Boom
Taro and Ocho's fists met, pushing protestors back as their Spirit-fueled fists made contact.
Taro gritted his teeth, pain shooting up his arm.
"This guy's no joke. His Martial Arts Mode must enhance his strength past mine." Taro thought.
The protestors scattered at the sight of the enraged Deputy, pushing each other as they gave the Spirit-users space.
"What was that?" One voice muttered from the crowd.
"Daddy, do they have superpowers?" A little girl asked her father as she pointed to the Deputies. "Mr. Pink-Hair did something cool too."
Taro threw another punch at the Deputy.
"This is their problem. We couldn't care less if the public finds out about Spirit. Matter of fact, it would help us." Taro thought as he threw a high hook at Ocho.
Whoosh
Taro's eyes widened as his fist jolted to a halt.
Ocho stared at the teen. The Deputy held Taro's fist in his palm, letting out a sigh as he looked to Sev, who nodded as he smiled.
"They're planning something." Alex thought, holding the other two boys back from engaging in the fight.
Sev stepped forward, trying to quell the murmuring as the protestor's eyes focused on him.
"Hello all! Now, listen. I know you dissenters aren't bad people… You're just misled." Sev shrugged as he continued.
"Shit. We should've struck before he started to talk. If we hit him now we'll look like the aggressors." Alex thought. "Most of these people are just suspicious civilians. It won't take that much for them to go back to complacency."
Sev gestured towards the rebels. "These dissenters are obviously well versed in some visual trickery they've been using to con people into agreeing with their violent ways."
Sev threw his hands up in admittance. "But we will admit that it works, and that, since we care for our citizens, we will hear them out."
The Deputy turned to the rebels. "Dissenters, how would you like to be civil about this? We can talk inside that cave, so that you can report that all there is to the underground structure is a few paintings we'd like to preserve from the public eye."
Sev smiled at Alex, who he could clearly see was the oldest, awaiting an answer from the woman with green hair.
Alex stared, trying to decipher the Deputy's true intentions.
"He could be telling the truth, or we could be walking into a death trap. Either way, attacking right now would only fuel their next propaganda run against us." Alex thought.
"Alright, let's talk it out." Alex said after a few moments of tense silence, sighing through her gaiter.
"Great! Let's talk inside the cave, so that we won't be involving innocent civilians, like you love to do." Sev pointed to the cave with that smug look on his face.
Reluctantly, the group of rebels followed the Deputies into the cave.
As they walked, the crowd began to clap, slowly going from a confused daze to a victorious roar.
"Peace for everyone!" One voice screamed.
"We did it!" More voices chanted.
Hendrix, Chase, and Taro followed Alex, awaiting a sign for them to attack, but none ever came.
The rebels ducked under the caution tape, followed by the four Deputies, the crowd cheering on as they grew closer to the cave.
The armed guard that stood in front of the cave opening stepped to the side, his eyes watching the rebels with a menacing stare.
The group walked up to the entrance of the cave. It was blocked off by a metal wall, only broken up by a metal door with a screen jutting out of the middle of its right side.
Sev pushed towards the front of the group, pressing his thumb against the screen as a green line moved up and down the frame.
Ding
The door swung inward, revealing a dark and wide staircase, only lit by the occasional flickering lightbulb hanging from the cave ceiling.
"You'd think the government would invest in some interior design." Chase muttered, looking around to see none of his friends laughing.
"Ha!" Sev patted Chase's shoulder as the blue-haired boy looked back in confusion and disgust. "You really are something, kid! Now, let's get down these stairs." The Deputy pointed downwards as Alex led the way.
The staircase only became wider with each step the group took, eventually leading into a cavern that ended in a fork in their path that broke into five tunnels, curving downwards into pure darkness.
The cavern was covered in paintings, just like Sev had told the protestors.
The paintings were strange, seemingly random in subject, mostly done by means of spray paint.
The flag of that old Japanese regime, the words "Seven Heavenly Idiots" in big and bold letters, but one of the paintings caught Hendrix's eye.
The pink-haired boy stared at the painting in both awe and fear, a familiar feeling.
"Those eyes…" Hendrix muttered, catching the attention of the rest of the group as his words echoed off the cold stone surrounding them.
Hendrix stared at a painting of a pair of eyes high up on the wall to the left of him. The eyes were yellow, with pitch black pupils in the centers of them. They looked down on the group, sending chills down the rebels' spines.
Suddenly, Sev snapped at his fellow Deputies.
Bam
Ocho kicked Taro down the leftmost tunnel, sending the teen into the void of darkness as he chased after him.
"Taro-" Chase called for his friend before a blinding white light exploded in front of him. He covered his eyes, wincing at the pain. "What the fuck-"
Thud
Tine kicked Chase down the second to left tunnel, the blue-haired boy tumbling down into the darkness just like his friend.
His screams echoed down the tunnel as Tine jumped in after him.
Before anyone else could react, Tennie shot a blizzard at Alex, sending her spiraling down the second to right tunnel with Tennie's flurry of snow flying behind her.
"Oh no!" Sev exclaimed, wearing a sarcastically scared expression. "It looks like the cave's collapsed on us! The Correctional Force's Deputies, who've trained vigorously their entire lives, are the only ones that could POSSIBLY make it out alive!"
Hendrix gritted his teeth from the other side of the cavern, his fist so tight he could feel his own fingers digging into his palm.
"We'll say you died heroically, y'know? We wouldn't want Mr. Pink-Hair to die without saving one of us!" Sev grinned. "But the Officer did say to bring you back alive, so let me show you something."
Sev flicked his finger, sending a precise shot of wind straight towards Hendrix's legs.
The boy had no time to react. The windshot swept Hendrix's legs from under him, sending him into a spiral mid-air.
Whoosh
Sev shot forward, his feet levitating off the ground as he sped through the air with his hands in front as he collided with Hendrix.
Thud
Sev grabbed the boy, restricting his arms as he flew down the center tunnel.
"Shit!" Hendrix muttered to himself.
He shot his strings out from his back, immediately curving them towards the tunnel entrances.
Crunch
Sev and Hendrix stopped mid-air, the Deputy gritting his teeth as he looked up to see Hendrix's strings latching onto the sides of the tunnel's opening, the steel ropes digging into the rocks as pebbles fell past the two.
"Just give up!" Sev ascended, flipping forward as his boots pointed down towards Hendrix's head.
The pink-haired boy's eyes widened as he crossed his arms in front of his face, his strings still trying to pull him towards the tunnel's entrance.
Bam
Hendrix felt the cold hard sole of Sev's boots meet his face.
The last thing he could remember before it all went black was the cold wind passing by him as he fell down the tunnel, his strings receding into his back.
In the other tunnel:
Alex opened her eyes, the side of her face lying against the cold, wet floor of the cavern she found herself in.
She jumped to her feet, looking around as she wiped the blood from her gaiter.
Whoosh
Alex heard wind rushing from above her. She looked up to see Tennie sliding down the tunnel on a ramp of ice.
"You've got the same gimmick that my sister used." Alex chuckled. "Too bad for you."
Tennie landed on the cavern ground. Her fists tightened at every word the rebel spoke.
"I knew it was you." Tennie said. "I knew it was you from the moment Sev gave the Officer your description."
"You know me?" Alex said, putting her fists up as a precaution.
"I thought getting assigned to the Asian state would make sure I wouldn't see you again, but here you are." Tennie looked up at Alex, her icy white hair giving way to her deranged blue eyes as she pointed at the rebel. "You're the one… You're the one who killed my mother."
Alex's eyes widened, her heart sinking as the Deputy's words echoed off of the stone walls.