“Where’s the Antiserum?” Apex demanded, Goldshine enveloping his forearms.

  “What are you talking about?” one of the black-goggled criminals asked.

  Without missing a beat, Apex stepped and struck with bone-jarring impact, sending him cartwheeling across the ground, a gritty scrape marking his path. Coughing, he rolled to a stop dozens of feet away.

  “Nero!”

  “Anyone else wanna play dumb with me?” Apex asked, venom on his tongue.

  “Attack!” the leader screamed in retaliation.

  “Wait!” Another held her hands up.

  HUE was already in action. Two portals flew on playing cards, catching someone’s arms and throwing them into a mind-bending loop between the two cards. Rudy remained just behind Steve, protected by a wall of clay. Spikes of clay poked out and rammed into the black-goggled members, creating space. Blue beams of energy shot off from Hannah, sniping them in their legs and bringing them to a quick kneel. Magnus flapped his cape, but nothing happened.

  “Back off!” one of the opposition boomed, a sound wave blasting HUE back several feet. The chickens at their feet ascended like a pile of leaves thrown in the air, squawking in protest as they flapped their way down.

  “That was the guy I told you about from the parking incident,” Steve pointed out, dirt armor growing over his body. “Powerful shouts. I think they called him Chanter.”

  “Recognize any of the others?” Hannah asked. “Pete’s not here. But I’ve also never seen him without a ten-gallon hat, so he could be harder to recognize.”

  The earth rolled under them like it was whipped and each of the HUE members stumbled, quickly regaining balance thanks to posts of clay holding them up. One of the enemies started flying, her hair whipping as she dashed forward with fists out. Apex stood his ground, holding up Goldshine infused gloves and tanking the attack without sliding back an inch.

  “Chanter?” the opposing leader cued.

  “I don’t wanna hurt Flo.”

  “Wait! Stop!” A girl in black goggles waved spastically. “Apex, it’s me, from the vault! Atomic! We’re with EUE!”

  Gripping tightly to Flo as she tried unsuccessfully to pull away, Apex looked over at Atomic. Narrowing his eyes, his lips sat flat in disappointment.

  “Don’t play with me. Are you really EUE?”

  “Yes! I’m their leader, Predator!” The man stepped forward and held up an identification card. It looked identical to the ones Apex was shown in the vault, with the name ‘Predator’ written on it.

  Frowning in distaste, Apex looked at Flo hovering angrily in front of him.

  “So we’re not fighting?”

  “The Underground is our enemy,” Predator said. “Let go of Flo, she won’t hurt anybody.”

  “Don’t trust them, Apex! I’m certain that big guy is the one that attacked Sami and me at the parking lot!” Steve pointed.

  “You attacked first! We were just coming to check it out!”

  “No, you attacked first when your people destroyed part of HUE Headquarters!”

  “That wasn’t us!” Predator insisted. “That was the Underground!”

  Cautiously, Apex released one arm and Flo pulled back sharply. She didn’t look like she was rearing for another assault, so Apex let her go fully and she flew back to gracefully land next to Predator.

  “You came to the Underground wearing black goggles?” Magnus asked. “That’s a bold choice. Were you intending to sneak in undercover?”

  “You’re the one wearing a neon orange suit!” Chanter pointed out loudly. “I’m not taking fashion advice from you.”

  “It wasn’t fashion advice!” Magnus said, annoyed.

  A blue streak of high-powered energy fired into the air, and eyes turned to Hannah.

  “Everyone shut up for a second while I clear this up. You’re not with the Underground?”

  “We’re the Equality Unification Entity!” Predator said, presenting them. Turning his neck, he realized his second in command had yet to stand, groaning on the ground in pain. “How badly did you hurt Nero?”

  “He’ll be fine. Eventually,” Apex said.

  “I said be quiet!” Hannah snapped. Chickens gathered at her feet. “Why are you in Indus? We’re here to raid the Underground.”

  “We’re here for the same reason. These criminal scum have got to go and stop ruining our name,” Predator claimed.

  “You could probably do that just by wearing something other than black goggles,” Rudy pointed out.

  “It’s our uniform!” Flo replied indignantly.

  “So are we going to team up?” Hannah asked, ignoring the comments.

  Silence sat between them like a boulder. Feet shifted and a fetid wind blew between them in the darkness.

  “It wasn’t a rhetorical question,” Hannah said. “I’ve been after these guys for a while, we could use the help. Pete gets more clones with every encounter, he might have one for each of us by now.”

  “I don’t know if I wanna work with them,” Steve muttered.

  Chanter leaned in close to his allies, bringing a hand over his mouth in secrecy. “How do we know we can trust them?” he yelled.

  “Chanter!” Flo snapped, then groaned.

  “We’ll be fine,” Atomic said confidently. “We’re here for the same result, albeit different reasons.”

  “Take off the goggles so we don’t get confused!” Magnus called.

  “Never!” Chanter boomed.

  “No, they’re right,” Predator said, pulling off his goggles to the shock of his allies. “If we want to do this right, we should make sure we know friend from foe.”

  Reluctantly, all the members of EUE took off their goggles, then looked to Nero on the ground expectantly.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’ll cover the rear,” he moaned painfully, writhing on the ground.

  “Right. Let’s go.” Apex said authoritatively, approaching the kiosk surrounded in steel.

  “Let’s go!” Predator said louder, sounding as though he was trying to take the lead.

  “Uhh, boss?” Rudy tugged on the back of Apex’s clothes.

  “Rudy, so help me God, this is not the time to bring up when you’re off work. You leave now, you’re fired,” Apex hissed.

  “No, not that, I’ve still got a couple hours.” Rudy checked his watch. “I just don’t feel good about this job.”

  “Really? Right now?” Apex asked, annoyed. The entrance was right there, mere feet away from them, and he was certain the Underground were scrambling to prepare themselves for invasion. Every second counted.

  “I just got a serious feeling that if we force this move to happen quickly, then one of us is gonna die.”

  Apex paused, turning to look at Rudy and scrutinize his expression. The man’s default was usually to move as fast as possible, and now he wanted to slow down? Was he trying to stall? No, Rudy was many annoying things, but he never once exhibited cowardice.

  “We’ll be fine, Rudy,” Apex assured him with a regal nod.

  “I don’t think all of us will,” Rudy looked exclusively at the HUE members, Apex included.

  “You got anything to go off of other than a feeling?” Apex asked. Naomi once floated around the idea of a potential mole in HUE. Was Rudy privy to information because he was on the inside?

  Rudy looked inscrutable, like he was fighting a decision within himself, and shook his head.

  “Pretty sure we’ll win. But I don’t think we’re all coming out of there, boss. We don’t know how many people are down there, what kind of traps they have set up, or even if they’ve already evacuated. We already lost the element of surprise, what’s the advantage of going now?”

  “What’s with the delay?” Predator looked over his shoulder as he placed a hand on the gate around the kiosk, rendering it into ash in a single explosive squeeze.

  “Just a second.” Apex held a powerful, shining hand up for patience and Flo flinched. “What’s this about Rudy? You’ve never talked like this before.”

  “It’s the odds. I’m reading the numbers and I’ve never seen them this bad before.”

  “The odds?”

  “My power. It can run tons of calculations on thousands of variables at once. Gives me risks of every situation, down to the casualty count.”

  “You’ve never described it like that before. Is that why you leave jobs early and no one gets hurt?”

  Rudy gave a lopsided grin, but remained serious. “I knew you would bother me after hours to run odds for you. I ran the calculations, and being forthcoming would have been a huge pain.”

  “And now?”

  “I never thought any of us would die before. Not like this,” Rudy said, pointing to the hole in the ground. “It’s always been small jobs before. The numbers say one of us doesn’t make it out. We should take that seriously.”

  Apex’s analytical gaze softened. This was the first time Rudy showed a real, genuine care for the people in HUE instead of treating them like colleagues of a dead-end job. In the face of real evil, real emotions came out.

  “I’ll take care to keep us safe,” Apex assured him.

  “Unless you’re the one that gets killed.”

  “You say it like it’s such a sure thing that someone’s going to die. The only people who should fear death are those in the Underground, and that’s only if they try to hurt us, first,” Apex placed a firm hand on Rudy’s shoulder.

  “I’m telling you it’s pretty likely.”

  “Guaranteed?”

  “My power doesn’t offer guarantees.”

  Apex jostled him confidently. “I guarantee we’re winning this.”

  Rudy pursed his lips, then nodded reluctantly. “All right, boss. Lead the way.”

  With the kiosk obliterated, Apex looked down the shaft leading into the Underground’s bunker deep below the earth. Firing Goldshine light into the hole, he was mildly disappointed to find that he couldn’t see the bottom.

  “Whoever can’t survive a big fall should go with Atomic to fly down,” Apex pointed at Flo.

  “Actually, I’m Atomic.” The hero raised her hand, embarrassed.

  “Point still stands.” Apex said, then looked up at Hannah in thought. “I think…”

  “Just get in there, or I’m jumping first,” Hannah said.

  “Oh, no you don’t! HUE isn’t getting the credit for starting this operation. Fully an Equality Unification Entity endeavor!” Predator boldly stepped into the entry and clanged against metal, grunting as his body flailed while he crashed his way down.

  The others hesitated, looking into the dark hole, now void of the sounds of Predator descending.

  “Are we sure that’s safe?” Magnus asked. Rudy shook his head.

  “Let’s move.” Apex took a confident stride and slid inside.

  ***

  Chester slapped every single device he owned, pacing up and down the length of his abandoned school bus. Glancing outside, he felt like something was prowling in the darkness, ready to pounce on him. He never should have let all of his chickens go. But he’d never experienced a power outage in Indus before.

  Positioned perfectly under two soft streetlights, his hideout always offered a surprisingly warm and comforting glow. Both died, and all his cameras were down. As the walls crept in, he heard nothing, and didn’t dare peek outside, unable to guess what was happening beyond his self-imposed confinement.

  Pulling at his hair, he ran to the back door of the bus and placed his hand on the handle. Gripping it tightly, the handle rattled as he trembled. Was he supposed to go out there without any chickens? Who was he going to help?

  Releasing the handle, he ran back to his screens. Maybe one of them would work now. All of his power banks were attached to everything he owned, desperate for anything to get even a trickle of charge. He just needed to know what was happening outside. A glimpse. A crumb of news. Was it safe? Should he head out?

  Nothing but dead screens and his balding, wrinkle-ridden reflection looked back at him. Looking out the window, he wondered what his chickens could be up to at the moment. If he was panicking, he could only hope they were protected in the uncertain times.

  * * *

  The Awakened were nothing but a bunch of feather-brained showoffs. They’d flap around like they were trying to steal the wind, and held egos bigger than a prize-winning rooster’s wattles. They come, they smash, they fly off, and everyone’s left picking through the rubble.

  Bach the chicken thought he had seen it all. He was ready for whatever would come from the atrocities of man within the bowels of the Underground.

  But there truly was no way to prepare oneself.

  Bach remembered the first brawl he’d been on the wrong end of. They called it “saving the city.” But he called it Demolition Day. Farmer Fitzwilliam’s best corn patch, flattened. Mrs. Higgins’ petunias, incinerated. And Bach? Pinned under a chunk of flying asphalt for a week, pecking at stray ants to survive. But it was also the event that caused him to meet the most honorable man to live: Chester.

  “Good versus evil” was all just noise. A big, screeching, earth-shattering noise. They didn’t care about the worms, the grubs, the honest dirt. They didn’t care about the eggs that cracked when the ground shook from their grandstanding. They only cared about their own images.

  Chester cared about the chickens. Housed them. Fed them. Talked to them like they were more than birds to be shooed away from a piece of tasty lint.

  The “heroic” Awakened were a flock of roosters, all puffed up and fighting for the best perch, never thinking about the hens they’re trampling underfoot.

  And the so-called “villains?” Just heroes who lost the popularity contest. All two-legged thunderbolts. They made promises and speeches, then left for others to clean up the mess.

  Because as much as others couldn’t see it, the game was always about destruction. HUE destroyed. The Underground destroyed. Freelancers destroyed. All in the name of “doing battle” with one another to stop their opposing ideologies. They were too wrapped up in their goals to take in the real outcomes. Destruction. The definitive reason for it all.

  Bach had seen more destruction in a single “heroic” clash than a whole pack of foxes could manage in a lifetime. They call it collateral damage. Bach called it his life.

  His life, and the lives of every bug, blade of grass, and honest chicken just trying to scratch out a living.

  But yet again, Bach had to witness atrocities never before put to pecks and feathers.

  Golden energy blasted around the scene, fighting dozens of the same enemy wearing a cowboy hat. Shining blue energy flew one way and a rain of bullets and burning acid flew back at them. His fellow chickens were caught up in the crossfire. Plumes of feathers, final squaks and fallen brethren filled the catacomb of the underground. Birds to the slaughterhouse.

  The same story played out as always. Awakened fought. Chickens died. And the world was destroyed around them.

  This time, Bach was prepared, his steps controlled as he simply walked away from the chaos. The earth rumbled and blinding energy streaked overhead, burning his tail feathers. Without even flinching, Bach found a piece of rubble.

  Nuzzling up against it, he huddled under and waited for another storm to pass. When the fake heroes were done playing their games, the true heroes would bury the dead and rebuild the coop. Not that they would ever receive the same thanks as those that broke it down.

  Never look up. Never cheer. Never believe a word they say. There was only Chester and living to fight another day.