I heard the door to my wing of the prison open, footsteps echoing off the floor as someone approached. Considering the cell opposite of mine was empty, alongside the unusual silence, it seemed that I was given an entire wing to myself. It was the little things that showed they still cared.

  The guard was unarmed, nothing on him that I could [Take]. He wore a black shirt that hung off his bone thin frame, sweatpants, and dark blue crocs. They weren’t leaving anything up to chance when it came to what I could steal.

  “Hey, Taker, it’s been a while,” said the guard, smiling as he saw me.

  I leaned in, trying my best to recognize him. “Fat Timmy, is that you? How’s your wife doing man, I remember you told me about her getting into Herbalife.”

  “We got a divorce. I get half of her Herbalife products and she gets half of my damn house.”

  “That’s rough, buddy. So, are you looking to do me a favor and let me go?”

  “Not a chance in hell. Just wanted to be the last friendly face you saw before you died.”

  “What if I offered you half a million? If you just help me out, I can get that to you by tonight.”

  “You’re not gonna talk me into it, Taker. You know what they’d do to me and my kids if I let you go. Even if I tried to get you out, this place has been on high alert since you attacked Club Thirst.”

  “Well, when I get out of here, just remember that there’s a job offer on the table. You were one of the few guys not on my team that I liked. Now get out of here you skinny bastard, I need you to call your boss.”

  Fat Timmy walked out of the prison wing, and I heard the reinforced steel door shut behind him. We weren’t close, but we’d talk whenever I had to guard the main holding cells. Part of me hoped that I wouldn’t have to kill him, but there was no point in getting caught up on a hypothetical.

  It took nearly ten minutes for that door to open again. His heavy footsteps filled the cold air, threatening to snap my confidence as if it was nothing but a twig. A sweltering heat poured into the prison wing, making the cuffs restraining me burn against my skin. There was only one man in South Rain City who had the power to do that.

  He walked to the front of my cell, his unfeeling eyes looking down on me. The look of a man who’d seen a thousand battles, his beard and flowing hair did little to hide the scarred exterior of his face. Agony wore a blood red suit, which pressed against his imposing figure.

  Agony looked at me as if I was a beggar on the street, with eyes full of disdain. “You’ve caused me many problems, Taker.”

  “I’m just returning the favor.” I taunted him, hoping that I was making the right guess.

  “I heard you were something of a smartass. Tell me, have you come to terms with your death?”

  “Nope. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, so why come to terms with it? If you wanted me dead, I would’ve never woken up here.”

  “What makes you confident that I didn’t keep you alive so I could torture you before giving you the death you deserve?”

  “Because that’s just not what you would do. I’ve read over everything you’ve done, from your rise to power to your domination of South Rain. You don’t waste time torturing people, not unless it benefits you. And there’s only one thing you could want from a guy like me.”

  He cracked the faintest smile. “It pays to be clever in this world. You are correct, I kept you and your subordinate alive for a reason. You will return to my employment as my newest lieutenant.”

  “That’s actually the second job offer I’ve gotten this week.” I met his gaze, smiling. “So, tell me, why would I want to work for you again?”

  “Because refusal means death. A death that will remind South Rain City of my namesake. But I’m a reasonable man, one who can see reason. Working for the Disciples, you’d be far more valuable to me than Marco ever was.”

  “Alright, let’s say I’m interested in joining back up. I have two questions that I need answered. What are you going to do about Polymeniac, since he hates me, and how can you trust me?”

  “Dae-Seong does what he is told. If I order it, he won’t retaliate over what you did. And I have no intention of trusting you. Unlike the other villains in this city, I am not a moron. You’ll be under strict supervision, only allowed to do what I command. Unless you wish for your subordinate to suffer a fate far worse than you could imagine.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I needed to be careful with my choice of words. Agony was dangerous, and one mistake could make him change his mind on keeping me alive. I needed him to believe that I was strong, yet still too weak to rebel against him.

  “Is there any way out that doesn’t involve working for you?” I asked.

  He placed his hand on one of the metal bars in front of my cell. An inferno burst from his hand, reducing the bar to molten slag in seconds. “They could always throw out whatever remains of you.”

  “Alright, I’ll work for you.” I looked down, trying my best to appear dejected. “I was already planning on working with the Disciples for the rest of my life. You know, before everything happened.”

  “You always were quick when it came to knowing your place. I will send someone to come collect you, then we can work on rebuilding our trust.”

  He left the room, the suffocating heat leaving alongside him. In the few minutes he’d been there, a puddle of sweat had formed at my feet, and the metal of my cuffs singed my skin.

  I had no clue how long I was left alone in that cell. Eventually, heavy footsteps that threatened to break the metal floors approached. Quarry walked up to my cell, his powers still activated. It was hard to think of him as a human when he always kept his abilities up, somehow forcing his way through the exhaustion.

  After fumbling around with a key ring that was far too small for him, he managed to open my cell door. He messed with something above me, out of my sight, until I was suddenly launched forward, falling onto my face.

  Apparently the cuffs could detach from the wall, shooting out with a violent force. He lifted me up by the cuffs behind my back, getting me onto my own two feet. The titan of a man pushed me down the hall, eventually taking me to the main corridor where I saw Fat Timmy. When I looked him in the eyes, he just averted his gaze.

  Quarry led me through the corridor, taking me to the elevator at the end. For what may have been the first time in my life, I saw him deactivate his stone skin. While it made him light enough to ride the elevator, it was still a tight fight for the two of us. He was nearly eight feet tall and built like a lineman that just ate the rest of his team.

  As I tried to look at him, observing every detail I could, I noticed something. It was difficult to spot in the dark cell, but my vision had turned the world into a mess of smudges and blurs. My discounted contacts were already losing their effectiveness.

  Quarry pressed the button for the fifth floor, the elevator creaking as it raised us. Working as a henchman, I only ever went there when Polymeniac needed to see me in person. The fifth floor belonged to the lieutenants, for them to do whatever they wanted, while the sixth belonged solely to Agony.

  “So, Quarry, how you been?” I looked up at my captor.

  He grunted in response.

  It wasn’t likely that I would get something useful out of him, but Quarry was completely stonewalling me. He ignored all my attempts at conversation until we reached the fifth floor, where he practically dragged me to one of the meeting rooms.

  The room had been stripped bare, only a table and two chairs remaining, not that they needed to go so far. Even if I could get my hands on a pen, that wouldn’t be enough to kill this titan. He tossed me into a seat, and then proceeded to tear the cuffs off my hands.

  “Thanks, man,” I said, rubbing my wrists. “You don’t need to be so rough, though, you’ve already stripped me of my weapons, clothes, and pride.”

  He walked out of the room, still refusing to respond to me. Actually, he might have been unable to talk. But if he was mute, it’s not like he ever told me. Once he shut the door behind him, I could hear locks clicking into place. The door seemed to have a built-in sensor, with no keyhole for me to try and lockpick.

  It was better to be here than the dungeon, but my situation wasn’t exactly great. The few things in this room would be useless against any of the lieutenants, let alone Agony, and the covered windows stopped me from seeing the outside world. As I looked around the room, I spotted cameras in each corner staring at me.

  “Hey, so is anyone else coming or is this my new home?” I asked the cameras.

  I didn’t have any idea if they could hear me, let alone respond. Since there wasn’t anything else for me to do, I decided to lean back in my seat and put my feet up. Messing around would just make them treat me with more suspicion.

  At some point, I fell asleep, unable to do anything but talk shit with Reload through the system. Until the door slammed open, the shock making me fall back in my chair. It took a second to realize who was entering the room, ignoring my collapse as he sat in the other chair.

  “Hey, polyamory, how you been,” I said while picking up my chair.

  “Don’t start with this shit, Taker. Just because you’re being called a lieutenant doesn’t mean we’re equal, no matter what anyone else says.”

  “I have to agree with you, Poly, there’s no way you’re my equal.”

  “You’re lucky I’ve been ordered to play nice with you. But if you cause too many problems, I’m allowed to put you down for good. So shut up and listen while I tell you what’s going to happen.”

  While he yapped, I decided that I could be doing something better than listening to him. I’d gotten a win against Tóxica, and my earlier fight against Polymeniac was at least a draw. Despite that, my powers were still stagnant.

  So, while he was distracted with telling me the new rules I needed to live by, I tried to push my powers to their limit. If I could just control living beings with my telekinesis, I’d be near unstoppable. There really wasn’t any way to defend against your heart being ripped out of your chest.

  And that’s when it happened. Not taking out his heart, even if that would’ve been just as effective. As I focused on him with my palm subtly stretched in his direction, two notifications appeared that would change my life.

  [Borrow]: You temporarily gain access to a random ability of a targeted super.

  [Regenerate][Borrowed]: Your body heals injuries at a rapid pace.

  Whatever bullshit Poly was telling me, I couldn’t hear it. It was all drowned out by how fast my heart was beating, blood and adrenaline suddenly surging through my body.