Rise Of The Black Ranger

Twenty minutes after the masked figure had left, many of the groups had split off into their own groups, Luna talking with Shade and Alexis, while Dillon spoke with Axel and Ziggy who were somewhat close proximity to Simon as they talked about what had happened in the arena.

“Seeing dad act like that in the arena earlier, It’s terrifying,” Dillon said as the scream of the figure came back into his mind prompting him to shake his head.

“You're telling me, there was so much blood…” Ziggy replied.

“I was lucky enough to convince him not to kill it” Axel commented as he glanced back to where Shade and the others were.

“At least you did it, I don’t think I would have been able to listen to those screams any further” Dillon added with a mutter.

“It's kinda worrying to think what he would do to someone if anyone he cared for was harmed by them.” Gil adds, “I mean I was part of that thing beforehand and he did that.”

“Just imagine if all of you were gravely hurt by someone I don’t think there would be anything left of that individual,” Axel said with a shudder.

“I think we're all in agreement that if that happened, it would be terrifying,” Dillon said as they nodded in agreement.

“I’d be more worried for one other person we used to know. If Alex finds out what he did to his younger brother in the past,” Simon responds shaking for a moment, “If he ever finds out about that may god have mercy on that man's soul, because he sure as hell won’t.”

Dillon looked at Simon with wide eyes before one word came out of his mouth, “What?”.

“Wait a minute he has a younger brother?” Axel asked curiosity lacing his voice as Ziggy immediately asked afterword “And for one what happened to him?”.

“Yes he had a little brother… and I don’t want to talk about it,” Simon responds, “let's just say… Alex’s death hit him hard.”

“Oh…I will not pry then” Dillon replied as Ziggy nodded in agreement, “Neither will I seems like a pretty sore spot” Axel added.

“Might be an idea you don’t at least for now,” Simon responds looking over his shoulder at Shade.

“Noted Simon” Dillon replied as he did the same.

“Dillon… a word in private with both of you,” Shade’s voice rang out inside Dillon’s head.

“A-alright dad” Dillon replied to Shade before walking towards him while the voice chimed in again, “Bout time I was getting bored”.

Shade only nodded to Dillon before walking towards the main entrance to the arena gesturing to a door in the wall as he opened it, and walked inside.

Dillon followed him through the door before the voice said something again, “Dillon let me take over”.

“Really?” Dillon said with a low whine as the voice replied, “yes really now do it, you big baby”.

“Fine…” Dillon said with a mutter as his eyes rolled into the back of his head while the rest of his body began to writhe in place before stopping the boy's eyes going back to where they were but were changed to a glowing red before he immediately began to stretch as he spoke out loud, “Oh that’s so much better…”.

“I can bet you know what I’m going to ask.”

“Probably but go ahead I’ll answer it” the voice replied as he looked at Shade.

“Okay then. Who or what the hell are you.”

“That's a little complicated but here we go” the voice replied before adding, “You can consider me the Dillon before all of this before he met you, Ryka, and the others”

The voice then continued as he said, “All In all you can call me Jason since Im a manifestation of who Dillon once was before his brain got scrambled and got amnesia as well as one of the things that came out as separate identity or being or separate personality if you're being technical about it,”.

“What?” Jason heard Dillon say before shaking his head in response, “I’ll try to explain it to you more later Dillon just listen”.

“Alright…” he heard Dillon muttered before he continued, “I also act as something of a safety net for Dillon especially when it comes to his memories because every single time he started experiencing a lapse of his memories returning I would stop it and your probably wondering why you would you stop that Jason, well if I didn’t your adopted son would most likely succumb to a fatal aneurysm and we both know neither you nor I want that”

“Other than that in comparison to him I remember everything but I can’t just force the memories to come back it needs to be a slow burn because he’d most likely start to have a meltdown or said aneurysm from said memories coming back if not that just a bad nosebleed and a lot of rest”.

Dillon while hearing this just shocked to hear what seemed to be himself talking about this with his dad but he didn’t know what to say so he elected to stay silent.

“I think that’s all I have for that question anything else you want to ask?” Jason asked Shade as he looked at him with a curious look on his face before placing a hand on his head a small spark jumping into Dillon’s head before looking back at him.

“Jason… I’ve blocked Dillon off for a bit. Now… I want the full explanation, because I know your hiding some very important information from me.” Shade stated looking down at him.

“Back when Dillon or we lost our memories our mind was fractured splintered off into different facets of our mind some stuff remained in place and some didn’t and the stuff that didn’t remain funneled into my existence coming into being,” Jason said to Shade

He then took a breath and continued “I remember the first day we woke up in Equestria but not too long after we were captured by the robots and woke up In a facility I believe it was one of those you were talking about with Dillon and the others we were there for three months while they experimented on us and other children they implanted something in my head that whenever I wouldn’t comply with orders they would take control they forced me to kill the other kids”

Jason just bit his lip for a moment before continuing “They forced me to kill my friends luckily after I got out I took it out of my head though but the thing that screwed with me the most was that the people who conducted the experiments were humans,” Jason said as he moved his hair to show a scar and barcode below it.

“This continued in those three months until something happened the facility was in chaos for some reason and our cells opened we took the chance and ran and one of the rooms we had passed had my Morpher and my weapons but once I looked I was pushed inside and the hallway was bombarded with gunfire I couldn’t do anything but watch as my remaining friends were gun downed in front of me I was scared but the anger and hate took over and once I grabbed my weapons I just ran out of the room and began slaughtering them”

“I could only see red as the walls in that place were stained with blood until all the there was left was the last scientist the only one alive in that facility I didn’t hesitate though and I cut her down in that next moment I was walking out of the facility and what I was greeted with was weapons pointed at me by Scott and Flynn our blue and red rangers and Knila my sister the pink ranger they didn’t recognize me but Knila did if it wasn’t for her I neither Dillon nor I would be here right now”.

“Safe to say after I was in that place I lost part of my humanity” Jason said before saying “And that guy that scrambled our brain he’s most likely stalking in the shadows around the forest or near the castle to finish us off or capture us”.

“I don’t show Dillon those memories because I don’t want him to relive them and I think it’s better that way because I don’t want him to end up like me” Jason finished before looking back up to Shade and adding, “If you want more information that facility Is most likely still there and the data it holds is probably still intact”.

“Do me a favour. Keep him away from that place if you can.” Shade responds, “It will be better for everyone if they don’t go looking for it.”

“I was planning on not letting him go there anyway, at least we agree there” Jason replied.

“If I find that place, and find anything or anyone there still… I’m wiping both them and it from the face of this world,” Shade responded, not even hiding the anger in his voice. He then stopped taking a single deep breath. “One last question and I hope I’m wrong. Did you see the logo for the group that did all this?”

“It was a glowing eye…” Jason slowly replied

“If she had anything to do with this… she’s got a fate worse than death coming to her.” Shade responded, “do you know what any of the people experimenting on you looked like?”

“No when they planted that thing in my head every time I looked at them their faces would be obscured by that eye symbol, it would hurt If I looked at them for too long” Jason responded before adding, ”A lot of what they did was fuzzy especially when they used the chip to make me listen to them”.

Shade stopped for a moment before looking back to Jason. “Is that chip still active?”

“As I said before I was able to get some of it out of my head but not all of it if I did It would have killed me, it isn’t active but there’s still the risk of them reactivating it,” Jason said as he rubbed the part of his head where the chip was planted.

“Okay… You may not like what I am about to say, but do you want me to try using my powers on the chip. I might be able to modify the chip's programming or change who can use it… but I can't be sure that it won’t cause you some discomfort.”

“If it can stop them from using it against me and Dillon then go ahead, I won’t stop you” Jason replied as he moved his hair to show where the chip was.

“Okay. If it starts to hurt tell me to stop okay,” Shade responds as his right-hand moves towards where Jason had told him the chip was his hand phased through his head before resting on the chip a black spark moved down his hand before hitting the chip.

Jason feeling the spark hitting the chip tightly clenched his right fist as he felt a combination of discomfort and stinging pain ring out from where the chip was.

Shade paused looking at Jason checking on him, “You good? Do you want me to stop?”

“No I’m good, I've felt worse…” Jason replied as he took a breath.

Shade didn’t respond nervously looking back to where his hand was sparks constantly moving down his arm into the chip, as Shade mentally began modifying the code the chip inside his head slowly beginning to shift and change, what felt to be an ovel in shape began to change in shape ever so slightly as a red glow in a shape of a eye was seen under Jason’s skin.

Jason just let out a low groan of discomfort as he attempted to ignore the chip’s change in shape as his left hand just attempted to grab out at something to squeeze before he grabbed onto to Shade’s.

“We’re almost done okay. I just need a few more seconds okay,” Shade calmly said in a comforting tone, as the light began to pulse slowly before fading, “Your doing very well.”

“Thanks…I try” Jason responded before he bit down on his lip to distract himself from the discomfort and pain.

After a couple of moments, a Shade saw flashes of Jason which seemed to go by quickly but the ones he was able to notice were ones where Jason was locked in a cell, strapped onto a table, and in a testing room on the floor with blood dripping from his nose, eyes, and mouth the boys scream could be heard as he saw multiple people around him the person doing it to him was an unfamiliar robot that had a sadistic smirk on his face it, he had pulsing blue energy flowing up his arm and legs and blades that protruded out of his fingers and shoulders any other detail was shrouded by darkness,

But the others that could be seen were mainly humans in lab coats with notepads just writing down what they were seeing and some holding similar smirks to the robot but out of all of them Shade saw one that he know far too well as a familiar voice could be heard saying in a cold, uncaring voice, “How are you feeling HU-RPM-B1.”

Jason didn’t say anything before growling, “When did.. you…fucking care?”.

The robot kicked the boy in the stomach launching him back as he heard it yell at him, “How dare you speak towards her that way!”

“Calm yourself BL-495-1” the figure stated placing a hand infront of the robot before looking back to Jason, “HU-RPM-B1, Code 3112006.” As soon as she finished speaking Jason’s body stiffened up in response before his eyes went completely blank, “now. HU-RPM-B1. How are you feeling.”

“Im feeling fine….” Jason blankly spoke.

“Good. Now I want you to pick up that sword in front of you and slowly deal with the subject we bring in. Draw it out as long as you can. Is that understood HU-RPM-B1?”

“Yes..” Jason replied as he grabbed the sword as a second subject was brought on a rail on the ceiling the figure being bound by their wrist and they were slowly pulled along the rail and recognized him, “Jason?” the subject said out of fear as they saw him walking towards them, “What's going on why are you looking me like that?” the fear could be seen in their eyes as Jason could be seen raising the sword and swinging it down causing the second subject to let out a yelp of pain.

Following his orders Jason did what he was told as what he was doing to the second subject was drawn out for what seemed to be minutes on end and the second subject's screams were getting louder and louder until suddenly they stopped, blood was stained against the floor and dripped off the tip of the blade as it echoed in the test chamber.

Jason just looked at the body of his friend which was still breathing as it held multiple deep cuts on their body as one of the scientists came up to them injecting the second subject with something before they were dragged out of the test chamber Jason still having that same blank look on his face but when looked at closely tears could be seen running down his cheeks.

“Well done HU-RPM-B1. That is all for today’s test. Please enter recovery mode.”

“Understood…” Jason said before immediately falling to his knees before falling to his side on the pool of blood as he dropped the blade to the floor, as the robot from before walked up to his body and bound up his limbs, before placing a dogs collar around his neck with a chain holding him against a wall.

“Now HU-RPM-B1. Release code 3112006.” the cold voice calmly says as a recording of the test begins to play on a screen placed in front of Jason’s face.

Jason just gasped out as his eyes went back to normal as he saw the screen in front of him his eyes widened, “Wha-What is this?”.

“You did a good job today HU-RPM-B1. We’ll let you watch the results of your test today for the night. We will continue your training tomorrow.” the cold voice responds before saying “Enjoy the show!” as the lights went out in the room and the screen became much clearer as Jason was forced to watch it on loop.

“No no no, please don’t do this, please!” Jason could be heard screaming his eyes were forced onto the screen.

The flashes then stopped as Shade backed away from Jason, clenching his fists as he stops near a nearby wall before smashing his hand into the it large cracks moving through the wall with an impact point remaining visible. “I am going to make her wish I killed her back then.”

“What happened?..” Jason groaned as he stumbled forward.

“I saw one of the tests they made you do,” Shade responded walking back to Jason before wrapping his arms around him, “I’m so… so sorry for what they forced you to do.”

Jason just shut his eyes before moving his arms and hugging Shade the boy just kept his eyes tightly shut with a low whimper before Shade heard crying into his shoulder.

“It’s okay. Let it all out. I’m here,” Shade responded bringing his hand and wings around Jason as he slowly rubbed his shoulders.

The boy didn’t say anything as he continued to cry, his tears running down his face while he held onto Shade, the boy unable to say a word from his cries.

This continued for multiple minutes until he stopped his breathing turning into rasped breathes before Shade could hear him slowly speak through them, “Even after I got out of that place I had nightmares that I was brought back there, that they got me again, that they made do those things again…”.

Jason then looked to Shade before asking, “Am I a bad person?”.

Shade looked at Jason with a look of confusion on his face, “why would you think your a bad person?”

“I hurt them…I killed my friends and it kept happening over and over” Jason said before the last word went into a whisper.

“Did you ever do it willingly?” Shade asked.

“I..I don’t know…,” Jason said as he glanced towards his hand before seeing them covered in blood for a moment before they went back to normal.

Shade then placed his hand below Jason’s face lifting it to look at him, “I don’t think you are a bad person. But could you say the same for me?”

“I….no I don’t think your a bad person” Jason replied with a shake of his head.

“And why do you say that i’m not a bad person?” Shade asked looking at Jason.

Jason went silent for a moment before answering “I say that because for some reason a part of me trusts you, and you remind me of my…dad”.

“Sure thats not just Dillon’s current mindset rubbing off on you?” Shade asks as he rubbs Jason’s head.

“Well Dillon and I are somewhat of the same person so it makes sense” Jason replied before adding, “But you do remind of my biological dad though, your just as kind as he was”

“I thinks that more experience acting like a replacement for Simon’s disgrace of a father before I died,” Shade responds as he rubs the back of his head.

Jason quietly nodded in response as they stayed like that for a few moments before Jason spoke up, “We should probably head back and let Dillon take control again”.

“If you’ve not got anything else you want to tell me.”

The boy looked up to him before shaking his head in response to Shade, “No I don’t have anything else to tell you” Jason said before asking, “Can you unblock Dillon now, I think he’s starting to fall asleep in our head”.

“And here I was thinking he needed some sleep,” Shade responded with a smile as he places Jason back on the ground and letting Dillon take control back from Jason.

Dillon’s body began to writhe in place like before until he stopped the boy silent before letting out a yawn, “You guys finished talking?” Dillon drowsily said before stretching both his arms and tail.

“Yeah we finished talking. Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yeah it was a lot more pleasant than usual” Dillon replied before letting out another yawn.

“What were you talking about during my nap or is that just between you two?” Dillon then asked as he looked up at Shade.

“The best way to put it is he had a lot that was playing on his mind, that he needed to get off his chest,” Shade calmly said, “but it was nothing that you need to worry about.”

“I won’t pry then, at least you got him to open up though” Dillon replied before smiling.

“In some capacity I guess… although I could say you and him act pretty much the same.”

“Really?”Dillon said surprised before saying, “Well that kinda makes sense even though he’s a lot more snarky and deadpan compared to me”.

Not even a moment later Jason spoke up with a yell, “You’d be the same if you remembered everything!” Dillon flinched not even a second later before scratching his head nervously.

“Jason. Calm down,” Shade requested, “I can still hear you.”

“Sorry dad….” he could hear Jason mutter before going silent, “Did he just?” Dillon said in response to hearing Jason say that as he got no response, “Yeah that’s still gonna take a little bit to get used to…”.

“Either way. We better head back to the others,” Shade responds once again rubbing Dillon’s head.

“Right,” Dillon said as he and Shade began to walk out of the room and back to the arena.

Once they got back they saw that the others were still talking amongst themselves until Luna, Simon and the boys noticed them walking towards them, the first to say something to them being Ziggy.

“Welcome back,” Ziggy said with a smile before Axel came up and asked, “What did you two need to talk about that only required Dillon to be there?”.

“I think that is something that he should explain himself,” Shade responded with dismissive wave.

They then looked at Dillon who just sighed before saying, “It was just a talk about Jason…”.

“Aren’t you Jason though, I thought that was your original name?” Axel asked as Dillon just stood their in place trying to get the right words out, “I mean yeah it is- it’s kinda hard to”

Jason immediately just spoke up, “Dillon let me explain it to them and don’t give me that nonsense from before”.

“Fine, fine” Dillon said as they began to switch again the way his body was twitching and writhing in place, prompting the others to ask if he was ok.

“Dillon, are you ok?” Ziggy said as he waved his hand in front his brother's face before Dillons eyes opened back to Jason’s red, causing Ziggy to jump back.

“He’s about to go crazy again!” Ziggy shouted out in a whimper.

“No im not, now calm down you big baby” Jason spoke surprising the others from how the way he spoke his inflection changed his voice having a different accent compared to Dillon.

“One question why are you speaking like that?” Alexis asks as she looks at Jason in confusion.

“Because I'm Jason after Dillon got his brains scrambled his mind was fractured when that happened to who he was before aka me became a separate personality I hold the memories he can’t remember at the moment and I prevent him from getting a panic attack and a fatal aneurysm from too much stress from reexperiencing those memories”.

After a moment he took a breath and continued, “ also I didn’t fully manifest until recently but you’d probably noticed Dillon going crazy whenever his eyes turned red, that’s partly my fault so sorry about that”.

“....What?” Ziggy said before he smacked on the back of his head, “OW!”.

“Just think of it as two people in one body and we can switch to fit the situation!” Jason growled out before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Why’d you have to hit me though…” Ziggy whined as Jason just scoffed in response, “You’ll get over it”.

“Do any of you have a question if not I'm switching back with Dillon” Jason quickly said impatience could be heard in his voice.

He gets no response from the others who just looked at him in silence, “No questions, good” he then said before he immediately switched back with Dillon.

“That will always feel weird…” Dillon muttered before shaking his head.

“....The heck was that!?” Ziggy then shouted.

“He already explained it to you and I don’t think you want him to hit you again” Dillon responded.

“And besides I don’t think either of them fully understand it themselves,” Shade points out.

“I'm still trying to understand some of it myself,” Dillon muttered.

“Are you fuc- I’ll try explaining it to you again later…” Shade heard Jason say to Dillon in frustration before smirking toward Dillon who just gave a nervous chuckle in response.

“We should probably head out since the spar with Ziggy was canceled due to what happened earlier” Axel commented.

“Do we go back to where we were earlier or somewhere else?” Ziggy asked curiously.

“Thats up to what you. Unless you need to head back to your mother,” Shade points out.

“We don’t need to head back to the lake yet mom usually doesn’t want us back unless it’s late in the day” Dillon replied

“Then where do you want to go?” Shade asks looking at the with a curious look in his eyes.

“....Can we go back to the place where the tables were?” Dillon asked.

“I could do for some quiet it was relaxing” Axel then added as Ziggy gave a nod in agreement.

“I suppose we could head back there then,” Shade responds with a smile, “If you want to head back now we can.”

Dillon and his brothers just gave Shade a silent nod in response while both Ziggy and Dillon had smiles on their faces.

The group then started to walk out of the stands and down to the arena as everyone slowly walked towards the entrance of the arena.

Dillon and his brothers lagged behind a bit while they walked behind everyone the trio having blank looks on their faces as the others waited for them, Axel and Ziggy made it to the entrance first, but once Dillon took another step he stopped.

Ziggy noticing this looked back and asked, “Something wrong Dillon?” as Shade looked back toward them.

Dillon didn’t say anything only looking around, Shade noticing that he had switched with Jason before something close lined into the boy causing him to cough up blood before being thrown back into the arena.

“Dillon!” Ziggy shouted as they saw the boy being grabbed by his neck by a figure who had pink hair coming out from under the hood as the boy struggled in her grip, before a crimson glow covered the figure’s body as Shade’s leg slammed down on the cloaked figures arms forcing them the release Jason before she was thrown away from him.

“You okay Jason,” Shade asked standing infornt of him his eyes focused on the figure.

Jason let out a rasped cough, “Y-yeah im fine, think she might have cracked one of my ribs though”.

“Great,” Shade responded in a sarcastic tone as he covered Jason with a crimson glow his injuries healing almost instantly.

Ziggy and Axel run-up to the two as they checked up on Jason, “Dillon are you ok!?” Ziggy said in shock.

“Im fine but again Jason not Dillon” Jason muttered as he slowly stood up the group noticing that the figure got back up as he saw her hand tense up for a moment as Jason heard a voice that made him immediately clench his teeth.

“HU-RPM-B1!” the voice shouted as the figure jumped back as Shade saw the robot from Jason’s memory, “Been a while miss me?” said BL-495-1 as he gave that same sadistic smirk the Jason hated so much.

“You have a lot of nerve showing your face here you bastard!” Jason growled out as he glared at BL-495-1 his body seemingly shaking with pure anger and hate.

Shade then stopped placing his hand infront of Jason before slowly looking towards the robotic figure, “I’m going to give you once chance and one chance only to leave this place and never come back.” He then paused his voice almost seeming to change in tone, a tense pressure surrounding him, “but if you don’t leave now. You will never leave here in one piece.”

BL-495-1 after hearing this just looked at Shade in silence before bursting out into laughter causing Jason to let off a growl.

“Oh did I make you angry..not like you could do anything to me, you couldn’t do anything to me back then!” BL-495-1 said in a mocking tone before saying, “HU-RPM-B1, code 3112006” he said with that same smirk expecting something to happen but nothing did causing him to lose it.

“HU-RPM-B1, code 3112006!” he said it again, still not getting the expected response from Jason.

“Whats wrong your orders not going through to your chips,” Shade responds with a smirk as he looked at the robot.

“You have no hold over me anymore…” Jason said as the robot couldn’t see his face at first it was obscured by his hair before he saw nothing but a condescending smirk prompting BL-495-1 to get frustrated, “HU-RPM-P1 to me!”

The figure from before then appeared right next to BL-495-1 as Jason just looked towards her and BL-495-1.

“HU-RPM-P1, wipe them out!” he shouted as he pointed towards Jason, the figure seemingly resisting the order before BL-495-1 shouted, “Code 2776744” causing them to stop before he said again, “Wipe them out!” as the figure brought out their weapon and dashed towards them.

Shade however took a single calm breath igniting her horn as he covered the figure with his magic lifting them into the air. “Yeah… I’ve decided. Neither of you are leaving this place intact.” He then threw the figure in his magic backwards out of the arena. “I want you all to deal with him. But don’t kill him I want him alive if possible so I can ensure he suffers for a long time.”

“My pleasure” Jason growled out as he used his morpher to get back into his suit as Ziggy did the same, Axel bringing out his sword as all of them glared to the robot, as Shade teleported away after the figure he had thrown out of the arena.

“Well bring it on, I welcome it!” he shouted as the trio were about to attack him.

“Hey. Green. Catch!” a voice shouted out from the stands as Ziggy saw his axe being thrown down towards him.

BL-495-1 eyes widened as he turned to the stands where the voice came from, “Doctor?”.

Ziggy jumped up and caught his axe before looking at his newly repaired axe before smiling and giving a thumbs up towards the stands, “Thanks doc!”.

“Hello BL-495-1. I see you are still serving the false god, maybe you should surrender before the real Lord Shade comes back.” the figure responds from the stands.

BL-495-1 eyes widened before he clenched his fist, “To think you would betray us, once im done with these three your next…”.

Not even a moment later he shouted, “Subjects 7, 4, and 9 to me!” as three individuals around Dillon’s age walked up from behind him, and Jason specifically recognized one, “Marie?” he said in shock as the robot gained his smirk again, “How’s it feel to see an old friend HU-RPM-B1?”.

“What did you to them” Ziggy muttered as he looked to them.

“Oh we only improved them, only the best for true Lord Shade” the robot said as Jason looked towards them, Marie still looked human-like the other subjects she had short auburn hair while sharing metal plates and markings on her arms and legs the similarities end there with the other two subjects faces and hair being obscured by masks.

“Fun fact the other two were from tests from HU-RPM-P1 and HU-RPM-R1 respectively I’d say they did a pretty good job” BL-495-1 said placing his hands on the other subject's heads.

The boys don’t say anything as he looked at Ziggy before looking behind him and seeing Logan in the stands, “You know after Im done with you I’d say that little one up there would be a good test for you HU-RPM-G1” he said causing Ziggy to give him the same look like Jason, “You won’t touch him!”.

“We’ll see about that, now subjects attack!” he shouted as they ran towards the trio who went on the offensive, Jason going up Marie and his brothers against the other two while the robot walked around the arena and passed them.

Jason was clashing with Marie who was at every moment slashing at his face and neck at every moment the boy seemingly holding back against his old friend not wanting to hurt her while his brothers went no holds barred against the other subjects.

“HU-RPM-B1! Stop holding back! She has a code like yours we can use to stop her if you can restrain her!” the masked figure in the stands shouted down to him.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Jason shouted back before ducking a slash from Marie before swinging his leg above her shoulder and slamming it down causing her entire arm to go limp before sweeping her leg causing her to fall back.

Taking his chance he grabbed her by her still moving arm and placed her face-first on the ground with his knee on her back restraining her as she tried to throw him off as he shouted, “Make her stop!”.

“Just give me one second,” the masked figure responds holding a small bottle in her hand as she shook it a few times before punching BL-495-1 in the chest sending him flying backward into a nearby wall. “I wanted him out the way.” the robot just looking toward her in shock before he fell as he saw her shake her other hand a few times as she seemed to instantly move from his sights appearing beside Jason.

“Subject 7, Code 1658971,” the figure said as Marie’s body seized up for a moment before going limp entirely before the figure said “Subject 7. Enter full lockdown and recovery mode.”

Marie's eyes went completely blank before they closed allowing Jason to let her go and stand up as she was now out of the way before one of the other subjects was launched his way prompting him to grab them by the arm and spin them back towards Axel.

Axel using the handle of his sword hit the subject in the head with it before slamming it to the ground causing a crack to form from under it while Ziggy could be seen teleporting around the last subject and slashing against it with his axe before he appeared above them slamming down into them with his leg causing the subject to buckle from under the weight and collapse to the ground.

“HU-RPM-B1. Handle BL-495-1. You two bring the other two subjects here now!” the masked figure ordered.

“Whatever” Jason said as he jumped up to where BL-495-1 was while Axel and Ziggy just dragged the other two subjects towards the masked figure.

As Jason was walking towards the robot who just slowly stood up looking at Jason, “when did you get the stones to walk up to me like that huh?”.

Jason didn’t say anything he just converted his sword into the chains from before and grabbed him with it the robot attempting to break free before he felt Jason pull back and launch him into the air before pulling down with all his strength slamming BL-495-1 into the nearby seats before pulling him back and into the arena.

“You have a lot of nerv-” BL-495-1 attempted to say only for Jason to interrupt him, “Shut...the hell…up”.

“What?” BL-495-1 said confused before Jason slammed into him tackling him into the arena floor before he felt the boy's fist slam into his face the robot felt his face begin to dent from it as he attempted to get the boy off as he pushed his hand against Jason’s face before going further and grabbing him by the hair as he pulled back.

Jason used his sword to cut the hair that BL-495-1 was holding in turn shortening it as the robot lost his grip he had before as he shouted back, “Ziggy give me your ax!”.

“Why?” Ziggy asked before immediately complying after seeing a glare from Jason, “G-got it..” Ziggy then said as he tossed it over to him.

“Rememeber! Lord Shade wants him alive! He didn’t say in how many pieces though!” The masked figure shouts back to Jason, as he see’s one of the two remaining resting in the same state as Marie.

BL-495-1 just looked at Jason his smirk almost returning before it was replaced by fear, Jason was just smiling toward him his eye showing their glowing red as he raised Ziggys axe before slamming it down on his left arm.

The robot screamed as he felt pain run up through his body, “What's wrong what happened to you wiping us out?”.

“Damn yo-” he attempted to growl out before Jason slammed the axe down on the other arm prompting another scream of pain.

“Come on what happened to all that good shit you promised you’d do huh?” Jason said as he slammed his foot against BL-495-1 chest.
“Jason?” Axel said concerned as he looked at Jason who continued to slam his foot into the robot.

“You’ve done enough for now,” the masked figure responds walking up beside Jason pulling him off BL-495-1, “leave him as he is and let me handle the rest until Lord Shade returns… you should look after Subject 7.”

Jason just looked at the robot in silence.

“You can bring her mental capacity back by saying her subject number and the code M-16589718-6.” the masked figure responds.

Jason jus stepped off of BL-495-1 as he walked towards Marie as he heard the robot shout, “Where you going come back and finish it!”.

“Oh trust me. That would be the easy way out for you. And we have so much to do. BL-495-1, Code-” She began to say before pausing and grinning down at the robot.

His eyes widened in response as he looked like he wanted to scream, “Your insane”

“Oh… I think you’ve just made this so much better for yourself,” the masked figure responds. “BL-495-1, Code 0623353. Enter reprogramming mode. Release memory and coding data chip. Delay 30 seconds.”

“No, stop don’t do this!” the robot screamed thrashing on the ground attempting to move from her.

“Oh don’t worry. We’ll make good use of your old shell before we set you up in a new body,” the figure responds.

He then screamed as Jason made it to Marie crouching down he gives her a somber look before stating “Subject 7, code M-16589718-6.”

For a moment nothing happened but after a second he saw her head move, and after a second her eyes opened as she looked towards him, “J-Jason?” she whispered out.

“Yeah it's me,” Jason said with a nod as he gently lifted her head and placed it against his lap.

“What happened?” she asked as she looked up to him.

“You were just taking a long rest” Jason gently spoke to her.

“Did we get out?” she then asked.

“Yeah we got out Marie your safe” Jason then spoke as he heard her yawn.

“Im tired…” she then said.

“Don’t worry rest” Jason then gently said as she closed her eyes as whistled a gentle tune and not too long after she fell asleep in his lap.

Jason then stopped as he whispered, “Rest well Marie”.

As soon as Shade had teleported away from the group he landed just outside the arena as he looked down finding the cloaked figure who was pushing themselves back up from the ground their arm bent the other way before grabbing onto it and putting it back in place before looking towards him.

“Just stand down. You don’t have to do this,” Shade calmly says as he looks at the figure, “We can talk this out like civilized people.”

“The only thing I need to do is follow my orders nothing more nothing less” the figure replied.

“I know what they did you. You don’t need to fight. I can help you,” Shade calmly continued to say, “just put your weapons down. We don’t need to fight.”

The figure didn’t respond before bringing out a morpher that was like Dillon and Ziggy's before flipping the switch and transforming as the cloak was thrown away revealing a pink ranger with hair flowing out of the back of the helmet.

“Don’t make me do this. It won’t end well for you,” Shade repeated again his belt forming around his waist.

She doesn’t say anything only bringing out her weapons which looked similar to a sickle with chains on the bottom and wrapped on it with a steel ball swingling below it as she rushed toward him before swinging at him.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Shade responded before quickly transforming as the Parka Ghost struck the figure knocking her backwards while her weapon was knocked from her grasp.

She flipped backward before falling back to the ground and using her hands to stop her momentum before Shade saw her hair extend back and grab her weapons from the ground before placing them back in her hands somewhat surprising Shade as she noticed the symbol on his chest before her eye darted to her coat that was on the ground with a similar logo to it, “Wait why does he?” she about to say something but immediately shook her head, “No i gotta focus on the fight” she muttered to herself as she went to attack him again.

Shade didn’t move his hands resting against the chain on his chest as he let her approach him, while the figure sped up as she swung her Kusarigama's towards his neck in attempt to decaptate him only for them to phase through his body before Shade’s chains wrapped around both her arms binding them together, before yanking for forwards and kicking her legs out from under her.

Falling to the ground her hair extended again angling her legs towards his head before launching her up, her foot almost hitting him before it phased through entirely, “What!?”.

“Yeah… This isn’t going to be fun for you,” Shade calmly responded as chains wrapped around her leg pulling her back down Shade’s fist up as it collided with her chest.

She let off a loud cough as she had the wind knocked out of her the woman let out gasp in an attempt to breathe, as the chain wrapped around her other legs pulling them both together and pulling her body straight.

In an attempt to fight back she tried using her hair to grab but just like when tried hitting him with her foot it phased through, this time the chains seeming to twist and turn wrapping her hair between the chains pulling it tightly.

a grunt of pain could be heard from her as she attempted to fight back again but was left unable due to her hair, legs, and arms being held in place by the chains as she yelled, “Who or what the hell are you!?”

“You can call me Shade,” Shade responds calmly his eyes focused on her.

“Liar!” she growled as she attempted to break from her bindings, only for them to suddenly tighten further, beginning to dig in to her skin slightly.

The woman continued to thrash around in place as she attempted to break free only for the chains to dig into her skin more tightly causing them to draw blood. “Miss please surrender,” Shade asked again, as his sword formed in his hand. “Your going to hurt yourself if you keep going.”

“Why would I listen to you, you faker!” She growled out towards him as she continued writhe around in the chains, “I’ll fucking kill you!”.

Shade didn’t respond simply shaking his head as he swung his sword the blade cutting though her hair leaving it short as the figure watched it slowly fall to the ground infront of her before the blade cut across her chest sparks coming from her suit.

She let out a scream of pain as she continued attempting to get free again, “I’ll kill you, you damn imposter!” she screamed towards him before feeling him swinging the blade cut across her chest again causing the suit to spark up again before it disappeared entirely revealing a female figure underneath it. The womans clothing was completely shredded leaving her entire body exposed revealing a scar on the right side of her chest which had three parts that extended to the left side of her chest, beyond this he could that her back looked to have multiple deep cuts that looked to have been done surgically in some kind of operation along with a scar and barcode on her head similar to that of the one he had seen on Jason’s head.

The woman’s eyes were struggling to keep themselves open, her head fallen forwards as she hug in the air swaying side to side as he heard her breath slowly rasp in and out, “You bastard….” he heard her say.

Shade then placed his hand on her chin lifting it to face him before adding, “you say you are loyal to the cult that drag their gods name though the mud. Let me show you the truth.” Shade adds before placing his hand on her forehead, sparks moving down his arm striking the womans head.

Her eyes widened as she began to see images of him multiple as they began to flash by in her mind and for each one she saw a faint image of his symbol could be seen until the mark itself took over everything in her vision her mouth agape as she said, “Shade” before her head fell forward the woman going completely silent.

Shade then lowered her towards the ground finding her to be unconscious, her breath slow and steady as he draped her unconscious form over over his shoulder and a small doorway formed beside him leading down into the ground as he walked inside before it closed hiding both of them from sight.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs he was in a dimly lit room as he sat on the floor releasing the girls arms as the chain tied her wrists behind her back before Shade cancelled his transformation and took the morpher from her side tossing it to the other side of the room.

Shade didn’t say a word as he placed his hand on her head his hand phasing though like it had with Jason before as he repeated the process reprogramming the chip in her head causing the womans face to scrunch up in pain, however unlike with Jason Shade did not stop to check on her continuing the process with a care until he was done.

Once he was finished he paused placing the woman in his lap as she fell forwards her face against his chest while her breasts pushed into him, as soon as he was sure the woman was unable to fight back he placed a hand against her back before a spark shot up her spine, waking her up,

Once she opened her eyes she jumped back, as he was held in place by Shades wings, as he calmly said “How are you feeling?”

“What did you to me, let me go!” she growled as she attempted to get away from him.

“I showed you the truth of who I am,” Shade responded looking down at the woman infront of him, his gaze focused solely on her, as he forced her to look at his face.

“I…what..how” she slowly said with a confused tone, “If your Shade then who is the one I’ve been loyal too this whole time have I been living nothing but a lie?”.

“Tell me. What do you think the truth is?” Shade asked his hand preventing her from looking away from him.

She didn’t say anything her eyes darting around as she looked like she trying to find an answer but ultimately couldn’t as a result.

“Do you need help with finding out your own truth,” Shade responds his hand moving to the side of her head again.

She just looked at his hand with nothing but fear on her face as she saw it moving towards her as she closed her eyes with a low whimper, before feeling something rub itself though what remained of her hair, “there is no shame in now knowing what to believe… I have seen many creatures in your position, due to the lies they have told you all. Just say what you personally think from everything you know.”

She opened her mouth before closing it still not knowing what to say as she slowly began to shake her mind attempting to sift through everything that was said to be lies to her before she broke down letting out a sob, “I don’t know what to believe anymore!”.

Shade simply smiled and began rubbing her neck with his hand, “it’s okay. Who do you to believe to be true. Those who have spent years experimenting on you and having you hurt people without reason, or to try placing your trust in what you have just seen, and can currently feel.”

“Even if I know the truth why do I still want to follow him?” She asked as she looked at Shade.

“They have forced you for who knows how long to belive what they said to be the truth and take it to the core of your beliefs. To you, the very idea that you may have hurt so many innocent creatures for a lie cannot be true to you… if it is a lie… what would it mean for you?”

“That all i’ve done with those beliefs are truly nothing but monstrous that i’ve been following the wrong individual who instilled them in me…” She slowly replied.

“So… what is it you want to do now,” Shade asks still rubbing the woman’s head.

“I want you to decide my fate to whatever you see fit Lord Shade” she responded before adding, “Your more fit to decide what to do with me than I am with myself”

For a moment Shade didn’t respond before he said “before I decide on your fate I want you to answer some questions for me.”

She just nodded to him in response, “I’ll answer whatever you ask me”.

“First what’s your name?” Shade asked, looking down at her again.

“Its…” she went silent for a moment before remembering, “HU-RPM-P1….” she replied looking him in the eyes.

“No… I asked for your name,” Shade repeated, “you're not working with the cult now.”

“That’s what they call me, it might as well be my name” She replied.

“I’ll deal with that later,” Shade responds with a shake of his head, “but first I’m going to find some deeper truths,” Shade then stopped placing both hands on the woman's head without another word as HU-RPM-P1 closed her eyes not saying anything. Shade simply smiled back before he too closed his eyes, and upon reopening them as he found himself in what looked like a cell which looked be darkened the only bit of light being a red flickering light on the ceiling.

A moment later he then saw two versions of the woman, one in the corner clutching her head and whispering to herself and the other outside the cell with her hands on the bars with a bored look on her face, as he overheard the one in the corner speak in incoherent babbles before she got his attention when she said a specific name, ”Jason”

“Oh ignore her she’s gotten crazy from the isolation,” the other said to Shade.

“And you are,” Shade asks walking towards the woman outside the cage.

“HU-RPM-P1” she replied with a smirk.

“She’s the one that’s loyal to the monster the one who made us do all those terrible things…” he heard another voice chime in as he looked to see another one behind him.

“Who the hell are you?” the one from before spoke to the third while getting into her face while the third one just looked at her blankly. “Answer me!” the second shouted attempting to grab the third only for her arm to be grabbed and flipped over to the floor.

The third then looked to Shade before saying “If your looking for one to get rid of Id say get rid of her she is the part of us that still has loyalty to the cult”.
“Get rid of me, you can’t do that!” the second shouted as he pushed herself back up from the floor.

“That's all I needed to know,” Shade responds walking up to the second figure, lifting her into the air by the throat choking her. The second figure placed her hand on his in an attempt to get herself free as her legs could be seen kicking in the air out of her struggle.

“You need to be removed and you can’t do anything to stop it” the third said to the second who eyes widened in response.

Shade the paused before walking towards a nearby wall holding the second figure against it before seeming to push her right arm back as it seemed to shift and change before merging into the wall before her legs hit the wall as they stuck fast to it before shifting looking to merge into it as well until only her body and head remained as Shade stopped choking her, stepping away.

“I think you look better like that.” Shade responds looking at her.

“Bastard!” the second growled out towards him before the third snapped her fingers making the second stop speaking, “it’s time to let the adults speak”.

“Screw you!” the second growled out towards her, “You think im gonna let you do this, let you get rid of me, I’ll kill you!” she then shouted towards the both of them.

Shade then paused looking back at her, before punching her in the chest causing her to let out a pained cough from the blow as her head slightly hung low, before Shade grabbed her by the neck again, “let me make this clear. If you speak to us like that again. I will ensure the rest of your existence is a neverending living hell. Do you understand me?!”

She grit her teeth from feeling his hand on her throat before replying with a strained, “Crystal” before he let her go, before she felt Shade pat her one the head like he would a child. She let out a low growl towards the action but immediately went silent once he looked her in the eyes again.

“Good girl,” Shade responds with a smirk before walking towards the cage ahead of them.

“The one in there she’s hasn’t been together for a long time” the third said as she walked next to Shade as the second just scoffed as heard the one in the cell could be heard saying incomprehensible nonsense.

“She’s barely even able to pick up the pieces what are you even planning to do?” the second spoke before adding, “Even then look at her, she looks like she about unravel further than already has”.

Shade didn’t respond to her as his horn ignited before what looked to be a ball-shaped gag was forced into her mouth before a strange black rubber covered her head obscuring all her features as they heard a muffled protest come from her gagged mouth.

“If we want to hear from you then, and only then we will let you speak!” Shade shouted back as the second just angled her head down her shoulders shakily raising up and down it looked like she was crying.

The third then went up to her and went to the side of the seconds head, “it’ll be ok as long as you do as your told and behave it will be ok” she whispered before walking away from the second who shook in place as she pats her on the head the same way Shade did earlier, “Good girl”.

The second didn’t do anything she continued to sob in place as the third walked away and back with Shade as she placed her hand on the door of the cage before pushing it forward the door opening without any resistance as the third motioned for Shade to walk inside, he nodded at her leaving her at the entrance as he walked into the cage with the other woman.

“Little one. Are you okay,” Shade asks as he slowly walks towards the woman in the corner of the cell, kneeling down infront of her.

The woman continued to speak nonsense her body seeming to twitch every few seconds as her hair covered her face in a wild fashion until she looked toward him, Shade only saw her eyes before she only said one word, “Who?”.

“I’m a friend. I know Jason. He’s okay and I’m here to help you,” Shade responds holding a hand out to her. “Do you need some help?”

She looked at his hand in silence before looking behind him and seeing the third woman who, “It’s ok you can trust him”.

She didn’t say anything as looked back at his hand before she slowly reached her hand out and grabbed onto his hand as he pulled her up from the floor, “Thank..you, will I see him” she then slowly said.

“I can promise you that as soon as you feel ready to do so you can,” Shade responds with a kind smile, “do you want me to help you leave this cell?” She quietly nodded towards him in response as she gave him a smile in return.

Shade smiled as he slowly walked her towards the cell doors as he stepped out turning, “If you are ready to leave. You just need to take that first step. I can’t force you to.”

She immediately took a breath as she looked to Shade who continued to give her the kind smile from before until she decided to take the step, the woman's foot immediately going forward until it was out of the cell.

“It’s ok just one more step” she heard the third woman as she kept going until she was out completely the woman's eyes widened before tears began to develop in her eyes before she immediately hugged Shade.

“There you go. You are out of the cell and you don’t need to go back in. You’re free and safe now,” Shade said as he wrapped his arms around her.

She just cried into his chest as she held onto him tightly not wanting to let go of him, “Thank you” he heard her repeat over and over.

“It’s not a problem I’m happy to help,” Shade responds as he rubs the girl's head.

She looked at the second woman with a glare tears still in her eyes as she held onto Shade tightly, Shade noticed her reaction before saying, “What do you want to do with her?”

“She isn’t going to do anything it’s ok” the third said to her causing her to calm down slightly.

“Although… do we really want her kept like that… I think we could do so much better,” Shade responds.

“What do you suggest?” the third asked as she and the woman looked at him.

“Well… She is part of your mind… what do you want to do with it?” Shade asked.

“We could take responsibility for her and keep teaching her a lesson until she stops acting the way she does or we keep her in that wall as a punishment when she doesn’t behave and it keeps happening until she learns to coexist with us or she accepts the situation” the third replied.

“What do you think, do you wanna be trapped in that wall all the time or do you actually want to live in this body without your life being threatened, nod to me if you say yes” the third said to the second who after a moment continued to shake in place.

“One second. Let's make this a bit easier,” Shade responds before clicking his fingers, as the mask and gag shift allowing her eyes to become visible and allowing her to breathe through her mouth, “Now she should answer be able to answer easily, and you should be able to control it yourselves… and maybe having it cover her entire body if you want.”

The third nodded before going in front of her, “Now, do you accept the arrangement?” she asked the second who looked at her in silence before she felt the third grab her head, “Do you accept?’,

She was silent for a moment before she quietly replied, “Yes…”.

“Yes what?” The third asked expecting an actual answer.

“Yes, I accept the arrangement…” she replied.

“Good girl was that so hard?” The third replied rubbing her head of the seconds who didn’t do anything but angle her head down.

The second just stayed silent as the woman who was holding onto Shade just looked at the second woman with tears in her eyes before she heard Shade ask her something.

“Little one. Do you have a name for me to call you by?” Shade asks looking down at the crying girl in his arms.

“My name is…” she slowly said unable to say the last part for a few moments until she said, “Knila” as she looked back up at him.

“Knila. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Shade responds smiling kindly at her.

“Likewise,” she said replying to him.

“Still… I think you two both need names to go by,” Shade states looking at the other two figures.

The third went silent for a moment in deep thought before answering, “You can call me Arya and this one right here Tori” she said as she motioned to the second who didn’t do anything as she felt Arya grab onto her before she was pulled out of the wall, “Me and her need to have a talk you’ll see me later though” she said towards Shade and Knila before they saw her walk away with Tori over her shoulder as they slowly went out of view.

A moment after that happened the environment began to change into that of a hallway with white and blue walls with multiple doors that had separate names one each, two of which had Jason’s and Knila’s and two others that said, Scott and Flynn as an entrance could be seen behind them as Knila then looked to Shade and smiled.

“It feels nice to feel free again” she then said to Shade.

“Looks like your talking normally again aswell,” Shade adds looking at her, “How are you feeling Knila?”

“Honestly, tired yet refreshed at the same time” Knila replied before turning her head to see the other parts of the environment before seeing Jason’s door and placing her hand on it, “We’ll see each other soon hon” she then said as the door opened revealing not the room of an adult instead it was one of a baby, a crib resting against a wall instead of a bed.

“I feel like this is strange question to ask… but why is their a crib in his room and not a normal bed?” Shade asks standing behind Knila.

“Because Jason in some manner is my son, but not in the way that you think” Knila quietly replied, before she felt a hand of her shoulder, as she flinched looking back towards him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Shade askes looking at her with kind eyes, “either here or with the physical version of you?”
“Here is fine” she quietly replied, getting a nod from Shade as she gestured for her to start.

“Back when I being displaced I woke up in a room after what happened in the diner. My first thought was for my little brother, I tried to look for him but the only one I found was a single man in the room, just standing their looking at me. I asked him where was my brother was and he told me that he was already gone that his body was damaged beyond being saved. I asked him if he could be brought back, but was told that only his soul remained, he could save him but he would need a new body that could hold what remained of his soul.”

She paused for a moment a pained look on her face until she took another breath and continued, “I was pregnant at the time, and If i was displaced with it…” She placed her hand on her stomach, “it wouldn’t have survived the trip so even it hurt for me to do it I offered the body of my unborn child to bring my brother back.”

“Although. The little one couldn’t be used while still being in her,” a new voice responded, a voice familiar to Knila, as she saw a figured in a black trench coat standing in the doorway of her room.

“The man from before….” Knila whispered.

“Wait… thats the man who displaced you,” Shade said looking at the feature.

‘Yes.. it is” Knila replied as she slowly walked backward before hiding behind Shade.

“You still okay… he didn’t hurt you when he Displaced you did he?” Shade asked standing infront of her keeping himself between her and the man.

Knila didn’t say anything only shaking her head in response before she placed her hand back onto her stomach.

“Her child could not be used from inside her, I created a room for her to rest in and accelerated her body’s age till the child was ready,” the man calmly said.

“In other words…” Shade began to say looking at Knila.

She didn’t say anything for a moment before she whispered “He sped up the pregnancy so I could give birth to the child and bring back my brother”.

“After it was born he allowed to me have some time with it even feed for the first time and after I was done I gave my child to him”.

“Then why are you scared of him… it doesn’t sound like he meant you any harm?” Shade asked, looking at Knila in confusion.

“For it to fully go through me and him had to make a deal I accepted and he told me that sometime in the future he will come and take it from me, something that I do not have yet” Knila replied.

The man then walked towards the two of them before kneeling down infornt of Knila who flinched slightly as she look at him, the figure reaching up to his face pulling down a mask revealing a human face, he had black hair that was neetly combed over his head with bright green eyes. “I had originally came today to see if their was anything I could use for the payment from the past… but due to your current state I can see that is not viable at this time.”

The man then held a hand out to her, “Miss Williams, how are you faring after what happened to you.”

“I feel..better now that im not trapped anymore” Knila replied before slowly taking his hand.

“Thats good to hear,” the man states smiling at her, “while I am here is their anything you want to put forward to clear your debt in the furure, or do you want to wait until I need something fulfilling?”

Knila stayed silent, not sure of what to say for a moment before saying, “I’ll wait until you need something”.

“Okay then,” the man responds as he stands back up placing his mask back over his face, looking at Shade. “take care of both her and the child.”

Shade didn’t get a chance to respond as the figure’s body seemed to fade away leaving him and Knila alone.

The two were silent for a moment before Shade heard Knila ask, “Can we go now please?”.

“If you are sure you want me to return to face the real you,” Shade responds.

“Im sure” Knila then replied as he gave a nod before she added, “And again thank you for saving me”.

“You might not be saying that soon,” Shade responds, as his horn begins to glow but before he disappeared she reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek before she smiled to him as his body disappeared.

As soon as Satou had faded from Knila’s mind he opened his eyes and removed his hands from her head as it fell back forwards into his chest.

Her eyes opened and blinked a few times before she realized where she was and that she wasn’t wearing clothes as she attempted to cover herself but couldn’t due to her arms being bound as well as her legs spread around Shade’s sides, her face then going red.

“Are you okay?” Shade asked as he looked at Knila who’s head was against his chest.

“What happened to my clothes?” he heard her quietly say.

“I would say either you wasn’t wearing them when the cult used that code on you and the end of the fight left you with nothing to wear,” Shade responds wrapping his wings around her body to keep her warm, and attempted to cover her body.

Knila went silent for a moment her face still red before she asked “can you remove the chains on my body and possibly give me something to wear”.

“Depends. Are you going to try and kill me and Jason again?” Shade asks.

“No, I'm not” she immediately replied.

“...Knila… how much do you remember from before you woke up on my chest?”

“Everything, you bringing me back from the brink, before I was captured and turned to the side of the cult, and finding Jason after months of not seeing him when I was displaced, every last bit” Knila replied to Shade

“So I assume you are also aware of why you're currently in this position?” Shade responds by placing his hand on the back of her head and pushing it into his chest.

She face scrunched up in anger, “Yeah I understand but Im not gonna attack you or my son she isn’t in control I am, especially since the other is gonna help keep her in check” the latter half of her sentence sounding more upset than the former.

After a moment she realized what she had just said, “I tried killing my son, she was in control, my hand was on his throat I was going to….” the woman began to break down her eyes developing tears as she began to sob into Shade’s chest.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault, let it all out,” Shade responds taking his normal position in this sitation as he rubbed the back of Knila’s head slowly, “take as long as you need.”

She continued to cry into his chest unable to speak the only noise she could make were the sobs that came out of her mouth.

This went on for a few minutes as she continued to cry and after a little bit she slowly began to calm down, once she went quiet he looked down to see that her eyes were bloodshot and that she was attempting to take a breathe but kept choking up from her crying Shade hearing let out low gasps from her.

“Feeling any better?” Shade asks as he started rubbing her back his one of his hands the other holding her close to him.

“Yeah…Im feeling better” Knila replied before feeling Shade wipe the remaining tears from her eyes. After a moment she spoke again, “Can we just go now I just want to see him…please” as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Are you sure your ready to actually see him?” Shade asked again looking at her nervously.

“Yes,” Knila replied without any hesitation.

Shade shook his head as he looked at her, an unsure look in his eyes as Knila felt the bindings on her legs fall away, looking back to her before adding, “either way… I don’t think you can go like you are.”

She then moved her legs from Shade’s side as she looked at him in confusion before she then looked at her body again before her face went red, “H-how much have you seen?”.

“Do you want the honest answer or the one to make you feel better?” Shade asked, his response making his answer blatantly clear to Knila.

Knila just looked at him with a blush before muttering in response “Just be honest with me please….”

“I saw everything when I carried you down here,” Shade responds, his hand moving from her back as he accidentally pushed he chest towards his own, as Knila let out a squeak in surprise before the red on her deepened her embarrassment showing on her face in its entirety as she attempted to move away from his chest, “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“N-no worries, c-can you let me up now?” She replied with a stutter, getting a nod from Shade as he stood up before holding his hand out to her, the chains on his wrists disappearing as the woman slowly grabbed onto his hand before feeling him pull her up to her feet.

“Do you have anything I can change into so I'm not naked?” Knila then asked as she attempted to cover her body.

“That would suit you… not fully,” Shade responds “but I can at least somewhat cover your chest.” He then quickly switched forms into a human as he looked back to Knila finding himself to be taller than her, as her head rested just beneath his chin.

Knila immediately backed up from him in surprise as she noticed the height difference between the two of them her blush returning slightly before she shook her head to refocus herself, “And what would that be?” she then asked, as she saw Shade remove the jacket he was wearing as he handed it over to her.

“It might be a bit too big for you,” Shade responds, “do you want some help?”

She gave him a nod in response as he then helped her put the jacket on specifically by putting her arms through the sleeves and once that was done she zipped it closed.

“How does it fit?” Shade asked looking at her.

“It's a bit large for me but I can work with this” she admitted as she then adjusted the zipper a bit before she looked back up at him and asked, “Is there anything I can use to the cover the rest of me” as she attempted to pull the jacket down to cover her lower half.

Shade only shook his head in response, “I don’t have anything that could even come close. That jacket is the best I can do right now.” He then stops before saying, “either you use it to cover your body or wrap it around your waist and try to cover the rest of you. But thats up to you.”

Knila just gave a sigh in disappointment before she turned around and took the jacket off before attempting to wrap the jacket around her body so it would cover her lower and upper body and after a minute or two she succeeded with one of the sleeves wrapped around her chest and the rest wrapped around her lower body that just barely covered them.

She then turned around to face Shade as she asked, “Is this any good?”.

“You’ve got most of it,” Shade responds, “Though i can still make most of it out… and I expect if you try and move a lot will be seen.”

Knila just looked down at her body before turning her body slightly to see what he meant before feeling part of the jacket move slightly as she felt it riding up before she immediately pushed it back down.

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go out walking as that is. I have no doubt it will either start to rub against more… sensitive parts of of your body or get very tight very quickly,” Shade warned her with a unsure look on his face.

“I mean if you have a better Idea I won’t say no” Knila replied as kept her end on the jacket to keep it from riding up again.

“...Are you against being carried in my arms and hidden with my wings?” Shade asked looking at her, “I can’t offer you more to wear right now, but I can get you somewhere and try and get you something.”

Knila just looked down for a moment before Shade heard her sigh, “I’ll take what i can get epsecially if it means I can wear clothes that cover both my upper and lower body”.

“So you don’t mind me carrying you out of here in my arms and wings… I mean what if Jason see’s you like this,” Shade calmly states looking at Knila again, mearly turning her body an inch making the jacket she had wrapped around her tighten around her form in some cases looking to dig tightly into her body.

“It can’t be helped either I let you carry me or I look like someone about to flash a person” Knila replied as she attempted to adjust the jacket again.

After a moment she saw Shade’s form revery to that of an Alicorn again before he picked her up in his wings, the jacket instantly going tight again this time rubbing between her legs and squuezing on her chest, every part of her becoming more and more visisble at a glance.

She let out a noise from feeling what was happening and once she did immediately covered her mouth as she attempted to keep her mouth shut in an attempt to not make any noise.

“Are you sure your okay with this?” Shade asks looking down at Knila, her face was beet red as she stuttered out in reply, “Y-yeah im o-ok with this..” as she squirmed around his wings.

“Do you want to be carried without the jacket on… it is just going to tease you more if you keep it on,” Shade warns as he begins to walk forwards, as the jacket begins to rub again just as he said it would.

She went in thought for a moment before Shade felt her moving around before seeing her hold up his jacket the same blush on her face as she did so, “H-here take it back…”.

“Okay then,” Shade responds ajusting the way she was held in his arms as his jacket is placed over his shoulder, while his wings brushed up against her side and back.

Knila face only moved for a moment from feeling Shade’s wings around body as it looked like she was about to laugh from feeling his feather but she was able to keep her composure as she saw a stairway form infront of her as Shade began to walk up it, his feathers occasionally rubbing her body as they moved.

After a few minuites of slow walking back towards the arena, Shade saw the walls looming over the two of them, looking down at Knila finding that she was attempting to cover the more sensitive parts of her body with her hands, “You still okay Knila?”

She didn’t say anything before he heard her let out a squeak from one his feathers rubbing against her lower and upper body as she attempted to hide her face.

“Do you want me to put you down now if this this getting to you too much?” Shade asks once again looking to check on her, one of his wings gently moving over one of her breasts.

Feeling the wing pass over one of her breasts caused the woman to flinch from the feeling it before she shook her head no in response, Shade just shrugging his shoulders as he contiued to walk towards the enterece to the arena.

“Last chance to change your mind on going towards Jason like this,” Shade warns her as he stops just out of view of everyone inside.

“Im sure about this” she replied, but once she did she heard Jason’s voice, “If I get my chance to get payback on the asshole from earlier that d- Shade went to take of Im taking it, felt one of my ribs crack because of them..” she heard him say as her eyes went wide as she heard continue speaking.

“You ok Jason?” Ziggy could be heard asking the boy.

“No, Im sick of this crap, over and over having to deal with these bastards and for what, anything I do barley doing crap against it, I…I hate every last one of them!”.

Knila’s eyes began to water as they then heard Axel shout “Language!” before Jason could be heard yelling, “Oh shut up Axel your not my goddamn mom!”.

Right when Shade was about to go into view he could feel Knila tapping his shoulder as he looked down to see her on the verge of crying again, as he stopped looking at her with a worried look on his face, “yes. Is something wrong?”

“I’ve changed my mind take me somewhere else….please” she shakily spoke clearly hurt from what she heard from Jason as she saw him in the center of the arena before looking away adding, “Anywhere but here”.

Shade paused looking down to her before nodding his head before his horn lit up, teleporting them away, before reappearing in small bedroom as he moved Knila over placing her head back against his chest, “Knila… whats wrong?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment before whispering, “I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was, he hates me…” clearly hurt by Jason’s words.

Shade didn’t respond for a momment before placing a hand on the back of her neck slowly rubbing it, “well he does rememeber everything they did to him… and everything they made you do to him both before and today. He also has no idea it was you who attacked him today.”

“But what if he figures out that it was me, that I was the one that attacked him the one that almost killed him” she quietly asked.

“He knows about them controlling you and the others against your will… they did it to him and had him murder those he called his friends before,” Shade replied still rubbing Knila’s neck.

Knila didn’t say anything while Shade continued to rub her neck as she went into deep though and was like this for multiple minutes before she slowly broke down again her sobs breaking through her demeanor as she pulled herself into his chest as she cried into it, Shade lying himself on the bed and holding her close to him, as he placed a pillow behind her head, “Take as long as you need. But you’ll need to say in this room until we decide what to do with you. Okay”

It took her a moment through her crying but she spoke, “O-okay” she stuttered out before her she was overcome by her tears again, Shade sighing before covering the bed covers with his magic and pullinh them over the two of them, his arms holding her tightly, as he rested his chin against her head.

After a few minutes her crying began to quiet down and bit by bit she went completely silent Shade moving his head to look at her seeing that her eyes were closed with small streaks of her tears still on her face, she fell asleep.

Using the back of his hand, he wipes the tears away before making his body phase though Knila’s arms, pulling one of the others pillows into the space he had been as he climbed out of the bed before placing the covers back around her tightly, before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead, “get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”

He then turns and walks out the room slowly closeing the door behind him and placing a sign on the door before teleporting away.

Knila just squirmed in place on the bed as she faintly whispered, “love you…” as she snuggled further into one of the pillows.

As soon as Shade had reappeared he was standing back near the entrance to the arena, slowly walking inside as he remained invisible stopping just out of sight of Jason and the others.

“Hey Jason-” Ziggy could be heard before Jason was heard immediately snapping at him, “What!”.

“Yikes no need to be so hostile dude…” Ziggy said as he hid behind Axel who just shook his head towards the boy.

“What are you shaking your head for huh, think your better than me!?” Jason growled out before he felt the switch happening again only to have his fist hit into his face causing him to reel back clutching his face, “Mother fuc-”.

“Stop being a dick!” he heard Dillon shout in their head, “How did you even do that!?”.

Jason then felt the feeling like someone was bearing down in him, a shadow covering him, Alexis looking down at him, “just because your father isn’t here doesn’t mean that you can misbehave.”

Jason was about to respond before hearing Dillon say, “Dude Id recommend not saying what your about to say you won’t like what will happen I can just feel it…just say that your sorry”.

Jason attempted to say something before stopping himself with a sigh as he turned towards Axel and Ziggy and said in a mutter, “Im sorry…”.

“Apology accepted” he heard Ziggy say as he could still be seen behind Axel who just gave him a silent nod in response.

“See that wasn’t so hard!” Dillon said to Jason who muttered, “Dillon please shut up,” as he felt Alexis rubbing his head.

Jason flinched slightly before asking “What are you doing?” as he glanced up at her.

Alexis didn’t respond as she instead reached behind Jason’s ear and slowly began to rub it, “just teaching you a lesson before someone else does.”

“Wait what-” Jason attempted to speak but that was immediately replaced with random babbles and Jason thumping his foot to the floor.

Dillon could be heard laughing in their head as Jason lost his footing, falling into Alexis’s waiting arm as he held him in place with one while continuing to rub his ear with the other, Dillon then could be heard struggling to speak with his laughing, “Oh my god….you weren’t prepared for it at all, this is golden“ as he then broke down laughing again.

“Anyone else want to join in?” Alexis asks with a smirk as she looked at Ziggy and Axel gesturing to his other ear.

Axel just smirked before nudging Ziggy forward the boy stumbling before he was in front of Alexis and Jason the boy looked at Jason’s ear before a smirk could be seen on his face before he joined as scratched Jason’s other ear prompting the boy’s other leg to twitch.

“Oh this is evil and still hilarious either way!” Dillon commented as he continued to laugh at Jason’s expense.

“Do you want to join in Axel?” Alexis asked looking at him with a knowing smile.

“...Eh sure” Axel said with a shrug as he walked towards the three before crouching in front of Jason, Alexis moving her hand away from Jason’s ear and wrapping both of her arms around his waist to hold him in place, pulling him back towards her chest as Axel immediately began to scratch behind Jason’s ear as the boy let out similar noises to Dillon whenever Midnight got her hands on his ears.

“He’s definitely similar to Dillon in the aspect that he makes almost the exact same noise as him” Axel said with a smirk.

“You all enjoying being the first ones to make his experience this?” Alexis asks smirking as she begins to rub Jason’s belly.

“Im finding it hilarious so far” Axel replied as they saw Ziggy using both his hands to scratch Jason’s other ear the boy not saying anything and just having that same smirk.

Shade then walked up behind them keeping himself invisible before he said, “is this some kind of initiation to be in this band of brothers?”

The boy’s stop for a moment hearing him before looking around confused before Ziggy said, “Dad, where are you?”.

“Nearby… watching and judging you all,” Shade responds smirking at them, his hands next to Ziggy’s ears.

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all” Ziggy replied as he felt a hand near his ear.

“It does doesn’t it,” Shade responded as Ziggy felt his ear start to be rubbed by some invisible figure.

“I think we just might have to make this some form of initiation because this is just entertaining” Axel commented as he looked at both of the boys.

“You know seeing this from an outside perspective actually is kinda funny, I see why Midnight likes doing it so much” Dillom commented with a chuckle as he continued to watch.

Jason then faintly said, “When this is over….. i'm kicking your ass Dillon” before his voice just went silent as he was overwhelmed by the sensation again.

“You’ll try,” Dillon retorted with a chuckle.

After a moment of the continued scratching of his ear’s Jason stopped movingt as his eyes went completely blank Axel waving his hand in front of the boys face and getting no response, “I think we made him pass out”

“He really needs to work on his stamina,” Alexis responds as she stops rubbing his belly.

“I think that would be kinda difficult when something like that is sprung on you like that” Axel said with a chuckle as Jason’s limbs faintly twitched.

A moment later they saw Jason’s left arm move before it limply raised up and smacked himself in the face snapping Jason out of it and causing him to clutch the right side of his face, “Ow!”.

“There we go” Dillon then said as Jason just let out a grumble in response.

“Was that Dillon who did that?” Axel asked as Jason gave a silent nod in response before remembering where he was and trying to get free of Alexis.

“Am I that bad?” Alexis asks with a kind smile.

Jason just stopped before looking back towards her with an embarrassed look on his face before he attempted to cover it up with his hands, “I'm not used to this…” he said as he felt Alexis rubbing his head again.

“I’m sure you’ll get used to it in time.”

Meanwhile, with Ziggy who was unintentionally nuzzling into Shade’s hand before Shade stopped prompting Ziggy to snap out of it as he let out a sigh of relief before everyone heard him speak, “Oh sweet relief it’s over I can finally move of my own accord again” before he asked, “Dad are you going to stay invisible or are you gonna show yourself?”.

Jason meanwhile just gave him a look of confusion before asking, “What are you talking about?”.

“Dad’s invisible” Ziggy replied.

“He can do that?” Jason asked with a tilt of his head.

“Please I can do it aswell,” Midnights chearful voice responded as Ziggy saw two disembodied hands appear behind Axel’s ears.

Axel’s eyes went wide as he heard her voice before he covered his ears his face turning to one of fear than his usual blank deamenor.

“Awww… you’ve all learned,” Midnight groaned out in annoyance as her body appeared resting on Axel’s head, her hands under Axel’s, “but…” she said drawing her words out as Axel felt something moving against his ears, “you're too slow.”

“Oh no” Axel whispered before feeling Midnight's hand scratch his ears causing the older boy to fall to the side with his right leg twitching in the air.

“I have a feeling you lot like doing that a bit too much…” Jason muttered as he looked at Axel and Midnight.

“To be fair, I think they just like acting like young children,” Shade responded turning visible as he sat Ziggy down in his lap, rubbing his head, “So… how did things go here… the first question I have is… who are those three figures against the wall?” Shade asked pointing at Marie and the other two test subjects, as he quickly ignited his horn, Jason noticed that Dillon had seemed to be silenced ensuring he couldn’t hear what was being said, “Speak in your mind. Let's not let the others hear.”

Jason just nodded as he did what he was told, “The other two no idea most likely more recent subjects but the one right there that’s my friend, her name’s Marie she was in the same laboratory I was when I was still stuck in that hellhole” Jason replied before adding, “Guess they decided to turn some of the other kids into unfeeling killing machines and she was apart of that, I thought she died with the others but I guess either they placed her somewhere else since she’s still alive”.

“Is she the one I remember they had you slowly cut up and dragged out a room barely alive after some kind of injection before having you bound and watch what you did on loop for a night?” Shade asks.

“Yep….” Jason replied with a clenched fist.

“Okay… and idea what was done to them… also where is the robot that was left for you to handle?”

“How bout you ask that psycho who fixed Ziggy’s axe last I checked was she was the one near him last when I went to give Marie back control of her body” Jason responded before muttering, “I'm just confused to what they did Marie and those two because it’s definitely different from what they did to me and the others they replaced part of their bodies, and they made it that they are in that order taking state indefinitely compared to those bastard taking me out to rub in what they made me do in my face”.

“But one thing I was glad for was that we were able to stop them and I got my friend back well at least one of them to my knowledge, since for all I know some of the others are still alive” Jason then added.

“But… that leaves the question… what would they have done to the others beyond what we can see?” Shade asks his eyes looking at Marie again.

“No idea, it’s clear for some of their experiments they changed something and I don’t think either of us would like the answer” Jason responded.

“I think it’s something we need to look into when we can… how did this Marie seem when she was awake?”

“It was like she was in a deep sleep before I woke her up from that controlled state as if she was in a constant dream while they were controlling her, she also didn’t remember how she got here or what happened before that either” Jason replied before adding, “My assumption is that any consciousness from the subject is near non-existent when their being controlled”.

After Jason said this they heard one of the subjects let out a groan before their eyes opened and a moment later they lurched forward before screaming, “No more, No more!” as they went into a panic.

“Hey it’s ok your not at that lab anymore, it’s gonna be ok,” Jason said to the subject who just looked at him with a familiar look of fear on their face as he slowly walked towards them before holding his hand towards them, “It’s ok we're not gonna hurt you I understand why your scared they experimented on me as well”.

They just looked towards him with apprehension as they shook in place out of fear, Jason lowering his hand with a sigh before heading back to Shade and sitting back down.

“No luck?” Shade asks looking at Jason.

“Nope, don’t want them to get more panicked than they already” Jason admitted as he looked back to the subject in question who was fidgeting around in place while glancing around.

“You sure she’s okay?” Shade asks looking at her again.

“No” Jason quickly replied as he looked to her before turning his head away, “After having to experience what they had to that lead them here im surprised she’s still able to speak”.

Shade paused looking back at the shaking girl before he saying, “No… I meant physically okay… somethings not right.”

The girl slowly brought her shaking hand towards her chest before grabbing it the girl letting out a shaky gasp as she lurched forward.

“Shade! Something wrong with her heart!” Harmony shouts through to Shade an urgent tone in her voice.

“They didn’t…” Jason muttered before running to the girl and grabbing her shoulder, “I think they placed a failsafe in her heart!”.

Shade then appeared by the side of them before he said, “I will assume if the chips were anything to go by then it would be a similar thing here,” Shade’s hand then phased through the girls chest resting against her heart as sparks travelled down his arms into her body.

“Yeah, guess they didn’t want anyone who got out of their grip to live and tell the tale” Jason muttered as he held the girl up.

The girl in question she just let out low gasps as she attempted to catch her breath as her eyes glanced to multiple places at once before her vision landed squarely on Jason and Shade before looking down to see Shade’s hand phasing into her chest he gasping starting to become more erratic.

“Calm down little one slow breaths,” Shade said in a slow calming voice his free hand rubbing the back of her head, “I’ll get this fixed in a few more seconds, just stay take slower breaths for me. Okay”

The girl attempted to say something but was only able to say, “Scared…”.

“Its ok he isn’t gonna hurt he’s helping you just take a slow breath it’s almost over…” Jason gently said to her and after a moment she listened as her breathes slowed down they were still somewhat quick.

“How much longer?” Jason asked Shade.

“Only a few seconds,” Shade responded calmly as Jason saw a red light glowing under the girls skin, faintly fading in and out, while Jason saw a second light glow near the back of her neck, this one almost seeming to move on her skin.

Jason just stared in silence while this happened before turning his attention to the girl who slowly began to have her breathing turned back to something normal before she stopped gasping all to together, as Shade’s hand was removed from her chest.

“There. That should have stopped them from using that against you from here on out.” Shade calmly stated before looking at the girl, his hand still slowly rubbing her head, “You feeling okay?”

The girl looked to him before giving a silent nod in response, “Yeah…”.

“You sure?” she heard Jason asked before she whispered, “Yes it doesn’t hurt anymore” Jason giving her a soft smile before he said, “That’s good, if you don’t mind me asking what’s your name?”.

After a moment of complete silence from her, she answered, “My name is…Luz”.

“Hello Luz, Im Jason and this is Shade, it’s a pleasure to meet you” Jason responded with a smile towards the girl who immediately just crawled backwards and hitting her back on the wall upon hearing the name Shade as she covered her face in fear

“Hey it’s ok, he’s not gonna hurt you” Jason then said with his hands up not wanting her to lose it again.

She just brought her knees to her chest as she whispered to herself Shade and Jason unable to hear what she was saying, only knowing that she was utterly terrified.

Jason just sighed before slowly taking a step towards her the girl flinching as she looked to him as he asked,“What do you remember?”.

“What?” She said quietly said confused.

“What do you remember before this?” Jason asked as the girl slowly moved her legs from her chest.

“I…remember being hung up in a lab with others, as they were being pulled into a room I heard them screaming until they stopped and that continued until they got to me and everything went dark, before that I remember being in a cell it was one across from another with two other girls”

“What did they look like?” Jason asked.

“I didn’t see them that much but the first was an older woman with pink hair” Luz said causing Jason’s eyes to widen as she continued, “and the other who was somewhat younger around my age with dark brown hair”.

“Is the one over there the other girl?” Jason asked as he pointed towards the other unconscious girl as Luz looked over before giving him a silent nod in response.

“Do you know what happened to the one with pink hair?” Jason asked as Luz shook her head, “No I don’t”.

Any light in Jason’s eye disappeared once he heard her response as he just clenched his fist in silence before feeling Shade’s hand on his shoulder, “I’m sure she’s okay. Even if this is the case and she went though the same as her, the chances are that she’s still alive and can be saved.”

“Yeah…” Jason muttered before he heard Luz speak, “Who is she to you?”.

“The… pink haired woman she’s my sister her names Knila” Jason quietly replied as Luz looked at him in suprise.

“She talked about you” Luz said causing Jason to look to her in shock, “What?”

“She talked about you with her cellmate she care’s about you a lot” Luz said as Jason continued to give her a shocked look before it was replaced with a smile, “Thank you for telling me” as Luz gave him a nod in response before she heard him speak again. “You may be afraid of Shade but the one that’s responsible for your suffering, he’s a fake, the one right here is the real one and he wouldn’t do any of this to you or the others, he’s kind” Jason said to Luz.

Their eyes then turned to Shade as he stood up standing over the girl sitting next to them as he paused before knelling down next to her, “Jason… she’s in the same position. They’ve messed with her heart, and I’m going to assume Marie will be the same.”

“That’s the most likely case” Jason replied as he looked to Marie before standing up, “I-im gonna go check up on her you take care of the other one first” as Jason quickly walked towards Marie.

“Once I’m sure this one is safe as well, I’ll ensure that they can’t use this thing on her aswell,” Shade calmly responded as his hand slowly moved toward the girls chest beginning to phase though it like he had with Luz before reaching her heart, similar sparks moving down his arm as before.

Luz just looked towards Shade with the same fear as before as she saw him do the same thing he had done prior with her.

Shade didn’t look at Luz before he said, “little one. Do you understand what would have happened to you if I didn’t do what I did to you before?”

She just placed her hand on chest to where her heart was, “I-i would have died”.

“Yes… and currently this girl would go through the same as you if I don’t do this. I understand that my name will cause you and all the others a lot of pain, and it has all right to.” He then paused looking to Luz for a brief moment, “Those things that did this to you all and so many other did so in my name, and intended for you all to harm so many people you cared for against your will, and for that nothing I can say or do to fix it will ever be enough.”

Luz stayed silent as she looked to him before turning her attention to the other girl who’s chest raised up slowly from her breathing a low glow emanating from it and after a moment she saw his mark slowly appear on the other girls shoulder.

“The symbol..” Luz muttered to herself as the girl Shade was helping grit her teeth with a look of pain for a few moments until Shade pulled his hand out prompting the girls face to go back to normal.

“That symbol it’s all saw before I woke up nothing else just that mark looking back at me nonstop” Luz whispered as she continued to look at the symbol.

Shade then sat next to Luz before saying, “does the symbol match with what you can see on her shoulder?”

“No, it was upside down yours isn’t” Luz replied as she looked to Shade and asking, “Why are they doing this, I don’t understand”

Shade didn’t respond holding his hand out Luz as he crossed his legs gesturing for her come closer to him. She was hesitant to move at first but scooted towards him after a taking a deep breathe the girl looking at him in silence. “I don’t fully myself. But they don’t stop at people like you. They will take any creature… be it already having a life… or not have a chance to start one and do what they did to you or simply make it suffer and sell off like they are someone's property.”

Luz gave him a saddened look as she looked to the other girl as well as Jason and Marie, “I can’t imagine the number of innocents they have turned into monsters or slaves…”.

“...I’ve seen one location they were using…. They had thousands of children younger than you some boxed up to be sent off to whoever brought them…. Others tied to machines or operating tables their bodies cut apart or being limbs being changed. Mothers having children like they were just parts of machine as the children were sent away on conveyor belts to be used elsewhere. They have no respect for life in any capacity to them they are just things to use and throw away if they don’t work.”

“And if they can’t have those that they turned into tools, what happens to them?” Luz then asked.

“If what I just saw with you is any indication… I would assume to kill them in the worst and slowest way possible to the creature. If they had them in their care still… I don’t want to think about what they would do.”

Luz then looked to her hands before clenching them into fists as she said, “I want to make them pay for what they’ve done for what they made me lose and what they’ve taken”.

Luz then felt Shade’s wings wrap around her pulling her into his chest as she heard him say, “what did they take from you?”

“Parts of my body and my…brother he wasn’t fit for their tests and died becuase of it, they threw him away like trash too once they realized that their test killed him” she quietly spoke, “They even called me the successful sibling after that, like it was an achievement that I survived and he didn’t” Luz then said in a bitter tone.

“He didn’t deserve something like that kind he liked to help others and he put himself in the way so no one who didn’t deserve wouldn’t get hurt, I swear they were hard on him for those tests because he didn’t give them results they wanted as if they cared in the first place they treated all of us like garbage…” Luz said before whispering, “I miss him…” as Shade saw her wiping her eyes of any tears that began to develop.

“I don’t want to give you false hope… but are you sure he is truly dead and that they didn’t lie… they did the same to Jason with the girl he’s with now… but that would mean they did something else to him if he is alive… and in that case I can’t say what of him is left intact.”

“Given how they did the test I did see what happened to him, and afterword they dragged him out of the test chamber he wasn’t breathing and I didn’t him again after that” Luz replied.

“He probably is alive to some capacity but we can’t be sure, afterall I didn’t see Marie after my test and I thought she was gone for a good while” they heard Jason comment.

“I guess your right about that” Luz admitted.

“Sometimes it’s better to keep some hope, especially since it helps you keep going, hell you might even get surprised about what you encounter” they heard Jason replied as they looked back to him seeing that Maries head was on his lap.

Luz just looked at the boy before asking, “how long did you think she was gone?”.

“Nearly a year” Jason quickly replied before looking to Shade, “Hey dad can you do what you did with Luz and the other girl with Marie?”.

“One second” Shade responded as he slowly stood up and walked towards them, “If she wakes up… I imagine she will panic, be ready just in case.” Shade warned Jason as his hand phased into her chest like it had previously with Luz.

Jason nodded towards him before placing his left hand on her shoulder and his other on her head as he gently caressed his hand on it as he saw Marie’s face scrunch up from what Shade was doing as low whimpers could be heard from her.

“It’s ok” Jason whispered to her as he continued to rub her head as what he was saying was able to comfort the girl during the process albeit she was still letting out low whimpers from discomfort as this went on.

Jason looked at Marie’s face in silence before seeing her eyes faintly opening for a moment as he took the moment to make that she only saw him and not the hand in her chest.

“Whats happening?” Marie groggily whispered as Jason just smiled to her, “Don’t worry Marie just continue resting”.

The girl just gave him a tired smile before her eyes slowly went back to being closed and a few moments later Shade slowly pulled his hand out of Marie’s chest. “That should be it for now.”

Jason nodded towards Shade “Thank you”.

After a moment Jason looked around the arena to see that Ziggy and Axel were gone, “Wait where did Axel and Ziggy go?”.

“I think they both left earlier,” Alexis responds walking over to the group kneeling down and looking at Luz, “They didn’t say anything though but I assume they didn’t want to interrupt your reunion.”

“They probably went back to the lake, honestly when I get the chance I can’t wait to introduce them to Marie and possibly those two” Jason said as he then pointed Luz and the other girl, while Luz just looked to Alexis with an apprehensive look on her face not knowing what to do at that moment.

Alexis then paused for a moment before looking at Luz, “I’m sorry if I scared you. I came to check on my grandkids and brother, but saw that you may be in need of a few thing to cover yourself.” he skin then began to shift as a large blanket appeared from her body which she held out to Luz. “If you want I could try and make you a few new things for you to wear. I doubt you want that mark on your neck being visible to everyone… or the metal parts on your body.”

Luz just looked to her before quietly nodding in response before gently grabbing the blanket and covering herself with it, “C-can you make me some clothes..” Alexis heard the girl ask.

Alexis simply smiled back at her holding her hand out, “ I would be glad to… do you want to come with me so I can start getting the right measurements for you?”

The girl just nodded towards Alexis before slowly standing herself up with a slight stumble forward before Alexis caught and placed her back on her feet.

“Thank you…” the girl whispered as she began to follow behind Alexis.

“Alex, I’ll look after this one, you find rooms for the others to stay in for now till they recover,” Alexis responded before picking Luz up in her arms, as she begins walking out of the arena.

Luz had surprised look on her face as Alexis walked out of the arena until Luz slowly layed her head on her shoulder before giving a slight wave towards Jason and Shade who reciprocated with their own before Alexis and Luz were gone.

“Hey dad…” Shade heard Jason speak as he turned towards him, “Do you think you can keep these two here in the castle?” Jason asked as he motioned towards Marie and the other girl, “As much as im glad she’s alive I don’t think she’ll be used to things at the lake like Dillon, Axel and Ziggy”.

“And you are?” Shade points out before shaking his head, “I can find them a room to stay in for the timebeing. But if they choose to leave it’ll be up to them.”

“Understood, thank you” Jason replied before gently placing Marie’s head down and standing up and after a moment he grasped his head with a low groan as Shade saw a trickle small blood going down the boy’s nose.

“You okay?” Shade asked as he placed his wing around Jason’s back.

“Need to..switch back I was out for too long…” Jason quietly responded before he closed his eyes and went quiet, then hearing a low groan coming from the boy before his eyes slowly opened back up showing Dillon’s eye color, “What happened?”.

“Sounded like Jason found out he has issues that he didn’t account for,” Shade responded.

“I take it that’s why I have a nosebleed?” Dillon then asked as he rubbed his thumb from under his nose, wiping away the blood that was there.

“Pretty much.”

“Seems there’s a limit to how… long I can out at a time” Dillon heard Jason slowly say before he added, “Im just gonna rest for a bit….” as he then went quiet.

“Take as long as you need Jason” Dillon replied before looking around, “Dad where did the others go?”.

“We think they headed back to the cave. I imagine to let Jason catch up with Marie,” Shade points out.

“Marie?” Dillon repeated out of confusion, “Who’s Marie?”.

Shade didn’t respond simply gesturing to the girl in question, Dillon just glanced at the girl for a moment and got a good look at her he felt like he recognized her to a degree but didn’t know from where and after a moment he began to zone out again, Shade noticing this gently shook him snapping him out of it. “Earth to Dillon.”

He let out a low gasp flinching in place before shaking his head, “S-sorry dad, guess some part of me recognized her albeit somewhat hazy…”.

“Maybe you should get home and rest,” Shade suggested rubbing Dillon's head, “You’ve had a long day.”

“True I probably should, I don’t want mom to get worried” Dillon replied as he stood up, “What about her though is she staying here?” Dillon then asked pointing towards Marie.

“I’m going to get them moved to somewhere safe in a moment.” Shade responded pointing to both Marie and the other girl, “You get home and get some sleep, okay.”

Dillon nodded in response before going towards the arena entrance turning around and giving a wave towards Shade who reciprocated with his own before the boy walked out of the arena.

As soon as Dillon had gone Shade picked both Marie and the other girl up in his arms before teleporting the three of them away from the Arena and into the castle.