Tossing a load of rubble into the Silent Scream pit, Sami clapped his hands together, glancing at the sun dipping toward the horizon. He’d spent the whole day cleaning up, but it felt like he made no progress at all when looking at Indus. Looking at the pile of rocks, it was at least up to his waist in height, with tons of bits inside.

  A lot had happened that day. He took down a criminal and got a plan going for his work on his own. At some point he’d need to market himself better to be a Freelance hero that actually got calls, but everyone started from nothing.

  He even met that one passerby who was very suspicious about not sharing his name. Something about him rang familiar to the time HUE was ambushed, but Sami’s memory of the man he knew as Thugg was obscured by smoke and at least three times larger than the man he’d just met. Maybe his little brother? With a very big brother.

  Patting the last bits of dust off his knees, Sami turned to head home before dark. Stomach growling, he reminded himself to grab something to eat. Were there any spots in Indus that served food this late? Or at all?

  Glancing up at the acrid area ahead, he could get a sense of becoming one with the area. Not one to live in it, but he wanted to help the community even if he wasn’t strictly a part of it. Getting it back on its feet was a new priority of his, feeling like the kind of thing that HUE wouldn’t allow him to do in their day-to-day operations. The exact work that he wanted to be doing. Helping. And avoiding interviews for a while.

  Suddenly, a blob of motion ahead of him caught his attention. Narrowing his eyes, Sami brought two Shadow Hands out defensively as he saw a figure watching him. Scratch that, multiple figures. The long shadows of the buildings gave them just enough obscurity to evade recognition. Without a clue on whether they’d met before, Sami didn’t know if he should feel so on-edge. But his blood pumped, and he trusted his instincts.

  Three figures approached him from three angles, flanking him as they gradually closed in with a brisk walk. Five Power Sense bubbles between them. A woman in the center and two men to her sides. Sami suddenly understood that the reason that he wasn’t harassed earlier was because he was working in the daylight. Indus was to be avoided overnight, or even just before, it seemed.

  Neck cracking, the woman peered down her nose at Sami though she couldn’t have been more than an inch taller, tilting her head back to look extra snobbish. “Long way from home, kid.”

  Instinct told him to correct her on his name, but he didn’t want to provoke them without knowing what was going on. Instead, he remained still while his Shadow Hands flowed around him like pulled on an invisible current. The woman had two powers, as did the man to her left. A mix of red and blue for each of them.

  “If you’re lost, we can help you out.” The man to her left said, his eyes thin and unhinged crescents, like he was moments from losing a staring contest. His voice was the furthest thing from helpful. Like a hunter telling a deer he wanted it “over for dinner.”

  “I’m fine, thanks.” Sami took a small step to one side, but the woman casually slid and blocked his attempt to pass.

  They weren’t even watching his moving Shadow Hands, perhaps confident in their abilities to fight them. But Sami was keeping them deliberately short. If he wanted to, he could stretch them and strike any one of the three.

  “You good with those?” the man to the left asked. “Fighting, I mean.”

  They wanted to fight? Sami flexed four arms tensely. “You wanna try me?”

  “No, that’s fine. I like your confidence. Why don’t you come with us?” The woman turned and walked away immediately.

  Her two allies snickered with glee. Confused, Sami smiled and shook his head.

  “I’m good. I’m gonna go home now.”

  The three looked between one another, confusion passing between them. Like Sami broke a rule with his denial. Moving steadily in the new opening to leave, the woman snapped back toward him.

  “No! This way!”

  “I already said no. Leave me alone, weirdos.”

  “Cassandra, what’s going on?” one of the men asked, pulling on his ear.

  “I don’t know, just grab him!”

  Given the green light to defend, Sami swept out both Shadow Hands in a long arc, looping around with wild haymakers attached. The woman leaned out of the way, but both men were struck, one in the head and the other in his shoulder. With the headshot, the man spun once in place before falling clumsily to the floor.

  “This was supposed to be easy,” the other standing man muttered, holding out hands.

  Sami braced himself as he saw the red Power Sense bubble above him glow. Not one to wait for his opponent to get an advantage, he stretched out two fists to strike his face and neck. The woman darted just behind his shoulder, and he held out a hand that branched out with golden thin lights. They bloomed and spun together until forming an umbrella of protection, absorbing the blows of both Shadow Hands.

  Frowning in frustration, Sami felt a sting at his ankle and slapped at it, jumping back. Looking down, nothing on the messy earth looked out of the ordinary among the trash and rubble.

  Then a tiny piece of rubble launched upward, sniping him just under the left cheek. Another pebble rolled over and followed its sibling, scratching against Sami’s forearm. As Sami focused on the area below him, he saw a small army of rocks rolling his way.

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  As soon as he understood the power, Sami knew its only weakness would be to take out the controller. Commanding rocks was like having infinite ammo in Indus. And no matter how small, they all left some mark on him, some bad enough to make him bleed. Grunting in frustration, Sami charged forward with arms raised.

  With all his might and momentum, he crashed up against the golden umbrella, pleasantly surprised that it didn’t sting to touch. Pushing against the umbrella with all his strength, the duo behind the protection put their collective weight behind the umbrella to keep it in place. Fortunately for Sami, it seemed when Mr. Pebble was busy, his rocks wouldn’t attack on their own accord.

  As Sami continued to push, he thrashed both his Shadow Hands up and around the shield, coming down and slapping both enemies on the backs of their heads. The umbrella went out like a light and Sami fell forward, almost hitting his face were it not for a Shadow Hand pulling him back upright.

  Now on the advantage, Sami closed in and kicked high in their faces while Shadow Hands accosted them from all sides. Cassandra and Mr. Pebble were both overwhelmed pretty easily, clearly not expecting Sami to have been able to breach their defenses. With some well-aimed kicks and precise pulls to the legs, Sami forced them both to their backs, a Shadow Hand on both of their throats.

  “Nice, a hat trick,” Sami said to himself, pulling out his phone to call the police for the second time that day.

  “Miguel!” Cassandra screamed.

  As Sami opened his mouth to quiet her, an odd sensation of light foam plastered itself all over his back. Going stiff, Sami remembered that he never actually pinned down the first guy. Hopefully the foam wasn’t poisonous or anything. Spinning around, Sami would have to fight him with bare hands while his Shadow Hands kept the other two down. Sprinting forward, Sami stuck in place and fell down face first, barely catching himself before his nose broke against the floor.

  More foam fell over him. Light, but sticky. Very sticky. It was like a netting, completely holding him in place.

  “You two okay?” Miguel asked, spraying more containment foam all over Sami with one hand and nursing a growing bruise with the other.

  Sami struggled as hard as he could, putting all his strength training into one valiant push up, but he was pinned to the ground like with a net weighted with anvils. The more he moved, the more the foam spread on his skin and held him even firmer in place. Releasing one of his enemies, he desperately pulled against the foam with his Shadow Hand. Hard enough for the arm to tear itself and dissipate. What a waste.

  “I’m fine,” Cassandra coughing, pulling herself to her feet with a groan. “Kid’s got some fight. Probably get a few rounds out of him, at least.”

  “You sure he’ll fight for us?” Mr. Pebble asked, getting Cassandra’s help to pry off the other Shadow Hand.

  “I don’t think it matters so long as everyone else will fight him. And I haven’t had any problems convincing any of the other fighters.”

  “Yeah, hopefully that doesn’t happen again.” Miguel stood over Sami. “Freaked me out more than I wanna admit.”

  Sami continued to “Who are you guys? Underground?”

  “There’s no money in the Underground anymore.” Miguel shook his head. “We’re Fight Nights. Ever fought to the death before?”

  The question sounded sarcastic, but just a few days ago, Sami really had fought with his life on the line against Boli.

  He wasn’t scared of these low-lives. But he had been incredibly naive about rebuilding Indus just by cleaning it up. It was no wonder others never took the time to try and clean it when this was what slinked around in their shadows.

  By the sound of it, a criminal fighting ring consisting of people they pulled off the streets. That must have been why they were eager to approach him even after he flaunted his Shadow Hands, because they assumed he would make a good fighter. The more Sami thought about it, the more he felt trapped. Put simply, they got him. Overpowered him in unfamiliar territory while he was high on his own plans for the coming days. This was the exact kind of thing he should have been looking out for when leaving HUE. No one would watch your back when you were the only one around. And worse, his mouth was super parched. He never actually got a decent drink of water after the morning.

  “What happens now?” Sami asked.

  “I’ll be asking the questions around here,” Miguel said, lacking confidence in his words as he sent a string of foam over Sami’s lips, sealing them shut. “Like what’s your name?”

  “You just muted him, you idiot,” Mr. Pebble said, a small army of rocks rolling around Sami slowly.

  “Oh, right.”

  With some adjustments from Miguel, the rocks pushed their way under Sami and moved him along the ground like a river of earth. Passing Cassandra, she reached down and dug into Sami’s pockets, pulling his petty cash and phone, pocketing both.

  Struggling seemed to be getting him nowhere and they had no immediate plans to kill him, so Sami reserved his energy for the next opportunity. Rather than looking defiant, he opted to look placid. Like he was at their total mercy to get them to lower their guard around him. Next chance he got, Miguel would need to go down first.

  As stark as the situation seemed, Sami held a bit of optimism as Indus slid by him. He never would have been aware of the criminal fighting ring or its location without being carried there himself. They left him without any major injuries and he still had full faculties to plan with the other captives to find a way out. Especially if the prisoners were also Awakened, Sami was almost certain there was an opportunity to turn things around on the kidnappers.

  Straining to keep his eyes open, Sami scanned every landmark and scratch of note in the passing district, hoping to use it as a way out. Even if he could only get his phone, he would be able to call someone like HUE and describe his whereabouts.

  The blocks stretched, and Sami started losing hope in being able to describe anything significant. Everything was a broken building with rubble on any given side. How many had he passed that had broken windows? It was difficult to note anything when everything looked the same.

  Cassandra stopped in front of one such nondescript building, looking both ways before pulling a set of keys and unlocking the door. Sami’s gaze darted around every corner, trying to find something particularly interesting to describe the location. As the door pulled forward and Sami rolled gradually within, Sami made a desperate last look to the building next to it, hoping the neighbor would have something interesting to point out.

  Along one end, a line of clay sealed a crack stretching on the wall. Blinking, Sami realized that the only thing of note on the building wasn’t particularly helpful, but it was telling. There was no clay on the criminal’s building. Steve never attempted to help them repair, and for good reason.

  Once inside, Cassandra slammed the door and locked it behind them. Moving with practiced efficiency, she then kicked aside a rug on the floor. Pulling open a creaky trap door, a maw of darkness widened its mouth to Sami. Wincing, he felt the rocks accelerate.

  “You got a new kid!” Cassandra announced to the darkness. “Nobody hurt him before the fights, you hear? Food will be down later.”

  With that, she kicked Sami and he painfully bounced and rolled down a short set of stairs. Darkness consuming his vision, Sami bashed against a wall and groaned through his foam constraints.

  “Be good. Remember, no talking,” Cassandra said, slamming the hatch and blocking out what little light remained in the cold basement.