the wall in fear. She grabbed the bars and ripped them off.

“Let’s go," she commanded.

The children froze in fear, worried that their new owner would be worse than the last.

“You can’t just do that ‘Zara," said Nero. “They’re afraid."

Azara walked into the cell and the children started to cry.

“You can stay here and die, or you can come with us and live. I’m not a good person but I won’t kill you. ”

A boy standing at the front looked at Azara with intense, green eyes. He seemed to be the oldest of all of them, looking no older than fourteen. He was dirty, and he smelled of urine. He walked right up to her and asked where she was taking them.

Azara didn’t know what to do with all these children. If it was one or two she could have kept them for a few days, so she lied and told them, somewhere safer. It was a half-truth, anywhere would be safer than the dungeon underneath Almuz’s house.

The boy nodded and walked out the cell door and told himself he had no choice.

“I can leave on my own, but the others can’t. They’re little. Some are sick.”

“It's okay,'' said Pumpkin. “We can help."

Pumpkin went inside and coaxed out the younger ones from their cells. They were quite receptive to her. Unlike the others, her voice was a lot softer, and she didn’t have many tattoos. She smelled like perfume and was the only one without blood on her.

As Azara pried the bars off the cells, Pumpkin and Diamond picked up the smaller ones who were too little or too weak to walk. Adonis and Nero searched around the prison and found a doorway carved out of one of the walls. It was dark, and the few visible stairs looked broken. Suddenly, shots could be heard ringing upstairs.

“We have to go," commanded Azara. “The police must be here, and they won’t believe us if we said we freed these children."

“Or they might just put them right back here," replied Diamond.

Some of the children started to cry.

“It's okay,'' said Pumpkin. “We won’t let anyone hurt you."

“I can’t go," said Nero. “Almuz must be down there, I’m sure of it. All these kids here are proof that my son is here as well."

“Nero, we can’t all go with you. I’m sorry but maybe...he's gone,” Azara said.

“Be quiet.”

“These children are alive. I’m not staying here to die with them,” she replied.

They all left without him, except for Adonis, and they weren’t reluctant about it either. There wasn’t much proof that Amos was there, after searching most of the house and he wasn’t with the other children either.

“Why don’t you go with them,” Nero asked Adonis. “I probably can’t beat Almuz. His skin is impossible to cut.”

Adonis looked down at him and said, “It’s my job to take care of you, remember?"

Nero shook his head. “Don’t start with this again," he said. “You’re not my dad, and -”

“I know, but we still take care of each other, like brothers. I can’t leave you here when you only want to find your son.”

“Don’t ever call me a brother... You’re better than them.”

“Never thought I’d be happy to see the day I’m being friend-zoned by you,” Adonis laughed, and Nero grinned back, some of his fears becoming smaller when he saw his eyes smile.

“Let’s finish what we started. Let’s become who we’ve always wanted to be.”

“What would that be?”

“Someone strong. That’s who I’ve always wanted to be.”

Adonis didn’t know what he wanted to be. He kept doing what took him to the next day, and the next day, just like Diamond and Pumpkin, who could not see anything past the next day nor week.

The past week, he saw Nero in a different light.

Yes, he was much more dangerous than ever before, but each and everything he said he would do he had done. Nero knew what he wanted to do, albeit, it was vague, but he was working towards something. Adonis didn’t know what he wanted to do most days and was slightly envious that Nero knew but wished it wasn’t something so... violent.

Right then and there, standing in a fetid basement, he knew that he followed Nero’s plans because he didn’t know what he wanted, where he was going, and what he was doing, but when he looked at Nero it was because he knew he wanted to be with him.

They had been around each other so long that Nero could see minute details in Adonis’s face, and didn’t know what kind of expression he was making when he looked at his eyes and they widened.

“What’s wrong,” Nero asked.

“Nothing. Let’s go,” Adonis replied.

Nero peered down into the dark stairwell afraid to admit he was scared. He had come so far and didn’t understand why he was apprehensive, worried that it was just like his wedding, getting cold feet after they had come so far.

Adonis noticed Nero’s hesitation and tried to help.

“He might not be down there,” Adonis said.

“Amos has to be, and we won’t know unless we go down.”

He took a deep breath and took the first step down the stairs, to become who he always wanted to be.