The five ran into the house to see a horrible and confusing sight. The man that they were just questioned by when they left the house was now accompanied by two other men in Correctional Forces uniforms. The two men in uniform were pointing their assault rifles at Mr. and Mrs. Frewin, who were now sitting on the couch, scared.
"Kids!" Mrs. Frewin said, instinctively getting up from her seat.
"Hey!" The man out of uniform, Officer 1060, yelled at Mrs. Frewin as a dagger seemed to appear into his hand from nowhere. Mr. Frewin quickly ushered his wife back into the seated position.
"You five, stay right where you are. We're going to take these two into custody."
"For what?!" Akilah yelled with confusion and anger.
"That is none of your business." Officer 1060 put his dagger up to Akilah's throat. Akilah could feel immense heat from it, like it was burning inside.
"Kids, please listen to me." The attention turned back to Mrs. Frewin as she began to speak. The dagger came down as Akilah relaxed. Mr. and Mrs. Frewin turned to each other and nodded as their eyes began to tear up.
"What I want you five to do next run. Meet my sister in D.C. and tell her what happened. Me and Mr. Frewin trust her to teach you five what's next." Mr. Frewin wiped Mrs. Frewin's eyes.
"Hey, what about you two? Are you coming with us? Why are you crying?" Vida bombarded them with questions.
"Alright that's enough. You two, put them in the enforced handcuffs." Officer 1060 gestured for the two cops assisting him to handcuff the couple.
"RUN!" Mr. Frewin yelled at the kids as the two of them began to stand up.
The assisting officers ran towards the couple. On one side, one was engulfed in flames that protruded from Mr. Frewin's hands as the other was blown through the window by a snow storm that came from Mrs. Frewin's hands.
"If you're good for anything, detain the kids! I'll handle these two." Officer 1060 turned to the couple as the two officers recuperated.
The kids stood there, frozen in fear.
Mr. and Mrs. Frewin's attention turned to Officer 1060, who was now charging at the two of them.
Mr. Frewin shot a whirl of flames at the officer, but the flames were quickly outdone by a shield of knives, daggers, and assorted blades.
"I knew the government was teaching their officers spirit manipulation." Mr. Frewin thought.
"Watch out!" Mrs. Frewin directed cold air and moisture at the officer's hand, freezing it while he was still holding his dagger. The officer quickly jumped back.
"Damn it, to think you two were here the whole time. I'm going to get the biggest promotion once I bring your heads in." The officer smashed his frozen hand into the wall behind him, shattering the ice covering his hand.
"Kids, what are you doing? Ru.." Mr. Frewin had turned to the kids to tell them to run.
"Didn't your mentor ever tell you not to take your eyes off your opponent?" Officer 1060 said from behind the couple. He had stabbed both of them in the back. The couple were now both coughing up blood.
"I love you kids." Mrs. Frewin spoke through her blood soaked mouth. "Now run. Live" Mrs. Frewin directed a gust of cold air at the five kids, blowing them through the door frame and onto their yard.
"C'mon guys, we have to run." Akilah tried to talk through her tears as she tugged at the arms of her friends.
"You two, get the kids." The kids could hear Officer 1060 from inside the house.
The kids quickly got up and started to run as their peripheral vision picked up the two assisting officers running onto the street.
Quickly, the kids took a left into an alleyway. The officers quickly followed as they gained ground on the kids, but as they came to the end of the alleyway, they found that they weren't quick enough to see whether the kids took a right or a left. The two officers nodded at each other and split up.
The officer that got to the end of the left alleyway thought he heard something coming from the garbage bin.
Inside the garbage bin, the five teens were all hiding with tears in their eyes, but Hendrix seemed to be especially. He was hyperventilating as tears continued to stream from his eyes. He was holding the guitar that he had on his back when they were walking, it was Mr. Frewin's.
His breathing got louder.
"Hendrix, please calm down, he'll hear you." Vida grabbed Hendrix's arm as she continued to cry as well.
Out of nowhere, Hendrix stood up, throwing the lid of the garbage bin open with one hand.
"Put your hands up!" The officer pointed his assault rifle at Hendrix.
Hendrix screamed in agony as he raised his hand. Out of nowhere, guitar strings shot out of his finger tips, one going straight through the officer's forehead, coming out of the other side.
The four others were left shocked. Hendrix became light-headed, falling and hitting his head on the edge of the garbage bin.
When he came to, Hendrix awoke in the New York city train station.
"Finally, you're awake." Chase managed to show a slight smile through tired eyes.
The other three carried a somber mood as well.
"We're going to D.C.?" Hendrix asked.
"Yeah." Chase answered.
"How are we going to find Mrs. Frewin's sister?" Amora questioned with her head still buried in Chase's shoulder.
"We'll figure that out guys. You don't need to worry." Vida said confidently. "We have to live on, remember? That's what Mr. and Mrs. Frewin wanted."
The group started to look at each other, putting shoulders on hands and giving reassuring, yet still somber smiles to each other.
The train arrived at the station. Above the doors, it said "TO WASHINGTON D.C." in yellow. The kids got on the train with nothing but the things they had on when they went to the grocery store.
The train ride was 3 hours and 32 minutes long. It felt longer to the five. They were able to get seats next to each other when they bought their tickets at the kiosk, which was a relief since they didn't want to cry while sitting next to strangers.
"What are we going to do once we get there?" Hendrix asked Vida who sat in the window seat next to him.
"Probably ask around." Vida said as she continued to stare at the window.
"You'll be alright, right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. We'll be fine." Vida smiled again, but Hendrix didn't buy it.
"You're alright, right babe?" Chase said as he talked to the face that was still buried into his hoodie.
"No. Hold onto me a little longer."
"You don't even need to ask for that."
Akilah sat at the very end of the group, in the aisle seat. She drank from the soda can that the attendant gave her as she tried to read the book she picked up from the station store and forget about the day's events.
Cities passed. So did forests, rivers, and people, so many people. They thought about what Mr. and Mrs. Frewin had taught them. It finally sank into them what they were really saying. This government was hiding their natural potential from them. And that same government had killed Mr. and Mrs. Frewin for telling them that fact. A certain kind of hatred grew inside the five teenagers. It was the strongest feeling any of them had felt in their lives. Over those three hours, the feeling grew, slowly replacing the sadness they felt. They didn't have to ask each other if they felt it, but they knew that their friends felt the same exact way.
The train came to a stop. None of them had slept, except for Amora who was still covered in Chase's hoodie. He woke her up when the doors opened.
The five children exited the train and got onto the platform in front of it.
"Where are we going to go now?" Amora asked the rest of the group.
"We'll ask around for someone with the last name Bandović. That was Mrs. Frewin's last name." Akilah said before she was interrupted by a female voice.
"No need. Are you guys here on Sierra's orders?" A woman with bright green hair walked up to the five kids. Her face was pierced with what seemed like a million piercings and her muscular body was covered in tattoos. She wore a patched vest and leather pants.
"Heh, you kind of look like Hendrix." Chase pointed to Hendrix's bright pink dyed hair, his band tee and his patched pants.
"No, he looks like me, c'mon now." The woman ushered the five to walk with her, which they did.
"Are you Mrs. Frewin's sister?" Vida asked.
"Who? Ohh. That's what you guys call Sierra? Well, yeah I'm Mrs. Frewin's sister, my name is Alex. Did Sierra and Jaden give you guys names or do you guys still go by your government numbers?"
"This is Hendrix, Vida, Amora, and Akilah. I'm Chase!" Chase smiled through his tired eyes. The kids' morale was slowly going up after being met with what they thought was pure luck.
"Oh, amazing. Those are stupid." Alex looked disappointed. She put two fingers on the bridge of her nose. "God, Sierra. You're so bad at these kinds of things."
Alex walked with the kids until they reached the parking lot, where a run-down red van was waiting for them.
"Alright, in the car we go, I'll drive," Alex said, circling the keys around her finger.
"Where are we going?" Vida asked.
"To the compound. God, Sierra didn't tell you guys anything. So disappointing." Alex said as she unlocked the car.
The five kids got in the car. They immediately noticed how old it was. It wasn't messy, per se, but it was definitely run-down, just like the outside of the car had silently told them.
The ride was short, but eventful.
"C'MON YOU FUCKING IDIOT, MOVE!" Alex screamed out the driver window of the van as she slammed down on her horn.
"Ms. Alex, I think you should relax a little." Amora said shyly.
"Oh, don't call me Ms. It makes me feel old. Well, anyways, here we are. This'll be your new home until you guys piss me off."
The van pulled into an abandoned warehouse. It was surprisingly large, it must have been home to a big industrial facility. The six of them got out of the car and were greeted by a smaller woman with jet black hair styled into a bob. She smiled eagerly at the children.
"Oh my god! You five must be Sierra's kids!" She jumped at them and gathered them into a hug.
"Don't suffocate them to death, Bloom."
"Your name is Bloom?" Chase said sarcastically.
"Do we have a problem?" Bloom's face turned into a sort of creepy smile as she directed her attention at Chase.
"No ma'am, he's a little slow, don't mind him!" Akilah shoved Chase into the ground to get him to stop talking.
"Alright then! Well, as you heard, my friends call me Bloom! That grumpy woman over there is my girlfriend, Alex. We run this place together. It's like a school but for people that want to learn more about Spirit. We also house everyone that knows about the secret of Spirit and wants to help the cause in any way. We're sort of a rebel house. Now, remember, don't tell anyone what we do here. To the outside, we look like a bunch of vagrants bumming out in an abandoned warehouse."
The five children looked at each other as they remembered that Mrs. Frewin said the same thing to them. Bloom noticed their faces change.
"I'm sorry about Sierra. Alex may not show it, but she's just as sad to lose her sister as you guys are. If you guys ever need anyone to talk about it with, I'm here." Bloom smiled. Her smile turned infectious as the children's hearts lightened.
"Come on, we'll get you rested in your new rooms." Bloom turned around and gestured the kids towards the door.
"RoomS? Plural?" Akilah asked, astonished. The group all shared one room back at the Frewin's.
"Well, yeah. This place has hundreds of rooms for the workers that used to stay here."
"I offer to share a room with Amora. We can save more rooms that way." Chase raised his hand as Amora got wide eyed.
"The hell you do!" Amora and Akilah attacked Chase from both sides with a single punch. Bloom found the banter amusing.
The group entered the compound where they were met with the sight of about two dozen people. They all looked at the group of kids, then looked at Bloom for answers.
"Hi everyone! These are Jaden and Sierra's kids. I hope that you guys can let them get comfortable as quickly as possible!" Bloom announced. The crowd warmed up, smiled, and waved.
The children then followed Bloom down what seemed like a maze of hallways until they met Alex at the entrance of a hallway that said "Dormitories".
"Get settled, then meet me in the gymnasium in 10 minutes." Alex said as she walked away.
"There's a gym?!" Akilah said, once again astonished.
"Yeah, haha. You'll get used to how much we've put into this place over the years." Bloom said while smiling.
The kids fought over their rooms until they finally decided which ones they were fine with. Some of them had name tags plastered on the front door of them. Some of these names were written in torn newspaper while others were written with dripped paint.
The five then began their journey through the maze of hallways as they all simultaneously realized no one had told them where the gymnasium was. After an extra five minutes, they stumbled upon a large door that said gymnasium above it, which they all promptly rushed into.
"You're late." Alex said as she leaned against the wall opposite of the door.
"Nobody told us where the gym was!" Chase said frustratingly.
"Oh.. Yeah." Alex smirked.
"Well, anyways, Sierra told me to start where she left off with you guys when you got here."
The group became somber once again at the sound of Mrs. Frewin's name.
"No time to be mopy over a death, it won't bring them back." Alex stepped away from the wall. "Something you CAN do is get back at the people who did that to them."
The kids' interests were piqued.
"Spirit is mainly used for combat by the Correctional Forces these days."
"Like the officer with the knives." Vida connected that moment to now.
"Hm. So his Mode was knives? Interesting. Now, Jaden and Sierra, oh sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Frewin were killed by an oppressive government that doesn't want us to know the truth because it would scare their power. Not only that, they torture people who openly disagree with any of their rules. Have you ever thought about why we don't know our own fucking leader's name?"
The five children stayed quiet as they thought amongst themselves.
"Right. All we know is that there are three of them. So are you guys going to just sit back and mope or are you going to fight back against the people that killed Jaden and Sierra."
Alex's words rallied a vengeful spirit in the five children.
"I'm ready." Hendrix said those two words were accompanied with the most frightening face Hendrix had ever made.
Elsewhere, back in New York City, Officer 1060 was on a video call with the head of the Correctional Forces.
"I understand you have a major update?" The man on the screen said. His voice was deep and grumbly.
"Yes sir. I took down two owners of a local orphanage. They were passing on the knowledge of Spirit onto the children they were fostering. After further investigation, I believe they were the descendents of Vlasta and Mandla." This surprised the man on the screen, who came into view of the camera.
He was wearing a wooden mask with nothing but holes for eyes. His messy mop of black dreads covered most of the top half of the mask while his military style cap covered the very top of his head.
"Correctional Advisor, what's our next action?" Officer 1060 asked.
"Send a message to any and all offices within the North American sector of the Correctional Forces. Do NOT make the search public information. Any leakage of information should have the source tracked and dealt with accordingly. Once you have a general location of the fugitives I'll join further endeavors. They have probably joined the larger underground network of Spirit users, afterall. We'll kill them even if it's the last thing we do."