Enhance: Chapter 14

“What are we doing up here?” Feint asked her arms wrapped tight around her chest.

Yumi held back her sneeze as she pulled her hood up and shook her head.  Each of them was wearing jackets and scarves. “Something Shade wanted to try.”

Shade and Phase were leaving the stairwell that would get them to the roof of the hotel. Phase was carrying four wastepaper baskets. They arrived just in time to have heard that comment to which Shade rolled his eyes.

The roof was pretty bare. There was a satellite dish and what might have been a chimney. There were a few vents that circled back into the hotel as well as another stairwell door. The sun was out telling them the dawn was coming. That didn’t make it less dark though.

Shade came forward and he reached into his pocket to reveal a tennis ball. It was a regular everyday tennis ball. The others looked at that tennis ball and then looked at him. Yumi, as usual, was the first one to speak her mind.

“Shade. It’s like ten degrees. What’s with the baseball? And this better be good.”

“First, it’s a tennis ball. And second. I have a way for us to get warm real fast. It’s a game that I’ve played a few times. Just not since things have gotten enhanced.”

“Get to the point.” Yumi said.

He rolled his eyes and watched as Phase put the buckets into corners of the roof. Shade pointed to them as he walked toward the other. “The goal is straightforward. Pick your corner and get the ball into your bucket. Use any means necessary to stop the others from doing that. Except killing each other. Let’s avoid that.”

“That simple?” Feint asked.

“That simple.” Shade said simply.

They were silent for a while as they thought about this. Then suddenly Yumi dashed forward snatching the ball from his hands. She continued to run toward one of the far buckets and laughed. Out of nowhere Feint came up from the ground and grabbed her ankles. Yumi tripped, barely catching herself in time.

Feint rose up picking up the tennis ball and laughed. Skipping forward she laughed and making it forward. However once she touched the ground Feint was grabbed and she struggled to stand upright. She tried to break the grip by being intangible and a sharp noise echoed through her head. Phase flinched back as well and while they were stunned Shade slid forward grabbing the ball.

Shade laughed as he tossed the tennis ball up and down in his hand and winked at them. He tossed it again and walked forward slowly and then ducked down. Phase’s hand shot over his head and Shade dropped down low.

Phase whirled around and punched him in the stomach with his free hand. Shade grunted at the blow stumbling backwards. Lunging forward, Phase swiped for the tennis ball but Shade jumped back.

Yumi ran forward and jumped kicking both of them aside and grabbed the tennis ball out of the air. Hitting the ground she rolled forward and then darted backwards to get to her goal. Yumi was running and she kept an eye out for Feint this time.

She suddenly jumped backwards and tossed the ball into the air. Feint came out of the ground ready to intercept when a shoe smacked her between the eyes. Stunned for a second Yumi leaped forward and then kicked the tennis ball into the bucket.

As she came down she threw her hands into the air and cheered. “Take that. Yumi wins again.” She went then to collect her shoe.

“Not so fast.” Shade said with a grunt and rubbed his chest. She could kick hard that was for sure. “We play to five normally.”

“Five. Psh. That’s too easy.” She said and stood. Going to the bucket she picked up the tennis ball and smirked. “Let’s hit round 2.”

Two hours passed and the sun had finally risen, burning through the early morning. The ball was on the ground in the middle of the roof. All of them were on their backs, chests heaving and their hoodies discarded.

“So what’s… the score?” Feint asked.

“Didn’t we up it… like twice?” Phase shut his eyes tightly.

“Yumi’s… a sore loser,” Feint said simply.

“And a sore winner,” Shade added and rolled to his side.

Groaning Shade slowly got to his feet and he was unsteady for a while. He walked forward and picked up the ball. It was worn and even losing some patches. It had been new at the beginning of this game. Turning he half heartedly raised his arm and tossed the ball.

It flew through the air, bounced once and then settled into the basket. “There. I win.”

“Fuck you!” Yumi shouted out of breath.

Feint and Phase started laughing and rolled into each other. Just holding their sides in pain and amusement. They struggled to breath for a while and then watched as Yumi attempted to stand up and glare at him.

“We’re doing this again! Tonight. The dawn of the evening!”

“The dawn of the evening?” Shade repeated and raised his eyebrow.

Feint and Phase got to their feet and stretched. It was a bit painful for them but it was going away quickly.  “Come on guys, lets get back to the room.”

Shade nodded and Yumi pouted. As they walked together down the stairs their phones buzzed all at the same time. Feint was the first to get hers out and saw the caller ID.

Dragging the green phone button off to the side she put it to her ear.

“Morning Darren.” She said as they got into the elevator. Turning the phone she put it on speaker.

Phase hit the floor one button so they could go and get their complimentary breakfast. Despite the good quality of the place they were going to have upgrade their rooms soon. At least to have their own suite like they had before.

“Morning team.” Darren said and the sounds of their fingers on the keys were a comforting noise. She forgot how much she missed it. “Sorry about the radio silence but things have finally calmed down. I hope you guys had a good night.”

“We slept for almost a full day and gorged on free hotel food. Perks of the job. But we’re going to need a real place to stay,” Phase told them.

“I’ll keep my eyes on the listings for you guys. You know that last place was over charging you right?”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Feint rolled her eyes, and then the door dinged and then they walked off. Filing into their serving area they could smell the fresh food that was just laid out.

Feint put her phone down for a second to get a plate and eggs while adding some bacon. Yumi and Shade had to fight a bit for the pancakes and Phase was just getting coffee and some toast. It took a bit of work but they found a table in the corner to continue talking.

“Anyway, you guys have work for tonight. A location that’s being sent to all of you.” Darren pressed enter and that message was already delivered to them. “Hope you guys like skybox seats.”

“Are these really skybox seats?” Feint asked as she climbed onto the roof. She looked around at the slanted building top. There were a few pipes and vents around her but in the center was a huge window that opened up to the sky. With no moon tonight it made things wonderfully darker for the lot of them. They were on the outskirts of the on near an old stadium.

Yumi walked past her and then kneeled downward to stare through the glass. Narrowing her eyes she watched as some of the brightness was stripped away. It revealed to her a cage arena and stands surrounding it. The stands were filled and the arena had two participants. A pair that were currently fighting desperately.

“So what is this?” She asked glancing back at her friends.

“It’s an arena.” Shade said as he joined her. “Where sponsored freaks go to fight and get paid.”

“Sponsored freaks?” Yumi repeated and Shade nodded.

“People like us. Look.” She did as he asked and her masked zoomed into the cage. A large burly man threw himself into the wall suddenly, the impact making her wince. However there was another smaller man wearing a bandana. The burly man threw himself into the other but he disappeared and he crashed into a wall.

“Oh. Dick Squad RX users.” Yumi mumbled.

Feint shook her head. “Can you stop using that phrase?”

“Nope.” She sat down on the edge of the window.  “Phase, pass the popcorn.”

“Popcorn doesn’t exist Yumi.” He said and kneeled down next to her. He watched the fighter teleporting around the arena peppering in quick hits before getting away. He narrowed his eyes and whispered, “That can’t be him.”

“You always eat it all before the rest of us get some.” Yumi said missing his comment.

Phase rolled his eyes, “That was one time.”

“One time too many,“ Feint added simply much to Phase’s chagrin. “Anyway, let’s focus on the mission.”

“Please.” Phase said and then looked through the window again. Instead of the arena he was focusing on the stands. “Can you guys see what I see?”

“Yeah. We’re looking at some guy.” The guy in question was black and wearing a dark red hoodie. He had braids and a tattoo on his cheek. He was shouting at the cage, waving his fist. He was surrounded on all sides by a bunch of other guy, similar tattoos either on their faces or symbols on their jackets and clothes.

“That guy’s name is Rook. He’s the current leader of the Vanguard.” Shade told them.

“Hold on.” Yumi said and frowned. “Rooks are chess pieces aren’t they?”

“Yes. But he got that name for a specific reason.” Shade said. “Rook was the right hand of the last leader. When the previous leader was supposed to be killed, Rook took his place. Rook almost died and for that he got to be the successor to the gang. Which happened last year when the old leader was finally killed.”

“How dangerous is he?” Phase asked, still focused on the arena and the matches.

“Enough that he’s gotten the attention of the Royals.”

Phase nodded slowly and went back to staring at the cheering man. He didn’t seem that dangerous but then again on first glance neither did any of them. He wasn’t going to under estimate them.  “You know a lot about this guy,” he said and looked at Phase.

Shade faced him and shook his head, “We’ve got history. Used to be one.”

“You used to be with the Vanguard?” Yumi repeated.

Shade nodded, “Long time ago. And I got out.”

“Okay that bombshell aside. What do we need with him?” Yumi asked folding her arms.

Feint checked their debrief, “We need to get close to him. He has information on both the Royals and potentially Enhance.”

Both Yumi and Phase turned to stare at her, “Enhance? What’s this guy doing with information on Enhance?” Yumi asked. “Thought they just dealt the stuff.“

“That’s what we need to find out.” Phase said and resumed the watching of the match. The teleporting guy was a very good fighter. The burly guy was still running into the wall trying to catch him but he didn’t look like he had much left in him.

“Any ideas on how to get close to him?” Feint asked.

They were silent for a long few moments and then Shade spoke up. “Let’s get sponsored.”

“Sponsored?” Feint repeated.

Shade nodded. “All of us are for the most part, freaks. If we can get into the tournament and get sponsored by Rook we’ll have the chance to get close to him and his gang. Rook loves a good fighter.”

Yumi snorted, “You make it sound like we’re going out for try outs to the baseball team.”

“It’s something like that.” Shade said and shrugged. “We need a good contact in the underground to find out when a testing tournament happens. But once you get past that you’re in.”

With a nod and not moving his gaze away Phase said, “Then the question becomes which of us is going to do it.”

“I want to do it.” Yumi said almost instantly.

They all looked at her and she folded her arms as she took in their gaze. “No offense Yumi, but you’re the only one of us that doesn’t have Enhance running through them.”

“I’m just as strong as you guys.” She told them and narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t just a place to fight its to put on a show. Grandstanding, getting the crowd hyped up? All things I do best. And bottom line, I’m gonna do it.”

“You’re not wrong.” Phase agreed finally and ran his hand through his hair slowly. “You’re sure about this?”

“Very.” She looked at him and he knew that tone. No use arguing.

He was quiet for a long time before nodding his head. “Alright. Let’s try and set this up then.”

Feint looked between the two of them and wanted to argue but she didn’t. Closing her eyes she sighed heavily and shook her head. “I’m out voted here.” She looked at her and then put her hand on her shoulders. “Phase said it already but I’m saying it again. Be careful.”

“Aren’t I always?” She asked. “I mean, what’s my middle name?“

“That’s what worries me.” Feint said simply.