Amber Deen Leska

Deen punched the pitch-black panel with all her might. 

The bright red outline of the panel and the walls showed that she didn’t even make a dent.

All these superpowers, and she couldn’t even help protect her team. 

Suddenly, Deen no longer felt nauseous. That either meant two things. Dario went forward far enough to be out of range of Deen. Or Dario got shot in the head. Hopefully, it was the former. 

Deen couldn’t fathom the possibility of any of her teammates dying. Why didn’t her Guardian Angel just leave her with her teammates? Why did it tell her to back up into this hallway?

Deen stared at the ball of feathers floating to her side. It said nothing to her. 

“Please tell me how I can save my friends,” she begged. “Please.”

Silence filled the hall. 

Ugh. What should she do? Her Guardian Angel only seemed to care about her safety. Not the safety of her teammates. It also didn’t listen to her commands at all. 

Standing here wouldn’t accomplish anything. She wasn’t strong enough to break through whatever material this was. The only option left was to keep moving down the left hallway.

Hopefully, her teammates would be alright.

Dario and Everett were together with Blubber. Hopefully, Dario’s nausea field would make it hard to shoot them, and Everett could deal with any enemy at range. Blubber would also be useful for taking down any of the 2M’s soldiers. They must be still alive.

Then, there was Myra and her best friend Erind. Those two were the strongest members of their team. Both of them were pretty resistant to bullets. But only Myra could survive electroshock bullets. Hopefully, Myra could protect Erind. 

Protect. That’s what heroes do. And Deen couldn’t do any of that right now. Right now, the only thing she could do is hope and run. Deen preferred running. 

Deen chose powers so she could actually make a difference in the world. Hoping wouldn’t make a difference. She started sprinting down the hall. There had to be an exit out of here right? 

She would find it and help save her teammates. And kill whatever Adumbrae separated them. 

It was pretty surreal. She was actually going to fight Adumbrae this time. 

Minutes ticked by as Deen entered different hallways. All coated in this weird pitch-black stuff with glowing red edges. 

How much of the 2M’s base is covered in this stuff? There had to be an end right? Thankfully, Deen could keep running and not feel tired. 

More minutes passed and Deen was starting to become tired of this. Was this infinite? No. It couldn’t be. She’d make it out-

[Duck and slide.]

Huh? Was something going to hit her from the ceiling? The current hallway led into a large doorless room. 

But Deen complied. The sound of gunfire echoed. Huh? Were bullets being teleported into the room? Deen couldn’t see where they were coming from as she slid under them. 

[Leap forward to the left.]

Deen leaped and saw that the bullets were starting to go downwards to where she originally was. But the bullets were just appearing out of thin air. Huh? 

Suddenly, Deen crashed into something. Ouch. 

“Aggh!” a male voice cried out. Deen looked under herself and a thin man was under her. He had a pasty complexion. Pieces of clay were also around her. Clay illusions? 

[Put him in front of you and back up into the corner.]

Deen immediately got up and hoisted the man in front of her as if he was a shield.

Around Deen, clay soldiers were on the sides of the room with weapons pointed at them. So this guy could make clay clones and turn them invisible. But does that mean he needs to concentrate to keep them invisible?

“Don’t shoot!” the man cried out.

“How did she even know where you were?” one of the clay soldiers said. Why is he arguing with himself? Wait a minute. That must mean these are different Adumbrae, right? One makes the clay clones. And one keeps them invisible. 

“I don’t know!” he said. “You were supposed to shoot him!”

While these two were bickering, Deen wondered how she was supposed to get out of this situation. All of the clay soldiers were aiming at the corner she was at. Of course, they wouldn’t shoot her with the illusionist Adumbrae in front of her. But it’s not like Deen had anywhere she could go.

“Hey mister,” the man in front of her said. “The name’s Calder. It would be a pleasure if you could let me go.”

No way was Deen doing that. 

“He’s not Mister.” one of the clay soldiers said. Deen looked toward the sound of the voice and the same man was there instead of a clay clone. Huh? So was it the same Adumbrae after all? The clay clones did look like Calder. She had no idea what was going on.

“Oh right,” Calder said. “He’s over with Big Marcy.” 

“Big Marcy?” Deen blurted out. 

“Woah!” Calder said. “I didn’t know you were a lady. A beautiful voice if I do say so myself. I was about to call you Sir, but instead, I’ll call you Miss. Unless you want to give me your real name.”

What was this guy talking about? Deen really just wanted to kill him right now. His smug attitude was making Deen’s blood boil.

[Don’t kill him.]

Don’t kill him? Why? If Deen killed him then the clones would vanish right? Unless she was getting something wrong. Maybe there truly were two Adumbrae here? And the one that could make clay clones was just imitating Calder? That must be it.

“Ehh, no name?” Calder asked. “But it did seem like you were interested in Big Marcy.”

“I’ll let you go if you tell me where Big Marcy is,” she lied.

“Do you hear that Finlay?” Calder called out. “Should I tell her where Big Marcy is?”

Why was he so… relaxed. It was as if he didn’t feel like he was in danger. 

“Nah,” Finlay said. “Maybe we should introduce her to Isabel instead.”

Who the hell is Isabel? 

“Would you mind meeting Isabel instead Miss?” Calder asked. “Hey Finlay! Can you bring Isabel over here?”

“She’s dealing with some of the other bandits right now,” Finlay said. “But sure, I’ll call her over here.”

This wasn’t good. They were going to bring another Adumbrae over here. But there was good news. It sounded like her teammates were still alive. Deen didn’t know if it was Dario and Everett, or Myra and Erind. Hopefully, both of them were still alive. Maybe they met up together and were giving the Adumbrae a tough time.

Finlay disappeared and was replaced with a normal clay clone. Deen couldn’t deal with more Adumbrae. She was already cornered.

[Throw him at the soldiers on your right.]

Deen chucked him at the soldiers. 

“Agh!” Calder cried out.

[Run forward and grab the rifle.]

Deen sprinted toward where she crashed into Calder. On the ground was a rifle with blue neon-like lights. An electroshock rifle. Deen picked it up. A crash occurred. Calder must have collided with the clay clones.

[Keep running. Shoot at clay soldiers.]

Blue bolts emerged from the gun and rapidly dashed toward the clay soldiers. They tried shooting back at Deen, but her Guardian Angel quickly assisted her.

[Move to the left.]

Bullets passed by on her right.

[Move to the right.]

Bullets whizzed passed on her left. 

Eventually, Deen managed to clear the room full of clay clones. A pile of rubble laid at each of their bodies. 

Whew. 

Wait a minute, where was Calder? Deen looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. Did he make himself invisible again? Shoot. It seemed like he left.

She may as well continue running towards her friends. Deen looked at her Guardian Angel, which continued rotating in the air next to her. 

On the opposite side of where she came in were two hallways. One on the left, and one on the right. 

[Go left.]

Deen ran down the left hallway, still carrying the rifle in her hands. She may as well keep it just in case.

[Stop. Turn around.]

Deen stopped and nearly tripped over. She quickly regained her posture and looked behind her.

“Interesting, I thought you would have kept running,” a female voice said behind her. “I was going to shoot you in the back if you did. Quite rude to skip our introduction.”

The lady in front of her was wearing a trench coat and fedora matching the same material of the room. She was also carrying a sword and a pistol. Both of which were coated in that pitch-black stuff with a glowing red outline. Deen could also make it out traces of brown hair coming from behind her head. 

An introduction? Was she referring to when Finlay was going to bring Isabel over? That would mean she was Isabel. If Deen killed her, hopefully, the hallways and rooms would return to normal. 

“Of course, what could I expect of vile vermin like you?” she asked. Should Deen shoot her now?

[Shoot her.]

Deen opened fire. But the lady quickly sunk through the floor. Huh? I guess that’s how Finlay was planning on bringing her to me.

[Turn around.]

Deen swiveled and aimed her gun in front of her. Isabel emerged from the left wall. 

“How rude of you,” she said.

[Shoot her.]

Deen pulled the trigger. But Isabel also pulled the trigger on her pistol.

[Move to the left.]

“It looks like I need to teach you some lessons bandit,” Isabel said as she moved to the right to dodge Deen’s bullets. She began charging Deen while firing at her.

[Move Left. Backup.]

Deen quickly got out of the bullet’s way, while continuing to fire at Isabel. But Isabel closed the gap. She sliced at Deen with her sword.

[Leap backward.]

Deen jumped as the sword cut the barrel of her rifle. Damn. She couldn’t shoot Isabel anymore.

“Hopefully, you’ll die easier than your friends,” she said. 

Wait a minute. They can’t be dead. No. Rage rose up inside of Deen. She wanted to kill this Adumbrae. But she couldn’t really attack her.

[Dodge to the left.] 

Isabel continued shooting at Deen and chasing her down with her sword. It was as if they were having an intricate dance down the hallway as Deen avoided getting cut or shot. Deen was reminded of Myra’s lessons. Attack from afar, and evade. She was evading, but she couldn’t really attack right now. Maybe she could pick up another rifle from one of the Finlay clones?

[Throw rifle.] 

Deen threw her broken rifle at Isabel. It sailed through the air, only for Isabel to cut it with her sword. She was sent back a bit by the force of the shrapnel.

“Ugh.” Isabel groaned as her gun clicked. “I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to kill you all.” She sank through the floor again. Did she need to reload?

[Get the rifle.]

Deen quickly picked up a rifle and went back down the same hallway. She was setback a bit. But she managed to survive against the Adumbrae. Sadly, she hadn’t killed any of them. But that might change soon.

She was worried Isabel or another Adumbrae would appear again. But she was just met with the silence of the hallways.

As she turned a corner though, a door appeared. Yes! It wasn’t coated in any of Isabel’s stuff. Deen opened it and was greeted with normal objects again.

“Finally,” she muttered.

In front of her was a hallway. A normal one. To her left was another door. The top of it was labeled “Security”.

“Fuck!” she heard a male voice say. “One of them’s outside!”

[Run past the door. Shoot the door.]

Deen complied and quickly sprinted past the door while spraying it with electroshock bullets. She could hear gunfire on the opposite side as she past, but it quickly stopped.

The door was now filled with holes as if somebody stabbed it with a toothpick many times. 

They should be dead right? Deen kind of wanted to see them. They were probably human given how quickly they seemed to have died. Even though Deen shot them, she wanted to at least see the room. Maybe it had a camera system she could use.

[Keep going.]

Huh? Why not go inside? She may as well check it out. Sometimes her Guardian Angel wouldn’t speak to her, so Deen may as well take the initiative and figure it out herself. It originally didn’t say anything when she was separated from her team. While it did protect her, it seemed to not like conflict at all. But it wasn’t like these guys were alive right?

Deen pushed open the door using some superstrength, and it easily fell over. She looked at her Guardian Angel. It didn’t say anything, although, Deen imagined it would frown if it could.

Whatever. It probably didn’t want her getting into any more danger by getting the camera info. She would head toward her teammates rather than escape. And her Guardian Angel didn’t want that. It wanted her safe from danger. But danger was part of being a Corebring. She needed to confront it if she wanted to stop the Adumbrae.

Inside the room, two corpses were splayed across the ground. Deen didn’t like looking at them. She was a killer. She shouldn’t dwell on it. She already got some nightmares when she killed those guys trying to rob Erind. 

On the right side of the room were four computer monitors, each displaying different rooms. It was kind of hard to tell what was going on from afar.

[Turn back.]

“I know you want to keep me safe,” Deen said. “But I need to help my friends out. You know this. And you can’t stop me.”

She sat on the leather chair. Thankfully, she didn’t have to log in. Deen had a feeling her Guardian Angel wouldn’t tell her the password.

Where are you guys? None of the screens in front of her showed anything of interest. Just soldiers patrolling. Each monitor had a little minimap in the corner, with a building name above it. She wasn’t sure what building they were in. But Deen began clicking around. She’d find where her teammates were eventually. At least the cameras were high quality. And Deen could also rotate and zoom in.

Eventually, Deen pulled up a room with mutants in giant tubes. There were quite a few of them. And some of the mutants looked really threatening. But what interested Deen more were the two people in the middle of the room. One of them was Ento, Erind’s scientist kid clone. 

The other was a lady with a red hood with animal ears and an animal mask. She wore a crop top and cargo shorts. It seemed like Ento was talking to her. Why was she doing that? Why was she talking to this Adumbrae?

Wait a minute. Something clicked in Deen’s mind. Didn’t Erind say some kind of superpowered supermodel saved her at the Sanders Mall? This lady fit that description.

Why was she here though? She was fighting the 2M’s right? That was why she saved Erind.

Suddenly, the mutants in the room got released. This wasn’t good. The monsters began attacking the lady. But Ento threw her syringes at one of the mutants. It started… shrinking. And the lady began growing. She grabbed the shrunken mutant and… ate it. It was a gruesome sight. Suddenly, the lady exploded in growth. 

Some of the mutants tried attacking Ento, but the lady defended her. Deen was jealous. She wanted to be the one to protect Erind. But she was glad that someone else was there for her. 

The lady continued eating the mutants. She got bigger and bigger. Red fur started emerging from her body. Hold up.

She was the giant werewolves too? 

Deen wasn’t sure why this Adumbrae was fighting the 2M’s. But things were sort of coming together. Also, that’s the third superpowered person with cloning abilities she’s seen. Deen wished she could make clones of herself. Then she could be with all of her teammates.

Deen would have to ask Erind about all this later. She wanted to know why she was working with the Lady. Did she come to her first, or did they just run into each other?

A sinking feeling arose in Deen’s stomach. What if Erind and that lady had been working together for a while?

Erind initially mentioned that she went outside at night and eavesdropped on some 2M’s. Deen didn’t mention it earlier, but she was notified by her security system that motion was detected on the camera watching Erind’s window. Deen didn’t ask where Erind was, but she was very concerned. One of the cameras caught her leaving. 

Deen was glad that Erind eventually revealed the truth. But what if that wasn’t the truth? Why would Erind go outside? She wasn’t an extroverted person at all and seemed to want to stay at home. Deen had tried getting her to go out to dinner many times with no success.

What if the truth was Erind had been working with this supermodel lady and that’s how she learned of Eloycira? 

A gnawing sensation hit Deen’s shoulder as she pondered if her best friend was keeping secrets from her.