Three men burst out of the elevator and marched straight down the hallway toward John.
They looked ready to hurt him. John didn't want trouble right now, so he turned to run.
But as he spun around, two more men appeared, blocking his path. He thought they were just trying to intimidate him, so he stood still, waiting to see what would happen.
One of them threw a punch.
John had no choice but to defend himself.
"I will assist you, sir," Mark said reassuringly.
John shot upward, smashing through the ceiling in an attempt to avoid the fight. But one of the men grabbed his leg and slammed him back to the ground. Two others jumped on him. John reacted instantly, kicking them off.
Someone behind him threw a punch.
"Behind you, sir," Mark warned.
John ducked and drove his elbow into the man's abdomen.
Then another attacker landed a hard blow to John's liver, leaving him disoriented.
"Fuck! Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" John shouted at Mark.
A man slid beside John and yanked his leg, dragging him across the floor. Another slammed into him, smashing them both through the floor and into the level below.
"My sincerest apologies, sir. I will not fail you again," Mark said.
The four remaining men dropped down through the hole and formed a deadly line, all dropping into fighting stances.
"I don't get it… Why aren't they using their powers?" John asked.
"Because doing so would risk hurting their own allies. You made a good decision fighting here, sir. The tight space limits their options. That's why the man slammed you through the floor—they're trying to force you into a wider area where they can use their powers freely."
"Well, I didn't exactly choose to fight…"
A man lunged at John. He kicked him away, but it was only a distraction. Another attacker threw a punch straight at his face.
"Block, sir!" Mark exclaimed.
John threw his hands up just in time, shielding his face from the blow.
Another man kicked a massive chunk of the wall toward John, temporarily blinding him with dust and debris.
"Worry not, sir. I'll be your eyes," Mark said. "To your right!"
John still couldn't see clearly, but he threw a blind punch to the right. It connected solidly.
Someone jumped behind John and pushed him forward with both legs, sending him stumbling toward the four men. One of them punched him, but John managed to block it just before impact.
John grabbed the man's arm, twisted it, and took him down to the ground, finishing with a heavy stomp to his face.
"Watch your back, sir!" Mark warned.
John spun around and punched the attacker in the face. Another man tried to sneak up behind him. Suddenly there were too many to track. Someone locked John's arms behind him in a tight deadlock.
The other four men got back up and unleashed a brutal flurry of punches across John's body. His clothes tore with every impact. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Eugh…" John grunted as he felt his ribcage slowly cracking under the assault.
"ARGHHH!!!" John let out a guttural roar like a wild beast. His eyes began to glow a bright, menacing red.
The men slowly backed off, unsure whether to continue.
Then—two powerful laser beams blasted from John's eyes, slicing straight through their bodies like butter.
The man holding John in the armlock watched in horror but refused to let go, desperately looking for a way to escape or kill him quietly.
"LET GO OF ME, ASSHOLE!" John roared, his eyes still glowing red.
He let out another savage roar and ripped through the man's arms, breaking the deadlock with raw strength.
The man screamed in pain and terror as blood poured from his torn arms like a waterfall. He looked up just in time to see two laser beams blast through his head.
"I was waiting for you to do that, sir," Mark said once the hallway fell silent.
John blinked rapidly in confusion. When he finally took in the bloodbath around him, horror filled his face.
"What… What happened…?" he whispered.
"What a strange phenomenon. Just like last time, you don't remember what happened," Mark noted.
"Wha— What the f…" John stammered, still trying to process the scene. "What the fuck are you talking about…?"
"You killed them, sir. Just like you did in the laboratory."
"Bullshit! I didn't kill anyone! The last time I killed someone was probably Karlis—the guy you told me about."
Mark stayed silent for a moment. "It's best if you get out of here, sir."
---
"The cunt still had the audacity to try and apologize," Benjamin muttered.
"It was so weird… One second he was a complete monster, and the next he was apologizing," Aya explained to Hannah.
"What do you think happened?" Diego asked.
"There's no way he just suddenly remembered us all after Hannah told him some random story," Mitch said.
Hannah's eyes widened as a realization hit her. "You guys remember when we tried to rescue John?" she asked.
"Wasn't really a rescue…" Milo grumbled.
"One of the scientists—a woman—said something about 'it' working on John," Hannah continued. "Maybe… just maybe whatever they gave him in that isolation chamber made him lose his memory."
"I do recall that… So you're saying John basically got his memory wiped, and you told him a conversation that you two had and that made him remember everything?" Milo asked.
"I didn't make him remember everything. I just ignited his brain to recall what he had forgotten," Hannah said.
"What should we do, mate?" Milo asked, turning to Benjamin.
"Ask her. She's known the bloke for a long time," Benjamin replied.
Hannah sighed, narrowing her eyes in thought. "Knowing the kind of person John is, he'll probably come back to find us, apologize, and try to join us again to help."
"So the plan is simple: we wait for him to come back," Hannah said.
"What do we do after John joins us? If that even happens," Alfie Jr. asked.
"I… I don't know. We're all so lost right now," Hannah admitted, rubbing her forehead in frustration.
Benjamin gently massaged her shoulder. "We'll figure it out, yeah?"
"John's stashes were all taken by the rich during Perfect Preparation Day. I say we pay HEX a visit and steal their weapons—with John's help," Benjamin suggested.
"But we still haven't made it through stage one of our plan, so let's wait for that chap to arrive first," he added.
Hannah glanced at Benjamin, she knew something was wrong. "You still hate John, don't you?"
Benjamin clenched his jaw, he couldn't hide his emotions good enough.
"He lost his memories, Ben" Hannah said.
"We don't know that yet. He's insane, Hannah, insane. Don't you remember him talking to his fucking hallucinations back then? He's gone barmy, that's why I don't trust him." Benjamin said.
"Yeah, Hannah. As much I'd like to side with you, I've been thinking the same thing Benjamin has. At first glance he might seem friendly then the second he'll rip our heads off." Mitch said.
Hannah groaned, "Well then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
"How about we all move to mine and Emma's base?" Mitch suggested.
"Yeah let's do it." Benjamin said almost immediately.
"Uh.. what..?" Aya stammered, "What do you mean?"
"I mean we're going to move to their base" Benjamin base.
"Why so sudden? And we've lived in this base together for years!" Aya said.
"Listen, luv. I value my life more than this base." Benjamin said, patting her shoulder. "Let's pack our things up."
"I would also like to add that Knox is definitely on my tail." Hannah said.
"What makes you say that?" Diego asked.
"When I came to see the spot where Knox's dead body was supposed to be, it wasn't there. Not only that, there wasn't a single blood trail from the spot that his body 'dissapeared' at. Which leads me to believe that he was saved by one of his companions." Hannah explained.
"And of course, that would also mean that Knox is still on the hunt for me. If John hadn't arrived yesterday, I would probably be dead by now." Hannah said.
"We need to kill Knox, he's our biggest obstacle right now." Hannah said.
"But how?" Diego asked.
Alfie Sr picked up the neuro-disruptive electric baton they had used on John earlier back in the laboratory of HEX, "I think I know how."
---
John panted heavily inside his room at HEX HQ, panic rising in his chest. He was terrified someone would find out what had happened.
Then the door opened. There was no doubt who it was.
"What you did was not your fault," Sovereign said calmly as he stepped inside.
"Those five men were not sent by me." He added.
"Then who did? What did I do for some random group of men to attack me?" John asked.
Sovereign chuckled. "A woman. A woman sent those men."
"A woman?" John repeated, confused.
Then his eyes widened as he remembered the moment he had accidentally grabbed the woman who was only trying to check if he was alright.
"I see…" John muttered.
"Well then, why are you here?" he asked.
"Your crime of murdering those five men has been dismissed. I burned their bodies to ashes and eliminated their entire family bloodlines to avoid any suspicion. Basically, all evidence has been erased." Sovereign explained.
"I know what the fuck it means," John snapped, standing up aggressively. "But why the hell would you do that?! Are you treating me like a king now?! Am I your king?!"
Sovereign grabbed John's shoulder and gave him a single, cold smile that instantly silenced him.
"You should already know the answer, John," Sovereign said as he turned and walked toward the door.
"This is your first step in destroying everything."