I ran around the edge of the arena, two grenades clutched in my hands. Most of the cover had either been melted or shattered by Tóxica. I tried my best to stay behind any that remained, but it didn’t take long for Tóxica to notice me scurrying around.

  The reptilian beast turned around, tracking me as I sprinted. Her gaze was that of a voracious predator, waiting to tear me apart. But she didn’t make a move, just watching as I forced my legs to keep going, headed the opposite direction of Reload.

  Tóxica roared to the crowd, “Mira, they run from me like desperate rats!”

  If Contract was making her put on a show, then she had to know what our powers were. That way there would be nothing that could catch her off guard. But she didn’t know the full extent of Reload’s [Secondary].

  At some point, the bullets stopped bouncing off her, instead just being stopped on impact. Even with her super resistance gone, her scales were bulletproof. But all that meant was that we needed to hit her with something even stronger.

  Finally, Reload and I were in position. We were on opposite ends of the arena, with Tóxica in the center. She looked around, trying to figure out what we were planning. I took a breath, steeling myself through the pain of the acid. If it wasn’t for the adrenaline rushing through me, I would've collapsed by now. I just needed the energy to keep going for a few more moments.

  Finally, Reload gave the signal. He threw two grenades high into the air, flying far above him. Tóxica’s gaze followed their trajectory, confused as to what was happening. At that same moment, I ripped the pins out of my grenades and used [Give] on Reload’s hands. And before his grenades started to fall, I used [Take] to pull them to me.

  Reload was short, even with his arms raised he would barely reach the height of Tóxica’s transformed chest. And that was perfect for us, as he kept his hands up. The four armed grenades shot through the air, seeking their targets.

  But they were caught in the middle, blocked by a large reptilian barrier. The first pair of grenades crashed against, detonating directly on her spine. Tóxica arced backwards, screaming in pain as the explosion tore through her back.

  The grenades being pulled to me were at a higher angle, which meant they wouldn’t hit her chest. As she screamed, the two grenades hit her in the face, detonating a moment later. Whatever screams she had were muffled, a new blast overpowering anything she said. Tóxica collapsed to the ground, her body unable to withstand the explosive barrage.

  Reload rushed in, a pair of machine guns in hand. As the crowd went wild, the announcer started shouting about the surprise twist. But as Reload closed in on Tóxica, I realized that she was still in her reptilian form. I tried screaming for him to stop, but whatever noises I could muster were drowned out by the crowd.

  There were certain traits that were practically universal between supers. And one of the biggest was that a shifter reverts back to normal if they pass out or die. If she was still transformed, then that meant she was still awake.

  I tried sending him a message through the system, but it was too late. She lunged forward as Reload closed in. I ran in their direction as they crashed through a nearby barrier. Blood flew through the air as Tóxica tore into Reload, whatever remained of her jaw chewed through his arm. His free hand was shooting directly at her skull, but nothing he did managed to slow her down.

  For just a moment, as she ripped him apart, Reload made eye contact with me. He tossed his gun to the side and pulled out a lead pipe. He threw it in my direction, and I used [Take] to pull it into my hands.

  I nearly dropped it as the pipe hit my hand. With half my face gone, my pain receptors weren’t doing great, but that hurt a lot more than it should have. That’s when I noticed the shimmering gold aura around the lead pipe. It was enchanted with Reload’s [Super Stopper] ability.

  As parts of my face dripped onto the ground, I closed in on the distracted Tóxica. Her claws were tearing through Reload’s stomach, threatening to kill him at any moment. I raised the pipe above my head and swung it down with every ounce of strength I could muster. A thick crack echoed as I smashed it into the back of her skull, sending scales and bone flying through the air.

  I was certain that she was down, but I wasn’t going to settle for a half-measure. I continued to strike her with the lead pipe, hitting her torso and limbs as they cracked underneath each hit. Eventually, she started to shrink. Her green scales turned into tan skin, and her hair grew back. It only took a few moments before she was back to normal, severely wounded and unconscious.

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  I looked up at the crowd, being surrounded by their cheers and applause. I was the last person standing in the arena. We won. That was when I finally collapsed.

  I couldn’t help but groan as I woke up, every inch of my body exhausted. The first thing I did was put my hand to my face, where I found a large chunk of flesh was still missing. I could feel a row of teeth, however, which meant that I was given a Throm.

  Surprisingly, the fact that I wasn’t actively dying didn’t calm me down. I had no idea where I was or what happened. I forced myself to get up, my entire body fighting against it. It took some wandering and feeling against the walls before I found a light switch, some way to see inside this dark room.

  They had shoved me into a glorified supply closet. There was a pallet of cleaning supplies shoved in the corner, and the shelves were filled with tools. The only thing that stood out was the cot jammed into the room, the place I’d been left to sleep.

  I knew that it would be smart to stay put, they left me to heal for a reason, but that didn’t mean I was going to do what they wanted. I stepped out of the room, trying my best to fight against my blurry vision, to find a hallway of pipes and wires acting as walls, with exposed insulation as the backdrop. I decided to head left, keeping an eye out for anything of note.

  The hallways were completely bare, a maze of unfinished construction. The only things that stood out were the occasional splatters of dried blood, which didn’t make me confident in my safety here. I tried messaging Reload, but he didn’t respond.

  After a few minutes of wandering, I heard voices up ahead. I slowed down, taking gentle steps as I headed in their direction. I found a closed door, unlabelled. I put my ear against it and listened in.

  “Why the hell are you eating Arby’s?”

  “Fuck you, I like Arby’s.”

  “What do you mean, you like Arby’s? That’s like saying you like getting your ass kicked.”

  “How the hell does that mean I like getting my ass kicked?”

  “Because I’m going to beat the shit out of you if you bring Arby’s again.”

  I’d been in similar conversations a dozen times over. It was the mindless talk of henchmen who were bored and had nothing else to talk about. Henchmen were the lowest rung of the ladder, and unless I wanted to hear them talk about Arby’s some more, there wasn’t any point in listening in on them.

  I continued through the labyrinth I was trapped in. If there were henchmen nearby, then I was getting closer to somewhere that mattered. Whether it was their main base or something that they didn’t want people seeing. And when half your face gets melted off, you care less about respecting other people’s privacy.

  It took me five more minutes of aimless searching just to find another room that wasn’t a supply closet. I listened in to see if anybody was inside, but it was dead silent. I took a risk and slowly opened the door, finding that it was unlocked.

  The room was stuffed with plastic tubs and wooden crates. I ventured in, cracking open one of the tubs. Inside were dozens of pistols, filling the tub up to the brim. Every box I checked was stocked with guns and ammo. I figured it would be best to take some, just enough to handle anything that might happen.

  I grabbed a pistol and a few magazines, enough to not be noticed in case anyone did inventory. After making sure there were no traces of my theft, I snuck out of the makeshift armory. I kept the pistol on my waist, hidden yet easily accessible.

  I marched through the halls with a newfound confidence. The cold air flowing against my exposed bone reminded me that I wasn’t in any condition to fight a super, but I could still handle any unsuspecting henchmen I ran into.

  After some time, the hallways were slowly improving. There were less blood stains, drywall and concrete covered the walls, and most of the light bulbs actually worked. If there were people in this labyrinth, then this was where they’d be.

  Eventually, I ran into another room, with a guard standing in front of it. He looked to be around my age, scrolling on his phone instead of looking out for intruders. There was a rifle slung over his chest, held up by a strap. If they had someone standing guard, then there had to be something worth protecting.

  This place seemed fairly abandoned, but I couldn’t just shoot him in the head. Anyone that heard would come investigate, and I couldn’t deal with an army. But with my victory against Tóxica, I remembered what Reload had told me. The way to get stronger was by taking out other supers, and she definitely was going for the kill by the end.

  Peeking out of a nearby hallway, I reached my palm out and focused. I tried everything I could think of, focusing my eyes to the best of their ability, despite my contacts having already degraded. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move him. Even if I couldn’t rip his heart out, I wanted to at least knock him to the ground. But my powers never worked on living things, and that didn’t seem to change.

  After a few minutes of listening to him watch a YouTube recap of the latest spikeball game, I messed up. My focus had drifted towards his phone, and I accidentally used [Take] on it. The guard’s phone flew out his hand, headed down the hallway and straight for me. I heard his audible confusion as it spun around the corner and landed in my hand.

  Even though I ducked out of view, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that a super was involved. Thankfully, South Rain City’s schools were underfunded. The guard walked towards me, more focused on seeing what happened instead of calling for backup.

  He was approaching and I had to do something. I pulled the pistol from my waist and held my breath. Even without good vision, I could take him. The second the guard turned the corner, I shoved the muzzle of the gun in between his eyes.

  “Move an inch and I’ll drop you,” I spat out.

  He sighed, “I really hate this job.”