[4] The Ghost Town

[Friend or Foe]

Piper
Kaden
Orion


He had lost his hostages.

That was all the steaming Orion could think of as he and his two companions walked past the dusty old sign that greeted them to 'Olde Town.' The town was basically exactly what you would picture as an old western ghost town.

Neither Kaden nor Piper were planning on saying anything to obviously angry man. He had just lost his hostages and his partner-in-crime. The only reason he wasn't lashing out at them was because it was their quick thinking they bought them a temporary escape route from the men who had attacked them.

"Let's recap," Orion said as he peered into the empty houses. "We're ambushed in the middle of a desert, lose our vehicle, our hostages, and one of our own," he notes the missing Ares, "And now we have about ten men, armed to the teeth in energy guns, looking for us in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere."

"You forgot the big black man with the giant blue cannon," Piper offered.

"Oh, yea," Orion said, "The one that vaporized the kid."

"Dimitri," Kaden grunted, "His name, was Dimitri."

Orion didn't respond. He just looked away, and turned around all together. "Well, we need to figure out what to do. We got away, but we lost Ares and the other hostage. Zena. We need to regroup with him."

"What are we going to do about the black guy and the ones with guns?" Piper asked, "I mean, we can fight good, but those guys had some serious firepower in their guns. We're talking machine guns, rifles, a rocket launcher..."

"Grow up," Orion grunted again, "If they come, we fight, and we kill them all. I don't care who shows up or gets in my way, I'm getting to that mansion with my hostage, and anyone wants to die along the way, is more then welcome to."

















(Aaaaand you're in a ghost town. Balrog and his guys with lots of guns will be lookin' for ya.)

[Piper Juunanagou]

“Whatever,” Piper threw back as she turned away from the obviously infuriated Orion. Putting the maniac’s musing behind her, she slowly started down the large, wide ride that ran down the middle of the town’s main stretch. She’d only gotten a few feet when she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. From the lack of force in the grip, she could already tell who had moved to stop her.

“Where are you going?” Kaden asked as the green-eyed woman looked over her shoulder at the handsome courier.

“I’m going to scope out the town,” Piper replied after a moment of silent deliberation. “There might be something of use hidden here,” she added as she picked up Kaden’s hand and slowly lifted it up off her shoulder. “This is, after all, supposed to be some type of television program,” she continued as she turned and pointed toward a large, dilapidated building with a brick tower that towered a few stories above its neighbors.

“If you need me, I’ll be around that structure,” she said as she drew her handgun and clicked off the safety. “I’m sure I’ll be able to hear if a convoy of gun-totting thugs is shooting the place up,” she added with a faint smile.

“Be careful,” Kaden shot back as he turned his attention back to Orion, who seemed to involved in his own frustration to pay attention to the two other hunters. “Orion and I will…pass the time?” He muttered as he shrugged his shoulders.

Keep an eye on him. Piper asked the courier telepathically as she cast one last fleeting glance at him. He still might be planning something… She added, her thoughts trailing off as she spun around and began to jog toward the decaying structure that lie down the road.

As Piper traversed the slowly eroding road that ran through the middle of the ghost town, she couldn’t help but smile inwardly. After the disaster in Central City that had nearly claimed the lives of her team, she was elated that she had managed to save Zena from the one-eyed warrior. Unfortunately, Piper knew she’d have to do a lot more work in order to make up for the losses she had been able to avert earlier in the day.

Szar… She thought with a frown as she stepped up the creaky wooden stairs that connected to the building front porch. And now that young kid. Outwardly, Piper was frowning as she lifted her eyes up to the heavy sign that still hung outside the towering structure. Despite the fact that years of intense sun and wind had almost completely peeled and faded the paint, the redhead was still able to discern the words ‘Sheriff’s Office’ emblazoned across the planks of wood.

Moving forward, Piper reached out and wrapped her hand around the rusted door knob. When the door turned out to be locked, she let out a frustrated sigh and gave it a hearty twist. With a screeching akin to a dying whimper, the entire handle broke apart in the woman’s firm grip. As the door ominously creaked into the shadowy building, the redheaded medic took a step back and wiped her dirty palm on the leg of her blue jeans.

“Has to be something in this place,” she assured herself as she clasped both of her bony fingers around her gun. Lowering herself a little closer to the ground, the woman slid into the building and quickly leveled her gun in front of her. After a few seconds of scanning the poorly illuminated room, she let out a sigh of relief and lowered her gun back down to her side. “Now I’m just getting myself all worked up,” she mumbled as she tried to put on a smile.

Bang!

Immediately, a scream loosed itself from Piper’s throat as the jarring sound echoed throughout the empty police office. After swallowing her heart back down, the already uneasy redhead turned around and saw the cause of the noise: The old, now broken door to the building was being rattled against its frame by the wind. Glancing over toward the far wall, Piper could see that the wind was being let in through a thoroughly broken window.

“I hope they didn’t hear that,” Piper sighed as she reached for an old oil lamp sitting on a broken stool near the corner of the front room. After tinkering with the wick, the woman scanned the cluttered, dust-ridden lobby until she managed to find a matchbook inside the front desk. Although the box itself smelled faintly of mildew and a few of the matches had been ruined by water damage, Piper was able to finally find one that still worked.

With a hiss, the lamp burned to life—casting a dull, amber glow across the lobby of the derelict sheriff’s office. Feeling rather content with her scavenging skills, Piper stuffed the remaining, undamaged matches into her side pack. As the sunset slowly began outside, the woman made her way through the door that lie behind what she could only assume served as the reception desk. As she stepped out into the hallway, Piper couldn’t help but shiver from the noticeable plunge in temperature.

“Deserts always get really cold at night,” she muttered as she held the flickering oil lamp closer to her body. “Come on, Piper…you know that,” the woman assured herself as she heard the creaking of floorboards from somewhere within the large, multi-story police complex.

“This place didn’t look that unsettling from the outside,” Piper mumbled as she heard a gust of wind that sounded convincingly like a long, drawn-out moan. As the woman rounded the last corner and made her way through an open doorway, she found herself presented with several options. In front of her, there was a wooden staircase that seemed to barely be holding itself together. To her left and right, there were two sets of wooden doors.

“Maybe I should go find Kaden,” she whispered nervously as another cold spell befell her.

Before the redhead could even turn around, the door she’d just walked through slammed shut with a thunderous bang. As Piper tried to stifle a scream, the lamp in her hand flickered just once and then died for no apparent reason…leaving her shrouded in darkness.

[Kaden]

"Keep an eye on him..." Kaden repeated to himself.

The courier would have much preferred going with Piper to scout out the town, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have a word with Orion first. Actually, given what Kaden knew about saiyans, it could hurt plenty. Either way, Kaden didn't have any other brilliant plans, and there was something that had been eating away at him. Approaching the saiyan warrior, Kaden took several seconds to build up his courage.

"Hey," the courier finally managed.

"Hmmm?" Orion turned to face Kaden. "What is it?"

The one-eyed warrior had been standing in the middle of Olde Town's main road, surveying the surrounding buildings with what Kaden assumed was interest. Maybe the saiyan had come up with some masterful strategy that would let a kid, a medic, and a one-eyed warrior a chance of beating a group of well armed, coordinated soldiers.

"We kill them all..." Kaden began. "Anyone who wants to die along the way is more than welcome to. Your words."

"Ugh..." Orion crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. It was clear where this was going. "What of it?"

"You're not really planning on killing everyone who comes after us, are you?" Kaden's voice carried a tone of disbelief, though it mostly for posterity.

"I'm planning on staying alive. If people come after me, I'm going to do whatever I have to."

"You don't have to kill anyone, though."

"Are we really going to do this?" Orion let his arms drop to his side and turned away from Kaden. "The more time we spend wasting our breath, the less time we have to prepare."

"Yeah, we're going to do this!" Kaden took a step towards Orion. "I'm not just going to stand by and watch you kill people."

"Then leave. Or close your eyes. Doesn't matter to me."

"Well it matters to me. If I do nothing, and people end up dead, then I might as well have killed them myself."

"You can't be serious..." Orion turned back towards Kaden, his annoyance written across his face. "This isn't the time or the place for preaching."

"This is exactly the time and place for 'preaching.' Did you forget why we're even here? Some psycho thinks that it would be fun to watch people scramble for their lives. He treats people like toys and life like it's a joke. That's wrong and you know it."

"This isn't about right or wrong. If my choices are kill or be killed... well, it's a pretty damn easy choice."

"Have you ever lost someone you've cared about?" Kaden watched as Orion narrowed his eye. "Well I have. I know all too well the pain and grief that comes along with it. You blame yourself, you blame the people you loved, you blame god, and in the end your left with nothing but that all-consuming agony and the knowledge that you'll never see that smile, or hear that laugh ever again. Even if you don't care about the people you kill, that's what you're forcing upon their loved ones."

"Oh grow up!" Orion took several very menacing steps towards Kaden. "What do you want me to say? Life's a fairy tale and people are good and nothing bad ever happens? You want to just lay down and die? Do it on your own."

With a shake of his head, Orion turned and began to walk away. Without think, Kaden closed the short distance between them and placed a hand on the saiyan's shoulder, intending to stop him. That was a mistake.

Almost instantly, Orion grasped Kaden's wrist and ducked under his arm. Before the courier knew what was happening, his arm was twisted behind his back and Orion was gone. Releasing his grip on Kaden's arm, the siayan shoved the young human away from him. Kaden tried to stay on his feet, but stumbled and fell to the dirt road.

Despite the pain in his shoulder, when Kaden picked himself up from the ground he was smiling. Orion watched the youth with a furrowed brow. Nothing was said for several seconds, the only sounds that filled the air were those of Kaden dusting the dirt off his clothing.

"I think you're a good guy, Orion."

"Don't presume to know me," the saiyan shot back. "You've known me for no more than a few hours."

"You're right... I don't know you. But I do trust you." Kaden took in a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves. "When it comes down it, when a decision needs to be made, I trust you to do what's right."

"Kids..." the saiyan muttered to himself as he turned away from Kaden.

"Well... I guess I'm going to go see what Piper found." Kaden mussed his hair for a moment. "We'll meet you back here in a couple minutes."

As Kaden walked away from Orion, he felt a weight press upon him. The courier thought he would feel relieved to say something that needed to be said, but that wasn't how he felt at all. As Kaden thought over what he had said, he almost laughed. It was so typical. He had just been another bright-eyed kid spouting the kind of nonsense one would hear in a saturday morning cartoon.

What right did Kaden have to question Orion? Or anyone else, for that matter? In the end they would do whatever they thought was right. It wasn't his place to try and force his viewpoint onto other people.

Kaden wasn't a pacifist by any means. He had no problem fighting to defend himself, or with other people doing the same. He also knew that fighting could get out of hand and, no matter how much he wished it weren't so, people would die as a result. The only thing he could do was try to keep that from happening.

"Protect everyone, huh?" the courier mumbled to himself. It sounded just as ridiculous out loud as it did in his head.

~~~

"Hey Piper, you in there?"

It was a fairly rhetorical question, but it seemed polite to ask anyway. As he approached the front door of the Sherrif's Office, Kaden could feel Piper wandering through the single-story building. Eyeing the broken doorknob with a smirk of amusement, Kaden pushed open the door and walked in.

The front room was boring enough. Behind the front-desk, Kaden noted a pile of sun-bleached paper that had fallen to the floor. The dust that covered most of the room had been disturbed, obviously by Piper. Turning away from the lobby, the courier walked into the hallway beyond.

At one end of the hallway there seemed to be a series of small rooms. Some of them might have been offices, some of them might have been used for questioning, or maybe they were there so the Sherrif had a place to nap in peace. Kaden shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention towards the other end of the hall.

Despite the waining sunlight, Kaden didn't have too much trouble seeing. The light the eminated from his eyes, though soft, was enough for him to be able to make out the cast-iron bars of the prison cells at the other end of the hallway. It was obvious that Piper wasn't inspecting the cells, so Kaden decided to check out the small rooms first.

There were only three rooms, upon further inspection, and the doors to all of them stood open. Inside the first was just a desk, cluttered with faded papers and various mundane objects. If Kaden needed a paperweight, he knew exactly where to look. The second room had only a pair of chairs set up facing each other; neither interesting nor useful. The last room was where Kaden hit the proverbial motherload.

Squinting, Kaden could barely make out a figure in the darkness of the third room. They seemed to be searching for something on their person, but their back was turned to the door, so Kaden couldn't be sure.

"Piper?"

"Gah!"

There was a sharp crash as the woman spun around. Kaden leapt backwards himself, not expecting his allies' surprised response. When the surprise faded, Kaden found the barrell of Piper's pistol staring straight at him. As the medic realized it was only Kaden, she holstered her weapon.

"Sorry," she offered.

"Don't worry about it," Kaden replied with a chuckle. The courier tilted his head as Piper seemed to crouch down and search the floor around her feet. "Whatcha doing?"

"I, uh, dropped the lantern I found."

"Ahhh. Well, allow me."

Stepping into the small room, Kaden held up his left hand. Ki streamed through the courier's arm, coalescing around his hand before fading into the air in a bright cerulean mist. The energy pulsed with a soft light, illuminating the small room.

"Thanks," Piper nodded as she scooped up the lantern. To both Hunter's surprise, it seemed to be still intact.

"So... find anything good?" Kaden looked around the room. There were several large wooden chests, most of which had been opened.

"A couple things. There was an old rifle and some ammo in one of those boxes," Piper pointed out the chest. Reaching out with his ki-free hand, Kaden scooped up the rifle.

"You know how to use that thing?" Piper asked as she withdrew a match from a pack at her side. In short order she had her lantern re-lit.

"An old gun like this?" Kaden scoffed. With a shake of his hand, Kaden dismissed the ki that he had been using as a make-shift lamp and hoisted the rifle up to his shoulder. "Not even a little bit." Kaden dropped the butt of the rifle and peered into the barrel. "Bullets are supposed to come out this end, right?"

With a shake of her head, Piper snatched the gun away from the courier. After inspecting the remainder of the wooden chests -- which revealed nothing more exciting than a couple blankets, a set of shackles, and another box of matches -- Piper and Kaden made their way out of the Sherrif's Office. Stepping out onto the worn dirt road, both human's shivered at a sudden gust of wind.

"Damn..." Kaden kicked at the dirt road.

"What?" Piper turned to him.

"I left my jacket back in the SUV." The courier looked genuinely upset as he spoke. "It was my second favorite," he explained.

"Second favorite?"

"I kind of... burned up my favorite a couple weeks ago."

"Kind of?" Piper arched an eyebrow at the courier.

"It's... a long story." Kaden turned his eyes from Piper to the horizon. "I didn't think it would get this cold when the sun went down, though."

"You'll manage," came Orion's voice.

Both human's turned to see the saiyan Hunter leaning against the Sherrif's Office. They had walked right past him. The one-eyed warrior's arms were crossed against his chest giving him an air of boredom. Pushing off of the wall, the saiyan approached Piper and Kaden.

"Was that all you found?" Orion's eye traveled to the rifle in Piper's hand.

"Pretty much," came Piper's reply.

"Is anyone close?" Orion asked, turning to Kaden.

Taking the hint, Kaden closed his eyes. A frown crossed his face as he focused his thoughts on trying to feel anyone other than Orion or Piper. With a sigh, the courier opened his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

"No, I can't feel anyone else."

"So we know that they're not too close," Piper added.

"Hmph," Orion grunted. He didn't seem reassured. "We need to figure out what we're going to do when they do get here."

"So," Kaden turned towards his one-eyed ally. "Got any brilliant ideas?"

[Orion]

"Ideas?" Orion repeated.

"You know, ideas," Kaden added redundantly. "Plans? Strategies? In case the bad guys come?"

The one eyed saiyan folded his arms over his chest and lightly snorted. "You two? With me?"

"I fail to see the humour," Piper returned.

"We'll improvise." Orion turned his head away from the two humans, staring down the dusty road. "We've got our very own enemy radar here, so we'll know that they're coming long before they can capitalise on our position, no matter if they know where we are or not."

"Not to question your tactics," Kaden started, despite the fact that the start of his sentence would be contradicted heavily by the following statement, "but those guys aren't exactly playing around, and we weren't raised in guerrilla warfare situations."

Orion returned his attention to the blonde haired human. "That's exactly why we're improvising. You two don't have the necessary requirements to perform a successful strategy against these hunters."

"I disagree," Piper rebutted. Every time her voice was raised in defiance to the elder saiyan, it grew stronger, as if every word Orion spoke agitated her just a little more. "We aren't idiots. I know how to handle a weapon. There's no reason why we can't --"

"It wasn't a discussion, woman," Orion snapped. Her determination reminded him far too much of a female saiyan. "These people ambushed us and stole my profits."

"Profits?" Piper seethed. Her grip involuntarily tightened around the rifle she found inside.

"Easy," Kaden cooed. He looked to the saiyan. "Can't you speak a little more, you know, tactfully?"

"Hmpf. My point is, these people are professionals. I've lived in war my entire life. You two don't have what it takes."

"But surely there must be something you have in mind?" Kaden prodded, seemingly unafraid of stirring the resilient warrior. "We aren't going to be sitting ducks."

"Exactly," Piper chimed in. "We don't need the giant scorpions to remind us that plans are better than no plans at all."

Orion attempted to stifle his anger. It wasn't because they were wrong; on the contrary, they were quite right. Waiting for death against an elite team of gun toting mercenaries was what would happen if they had no game plan for when they finally turned up. But Orion was formulating plans of his own; ones that involved Kaden and Piper ... but they didn't need to know the details.

Two hundred thousand zeni each. With both Dimitri and Zena captured or dead, Orion had lost his quarry. They were gone, and so were his hopes of walking away from this televised freak show with enough money to make himself invisible. Yet, Sebastian's offer still sung sweet words in his mind. Kill Kaden and Piper, and make four hundred thousand zeni. That's twice as much as he would've gotten for his previous hostages, and even then, he had to split the reward with Ares. With him also missing in action, Orion was free to wallow in the prize money, all to himself.

The saiyan's muscles tensed. As natural as it was for his mind to wander down that path, he knew that it would be something he would partly regret for the rest of his life.

"I think you're a good guy, Orion."

"You're right... I don't know you. But I do trust you."

"When it comes down it, when a decision needs to be made, I trust you to do what's right."

He clenched his fist. Kaden's words connected with a part of Orion that he wished was buried. It was a sense he had since he was young, a sense that most saiyans would ridicule him for, a sense that even the most scholarly of the warrior race could never learn nor understand. It was a sense of justice, of moral truth and freedom. Although he had no problem murdering others that threatened his life, or even stood in the way of something he wanted, there was more to him.

Kaden's take on killing was foreign and, for the most part, perplexing. He seemed to show concern for those that would cause him harm, or far more likely, death. Orion's moral justice never encompassed such a strange ideal, and it never would. But, Orion did know about honour, and about comradeship. The veteran fighter's blood boiled at the idea of turning in a teammate, someone who he could trust his life to, or someone who would trust their lives to him. His career as saiyan squad leader instilled in him these virtues that were already so poignant within him.

"When it comes down it, when a decision needs to be made, I trust you to do what's right."

Could he bring himself to turn on this team, even if it meant forfeiting a fortune in zeni? Would he sacrifice the last scrap of what made him different to every other saiyan in the galaxy, of the ideals that set him free of the slavery of the Cold Dynasty? Even though those ideals caused so much death and destruction, he always thought they were worth upholding at any cost.

Now, a broken shell of a man, those traits were pushed down deep, only occasionally reminding Orion that they were indeed still there, but nowhere near strong enough to interject in his decision making. Yet, in this Kaden ...

For the first time after Piper had replied in thinly veiled hostility to Orion, he smirked.

"You're right," he conceded, unfolding his arms. "We need to have a battle plan. Although you two might not be elite saiyan warriors, you can follow direction."

Piper tried to shield her amazement. Kaden, although surprised also, almost knew Orion's tune would ultimately change.

"So, what's the plan?" Kaden asked.

Orion lifted an arm and pointed it backwards, still looking to his two teammates. "My motto has always been: the best defense is a good offense."

Without another word, Orion's palm ignited with brilliant cobalt energy. A ki orb the size of a basketball erupted from his hand, soaring into the dilapidated building across the road. It collided with a loud boom, engulfing the decaying wooden structure in blazing light. When the dust settled, all that remained was smoldering debris.

"What the hell was that?!" Piper boomed.

"I'm not waiting for these morons to hunt us down," Orion informed. "If they knew where our jeep was on that desolate road, then they just heard that explosion. They'll come to us. That's when we strike."

[Kaden]

Another fleeting look out the dirt-stained window. Still nothing. Not that Kaden actually expected anything to be different, but he was growing restless and just sitting still was never something he had been good. Mussing his hair, the blonde-haired youth threw his back against the closest wall and slid down to the floor. Resting his arms on his knees, the courier's eyes darted about, hoping to find something distracting.

The room was fairly small, maybe a hundred square-feet, and covered in films of dust; even the slightest movement seemed to kick up another sneeze-inducing plume of dirt. Despite the cleanliness -- or lack thereof -- that room was in about as good a poisition as the Hunters -- perhaps "Hunted" was a more appropriate term -- could have hoped for; a series of windows exposed the main street of Olde Town and, more specifically, gave a good view of the structure Orion had decimated.

The building itself was simple and non-assuming; whatever purpose it originally served had been long forgotten, and the large sign above its front door was too faded to be of any help. At three stories tall, each story with a series of small rooms, Kaden guessed it was originally a hotel or inn of some kind. It was fairly irrelivant, but it gave him something to think about.

"Think this is going to work?" Kaden asked.

"It pretty much has to," came the reply.

At the sound of her voice, Kaden's eyes shifted to Piper. The medic had remained fairly still since they had arrived, sitting between two windows. Most of her time had been spent examining the various boxes of ammo that had been retrieved from the Sherrif's Office. From what Kaden could tell, most of it was useless.

"Yeah, I guess..." If they failed to fend off their attackers, the Hunters would either be killed or taken back to the mansion or... Kaden tried not to think of any other malicious plans Kai might have for them. "Don't you feel weird leaving him out there alone?" Kaden decided to change the subject.

"Not really." As she answered, Piper craned her neck to get a view out the nearest window. "He wouldn't have suggested this if he didn't think he could handle it," she reasoned.

"And it's not like he'll be alone or anything," Kaden continued the line of thinking. "We'll be helping."

Piper's only reply was to nod and turn her attention towards the Sherrif's rifle. Sighing, Kaden slumped further down the wall and reflected on their plan. Orion was positioned on the main road, closer to the wrecked building across the street. Piper would provided ranged support and Kaden would spot for her with his ability to sense energy. The courier shook his head and scoffed.

"Enemy radar..." Kaden mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Piper asked. Her attention, though, was clearly on checking the state of the rifle.

"Oh, nothing." The courier hadn't expected her to hear him.

"Is anyone nearby?" Piper followed up ratrher ironically.

"Uhhh..." Straightening up, Kaden closed his eyes and tried to focus his thoughts. "Not yet, no. Don't you think they're taking too long?"

"It's not surprising," Piper said matter-of-factly. "After Orion's little stunt yeah, they'll know where we are, but they're not going to just come running into town to see what's up."

"Makes sense," Kaden nodded, his eyes still closed.

"They'll probably try to split up and cover the town from both sides." Piper spoke as she lifted the rifle to her shoulder and sighted down the barrel. Her words came quickly and simply, as though they should have been obvious. "That'll actually work to our advantage, though. They'll expect the element of surprise to be their biggest advantage..."

"But it's not," Kaden continued when Piper's voice trailed off. He was connecting the dots. "It's their numbers. If they split up, they lose that advantage."

"Mhmm."

With yet another brief conversation ended, Kaden was left with nothing to do but focus on trying to find these mystery goons. But, again, his mind began to meander with nothing to lock onto. The courier hummed softly to himself, but that only lasted so long before mind-numbing silence overtook the youth once more.

"Y'know," Kaden finally began. "I actually signed up for this." Despite his eyes still being closed, the courier inclined his head towards the ceiling and smiled to himself.

"Oh yeah?" Came a half-response from Piper. Instead of replying, Kaden waited for a moment. "Wait, what? You signed up for this? On purpose?" There it was.

"Ha! Yeah... crazy, huh?" Kaden ran a hand through his hair. "I wanted to figure some stuff out and going along with this seemed like a good enough idea at the time."

"Figure some stuff out?" Piper repated.

Kaden opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself. Instead, he mussed his hair for a moment as he turned that question over in his mind. Eventually he smiled to himself tilted his head back towards Piper, an odd gesture since his eyes were still closed.

"Now that's an interesting way to ask. It allows me to either go into further detail, to dismiss the subject without you actually having to commit any amount of interest to what I say." Kaden nodded. "Smart."

"I was just... making conversation, I guess," Piper replied after several moments of silence.

"Ah, sorry. Talking just helps he focus on things. Like trying to find a bunch of bad guys with big guns."

"Talking helps you focus?"

"Yeah. I mean... it's just idle chatter. Half the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. It just gives me something to do with all my extra thought." Kaden scrunched his face. He hoped he didn't sound as stupid to Piper as he did to himself.

"You have some thought to spare, then?"

"It's like when you're really focusing on something, but in the back of your mind you're thinking about other things. It'll be just simple, stupid stuff at first, but it snowballs and suddenly the thing I was focusing on is what's in the back of my mind." Kaden hesitated for a second. "Or something like that."

"I know whatcha mean," Piper laughed.

Kaden smiled and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Idle musings were a great way to distract himself, but also a good way to sound like an idiot if he didn't have the presence of mind to pay attention to what was being said. With no other sign of their pursuers, though, Kaden's musings continued.

"This might sound kinda weird, but I'm actually really glad you're here," the courier said to Piper.

"Huh?" the medic looked up from the rifle in her hands.

"I mean... I was expecting everyone to be like, well, Orion I guess. Or Ares. I probably woulda lost it by now if everyone else was some kind of stone-cold killer." Opening his eyes, Kaden could tell Piper was searching for a reply. Unfortunately he wouldn't get to hear what it was. "There!"

Snipping around, Kaden's eyes burst to life with a crimson glow. Though he was face-to-face with a wall, there was no mistake. He could see people moving about, but just barely. It was difficult to tell whether their bodies shone with little light, or if they were still a ways away.

Kaden's face distorted with frustration. If he hadn't noticed these guys approaching because he was yapping away he was going to be more than a little annoyed with himself. Hopefully there would be time for self-depreciation later, though.

Pushing open a window, Kaden extended his hand outside and snapped his fingers. A flash of cerulean ki leapt from his fingertips, shooting only a couple of inches into the air before fizzing out. Having signaled Orion that their opponents were close, Kaden pulled his arm back into the window and returned to his seated position against the wall.

Inwardly, the courier let out a long sigh. There was still something he intended to do, but he had been putting it off since he found Piper in the Sheriff's Office. He had given Orion a sanctimonious speech about not killing people and it would hypocritical and, more importantly, wrong of him not to say the same thing to Piper.

What frustrated the courier was how hesitant he was to bring it up. He had no problems angering Orion, a trained saiyan soldier, but here he was shying away from doing the same to a woman half his size -- not literally, of course. And it wasn't even the fact that he was putting it off that was frustrating. It was the why of the matter that was annoying Kaden.

"Hey," he began. "Uh... try not to kill anyone, ok?"

Piper was silent for a moment before meeting Kaden's glowing eyes. She seemed about to reply, but instead turned her attention to the rifle in her hand. The medic seemed to consider the weapon for several seconds before returning Kaden's gaze and giving a simple nod.

"Yeah... ok." Though Kaden had no idea how sincere Piper was, he was willing to leave it, painlessly, at that. "Looks like it's about time to get this show started."

[Piper Juunanagou]

“Yea… okay,” Piper muttered as she narrowed her eyes and tried to spot any signs of the encroaching squad of gun-totting thugs. “Looks like it’s about time to get this show started,” she added as she clutched the old, wooden rifle closer to her chest. Rising from her crouched position in front of the dusty window, the redhead bit her lower lip as she looked down at Kaden. The young courier glanced over his shoulder up at the woman and lifted an eyebrow.

“Yes?” He inquired as Piper turned her attention toward the wall that he had been staring at a few moments beforehand.

“What direction are they coming from?” The woman asked as she turned her attention back to the crouched courier. “I think I’m going to take a higher vantage point,” she added as she let the barrel of the rifle swing down toward the ground. After a moment of what appeared to be silent deliberation, Kaden closed his eyes and let out a deep breath of air.

“North,” he whispered as he gestured toward the nearby wall without opening his eyes. When the courier opened his eyes, the medic was already gone, leaving nothing but a creaking door as a sign of her passage.

Leaving the dusty, decaying room behind her, Piper quickly made her down the hallway and up the creaking set of stairs that connected the second and third floor of the Olde Town hotel. Once she stepped off the third floor landing, the redhead took a moment to figure out which direction Kaden had pointed out to her. With a grunt and a blatant frown on her slightly haggard visage, Piper scanned the nearby doors.

“Should be right,” she muttered as she tried the knob of an old mahogany door on the other corner of the floor. When the lock turned out to be defiant, Piper smashed the door in with a combination of her foot and the butt of the old rifle. The busted door creaked inward to reveal a room that seemed to have maintained a little bit of its former glamour despite years of age and disrepair. Stepping into the suite, the redhead quickly located the large bay windows on the north wall of the room.

Not the best fortification. The woman pondered as she gazed upon the sheer enormity of the two massive windows. But this is as good a vantage point there is. She mused as she walked up to the grime-coated windows.

Looking outside, she could see the stretch of buildings that comprised the ghost town. Most of them looked just like the sheriff’s office—derelict and downtrodden. They were all just frames of wood and brick filed with rotting furniture and dead memories. Gazing down upon the lines of buildings, Piper pondered what kind of place this town had been in its heyday. Perhaps if she hadn’t been thrown into her current life or death, she could try and catch a glimpse of the town’s history through a landmark or two.

This place is going to get wrecked... She thought with a slight degree of sadness as a frown spread across her grim features. Despite the fact that they were inanimate objects, Piper felt a strange sense of fealty with the old buildings. After all, there had been many times in her life where she had felt—as melodramatic as its sounds—like an empty husk. Unlike Olde Town, Piper was beginning to change things around…she was trying to avert the catastrophe that would consume the ghost town in its wake.

As she cracked open the bottom half of the window, the woman caught sight of Orion. The crafty, one-eyed warrior was stalking his way through the alleys like a wolf on the hunt. Without even knowing it, the medic lifted the rifle up to her shoulder and found herself staring through the scope. Taking a step back into the room, she leveled the crosshairs with the man’s back. This was it. This was her chance to put down the rapid dog before he had a chance to compromise the security of Kaden and herself.

Try as she could to pull the trigger, Piper could not. In fact, she found herself shaking ever so slightly as she tried to keep the gun leveled with the fearsome warrior. In her head, fragments of her conversation with Kaden danced about—clouding her judgment.

I’m glad you’re here…

I probably woulda lost it by now if everyone else was some kind of stone-cold killer.

Try not to kill anyone.

"Damn it!" Frustration welled up in Piper’s eyes as she tried to pull that trigger. All it would take was a few ounces of pressure on one tiny hook of metal. After that, there’d be one less wolf in the sheep pack, but Kaden’s words held too much sway over the stricken woman. As she clenched her eyes shut, Piper felt a hand fall on her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she watched in silence as Kaden slowly lowered the barrel of her rifle with his other hand.

“You okay?” He asked upon noticing the tears in the corners of the woman’s eyes.

“Yea,” Piper muttered whilst recoiling away from the man’s calm grip. “I just need my medication,” she added as she fished into her sidepack for her orange bottle of pills.

“Medication?” Kaden asked as he stared out the open window and took a moment to peek down at Orion. If the courier was aware of Piper’s intentions, he chose not to air them. The one-eyed man, seemingly absorbed in his own affairs, was still oblivious to his audience.

“Migraines,” Piper replied as she scooped out four different pills and swallowed them. Over the years, the woman had mastered the art of downing several pills without need of water. She didn’t know whether that was something remarkable or unsettling. “Family pre-disposition,” it wasn’t entirely a lie. After all, she was prone to migraines, but the pills were mainly to ensure that all the chemicals in her brain remained in equilibrium.

“They’re closer now,” Kaden spoke as he opened the other bottom portion of the adjacent window. Extending his fist, the blonde courier channeled a small amount of shimmering blue energy around his hand. Upon extending his hand, the concentration of energy darted forward like a brilliant cerulean flare—a rather extravagant method of alerting their ‘comrade’ who had taken his position a block away from the smoldering ruins of the building that had befell his rage.

The one-eyed took but a second to verify the location of the two humans before returning his stare to the roadway that carved a path through the middle of Olde Town. Within minutes, the squadron of heavily armed soldiers would be marching their way through the ghost town. One way or another, Piper knew things weren’t going to be pretty.

“How close are they now?” Piper asked as she rested the barrel of the rifle on the windowsill. Leaning forward, she closed and eye and used the other to peer through the scope. Although the device wasn’t the most sophisticated, it magnified things enough that the medic could see what was going on near the base of the large dunes that surrounded the small ghost town. After a few tense seconds and no response from Kaden, Piper furrowed her brow and repeated her question. “How close are they now?”

The woman turned around to find Kaden staring at the other side of the room.

“They’re here,” he muttered in a half-startled, half-mortified tone as a heavy explosion ripped through the building. Like dead leaves, the southern half of the hotel went up in vibrant shades of orange and yellow. Outside the two windows, Piper could hear a cacophony of smaller explosions. It was the sound of a chorus of ki machineguns ripping apart the deteriorated town. From somewhere amidst the droning roar of the high-tech weaponry, the woman heard the distinctive roar of Orion as the one-eyed warrior mounted his offensive.

“We have to move,” Piper urged as the wall in front of them began to crumble from the heat of the fire. Stepping forward, the woman looped her arm around Kaden’s elbow and gave him a gentle tug toward a door leading to an adjacent section of the suite. “We have to try and find a staircase or a fire escape or a smaller building to jump onto… We stay here any longer and we’ll be joining this old thing,” she added with a heightened degree of urgency as the south wall of the room collapsed into the second floor.

“Yea,” Kaden muttered as he shook himself out of his momentary daze and turned to face the medic. “Come on,” the young blonde added as the pair began toward the nearby door in tandem.

[Kaden]

Damnit... damnit damnit damnit!

It was all Kaden could do to curse at himself. He had one job to do... one simple job. And now he and Piper were scrambling to make their way out of a building that was about to collapse on top of them. Some radar he turned out to be.

As he reached the closest door, Kaden tried the door knob to avail. Turning to Piper, the courier was about to ask what their next route should be. Instead, he found himself stepping backwards as Piper thrust her body into the door, knocking it clean off its hinges. Without wasting another moment, the medic dashed through the door, calling for Kaden to do the same.

Hurrying after his ally, Kaden tried to catch glimpses of Orion as they dashed past windows. There were several small explosions, and flashes of light, but the courier was unable to make out the one-eyed warrior. Turning his attention back to getting out of the building, Kaden was relieved to see Piper kick open another door, releaving a stairway.

Both humans bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time as the sound of cracking and crumbling wood chased them. A trapdoor at the top of the stairs opened up to reveale the flat-top roof of the hotel they had been hiding in. Immediately, Piper whirled about, trying to assess how much time they would have before the roof gave in.

Kaden, unlike his ally, hurried to the edge of the rooftop, hoping to gain a better vantage on Orion's last-known position. Unfortunately, the courier was unable to see anything before a deep laughter cut through his thoughts. Spinning in the direction of the voice, Kaden's body froze as he saw Balrog.

The muscle-bound man stood on the rooftop of the hotel's neighboring building. Even across the alley that seperated the two buildings, Kaden could hear the giant weapon on Balrog's shoulder whirr to life. It was the same weapon he had used to vaporize Szar and Dimitri and now it was trained on Kaden.

"Damnit..." was all Kaden could think to say.

Fortunately for the courier, his ally was much less absent-minded about combat situations. Before could so much as get out of the way, Piper was on the move. Sparks flashed from the weapon on Balrog's shoulder as the report of Piper's rifle rang out through the air. Kaden's head snapped from Balrog to the direction of the rifle, but Piper was already moving.

Dashing the last couple of feet to the edge of the building, Piper vaulted into the air. Both Kaden and Balrog watched as the medic soared over the ally as though it weren't even there. In mid-air, Piper flipped the rifle in her hand, gripping it as she might a baseball bat.

Realization slowly dawned on Balrog, but it was too late to do any good. With the full force of her leap behind her, Piper swung her rifle into Balrog's shoulder. With a grunt of pain, Kai's minion bent under the pressure of the blow. The butt of the rifle, to Kaden's surprise, shattered against the man's shoulder.

A flash of blue light lit up the roof-top as Balrog's weapon shot harmlessly into the air. Kaden watched as Piper continued her offensive. The woman dropped her ruined rifle onto the rooftop as she hopped into the air. With a quick spin Piper's foot slammed into the side of her opponent's head. The force of the blow sent Balrog stumbling backwards, dangerously close to the edge of the building.

Much to the amazement of both Piper and Kaden, Balrog managed to stay conscious and retain his grip on the giant weapon slung over his shoulder. With the surprise of Piper's assault over, the man looked more than ready to defend himself. With one arm gripping his weapon, Balrog pulled back the other and prepared to charge Piper. A charge that would never come.

Just as he began to move, a bolt of cerulean ki crashed into Balrog's chest. While the bolt didn't seem to do any direct damage, it pulled the musclebound minion's attention to the attack that was to follow.

Thrusting both arms forward, Kaden channeled a powerful wave of energy. The blast soared unerringly into Balrog's chest, striking in almost the same place as his previous attack. Balrog's eyes widened as the attack struck home, though he didn't seem as phased as the courier would have hoped.

Fortunately, direct damage wasn't Kaden's intent. The force of the attack pushed Balrog backwards several steps, sending him tumbling off the roof of the building. Relaxing for a moment as he watched Balrog fall from his sight, Kaden couldn't help but laugh. His elation wouldn't last long, though.

"What are you waiting for?" came Piper's voice.

Nodding, Kaden took a few steps away from the edge of the bruning hotel. He could hear the crackling of wood from behind him as he took several very deep breathes. Bracing himself, Kaden dashed towards the edge of the roof.

Thinking that he might actually be able to leap from rooftop to rooftop was probably one of the worst ideas Kaden had ever had. The ally wasn't particularly wide, and the building that Kaden was aiming for was several feet shorter than the one he was leaping from. Despite that, the courier still came up a little short.

Throwing his arms forward, Kaden managed to catch the lip of the roof. His body swung into the side of the building with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs. Struggling to breath, Kaden was genuinely amazed that he had the presence of mind to keep his grip firm. Before he knew it, though, he could feel himself being pulled up onto the building.

The strength and agility that Piper had so far displayed would have made Kaden feel more than a little embarassed in any other situation. Running from burning goons with guns and leaping from burning buildings had a way of putting things in perspective, though. Brushing himself off, Kaden climbed to his feet and took a moment to catch this breath.

"Thanks," he said with a smile.

"No problem," came Piper's reply.

The medic looked down at the broken rifle with a frown. The plan of supporting Orion had gone out the proverbial window. If Kaden to choose any of the Hunters in Olde Town to make it on their own, though, it would definitely be Orion. For now, the courier was more concerned with figuring out a way to fend off Kai's thugs.

"We should probably get moving, huh?" Kaden asked his ally.

"It would probably be a good idea, yeah."

Piper scanned the rooftop for a second, nodding to Kaden when her eyes settled upon a trap door like the one they had just escaped through. As the medic pulled open the door, Kaden took a minute to invoke his second Sight. There didn't seem to be anyone in the building below them, but he was also troubled to see no signs of Balrog.

Kaden was the first to hop down the trapdoor, and making their way down to the ground floor of the building they were in brought no real surprises. Just as they were about to exit, though, Kaden stopped Piper with an outstretched arm. Someone was approaching the door they were about to leave through.

Motioning for Piper to remain silent, Kaden fixed his eyes on his target's light. Wisps of ki began to coalesce about his right hand as the courier raised an open palm to the door. Bracing his right arm with his left, Kaden took a deep breath and waited. As the doorknob turned, he unleashed a powerful blast of ki.

The blast crashed against the door, exploding outwards and enveloping the approaching rouge. Smoke from the explosion wafted into the night air, revealing Kaden's target. The man's chest was exposed through a large hole through his shirt and some kind of vest he had been wearing. Kaden grimaced at the sight of the man's charred flesh, but his eye's remained fixed on the sight. It was a couple of seconds before the man's chest began heaving with labored breathes.

Unbeknownest to him, Kaden had been holding his breath in anticipation. Lumps had formed in his stomach and throat and his mind had began preparing himself for the possibility that the man hadn't survived the blast. When it was clear that he had, the anxiety lifted from the courier in an instant; he couldn't help but smile.

As Kaden was worried for the life of a man who had probably intended to kill him, Piper had made her way through the opening in the wall where the door used to be. Kneeling down, the medic retrieved the ki rifle that had been thrown to the ground. As she stood up, Kaden moved to join her. With no real desitination planned, the two of them stood on the main street of Olde Town, trying to decide which way to go as quickly as possible. They weren't quite quick enough.

Walking out of the alley that Piper and Kaden had so recently leapt over came another thug. He was obviously surprised to see the two Hunters standing over an unconscious man with bits of door laying about the street. Piper was the first one to act, raising her newly-found rifle to her shoulder and pulling the trigger.

Nothing happened.

All three heads snapped to the rifle as Piper pulled the trigger once more. Realizing what happened, the thug leveled his own weapon at the two Hunters. Panicking, Kaden reacted as quickly as he could. The courier's hand snapped forward, hurling a bolt of ki towards his attacker. Kaden could only watch in horror as the blast sailed past the rifle, his intended target, and struck the man squarely in the face.

A sickening thud filled Kaden's ears as he watched the man crash to the ground. Several seconds past as Kaden watched, hoping to see some sign of life. Even as Piper pulled at his arm, the courier didn't move. His eyes were transfixed to the man's fallen body. It wasn't until Piper phsyically moved Kaden that he gained the presence of mind to move on his own.

His feet were moving on their own, Kaden had no idea where he was going. He was aware that Piper had a firm grip on his arm and was leading him somewhere. He was aware of the fact that she was saying something, though he had no idea what.

The image of that man falling backwards, his face concealed by a veil of smoke, continued to play in Kaden's mind. His eyes fell to his free hand, which was beginning to shake. The preaching, the righteousness, the moral soap-boxing speeches, all of it, replayed in Kaden's mind, an ironic and damning soundtrack. As Piper continued to tow Kaden along, a single question escaped his lips.

"What have I done?"

[Piper Juunanagou]

For the first time in a while, Piper Juunanagou felt alive. Beads of sweat rolled down from the crown of her head. She could literally feel her blood pumping with each thunderous beat of her heart. Pure, raw adrenaline coursed through her body, eliciting a euphoria leagues above that of any narcotic she had used in the past.

Unfortunately for Piper, however, nothing comes without a price…

“What have I done?” Kaden muttered as the woman dragged him away from the corpse of his unintentional victim and toward the momentary safety of a nearby alley. All the time she tugged and pulled the young courier, he continued to repeat the question and shake like a terrified child.

When they finally crossed over into the cramped corridor, Piper managed to trip backwards over a large chunk of debris. With a grunt, she slammed painfully onto her backside, inadvertently dragging the mortified Kaden down with her. The man smacked the ground just a few inches in front of the woman and then fell backwards onto her. The young courier was still shaking—his despondent gaze was still locked on the hand he’d use to inadvertently strike down the duo’s would-be assailant.

“It’ll be all right,” Piper mumbled as she tried to think of a means to console the man without making things horribly awkward for the two of them. After a couple of seconds, the redhead put her arms around the young man’s chest and simply held him. As he was right now, Kaden reminded Piper of herself at several of her lower points in life—broken and dejected. For that reason alone, she couldn’t help but feel like she had some stock in his current dilemma.

“I killed a man,” the blonde youth whispered. The wavering tone of his voice made Piper wonder how close he was to actually crying over his accidental murder of the thug. “I spent all that time lecturing Orion, and then I went and made myself a hypocrite,” he added as his head drooped forward.

“It was an accident,” Piper replied as she took one of her hands and ran it through the man’s hair. “It wasn’t like you ripped his entrails out with your hands or tortured him for a few hours.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that I shouldn’t have acted so haphazardly,” Kaden muttered quietly. “If I would have taken just another second or two to line up the shot…” he added, trailing off as he let out a shallow sigh.

“If you hadn’t of acted as quickly as you did then that thug would have killed me,” Piper spoke softly as she peered toward the road that lay a few yards before them. In the background, she could still hear the slowly encroaching chorus of energy guns. The medic wondered for a second whether or not Orion was still alive out there somewhere, and once that second was up, she forgot about the savage altogether. “You saved my life, Kaden,” she whispered as she gave the despondent man another light hug.

“That doesn’t—,” before the man could finish, Piper put a hand over his mouth.

“I think I heard something,” the redhead whispered after leaning forward so her mouth was next to his ear. Not even a second later, a silver blur zipped past the pair of ‘hunters.’ Both of them felt the warm air of the rocket-propelled grenade, but neither was quick enough to move away from the explosion that followed.

With a deafening bang, the building directly to the duo’s left exploded—its side wall literally ripped to pieces by the might of the blast. As Piper and Kaden scrambled to their feet, they were caught by the wave of force that rippled out from the explosion. Like a pair of children’s toys, the twosome was plucked off the dirt and sent careening toward the brick wall of a nearby building.

Piper let out a shriek, but before she faced the fate of a fly against a windshield, her body erupted into a cloud of light particles. A split-second later, she materialized back into existence within the interior of the building, and like the misfortune that it was, her momentum carried her all the way into a bookcase. A few yards away, Kaden hit the floor and tumbled all the way into the far wall. Aside from the tumble, the courier seemed all right, which meant his reflexes must have been keen enough to clear his path through the brick.

“Are you okay, Kaden?” Piper yelled over as she clenched her teeth and ripped herself free of the broken bookcase. As she pulled away from the piece of furniture, she felt shards of sundered wood rip through her relatively thin clothing and into her skin. Not wanting to lose face in front of an already dejected Kaden, the woman swallowed down the screams. Fortunately it wasn’t that hard…it seemed a history of masochism was at least good for something. After gaining her composure, Piper sprinted over to the courier, who finally started to stir.

“Yea,” Kaden shot back quietly as he rose off the ground. The tameness of his voice and the lack of a vibrant smile on his face was a clear an indicator as any that the man was still grappling with himself over the recent events.

“We need to move quickly,” Piper spoke as she extended a hand toward the lethargic man. “I promise to let you beat yourself up about what happened all you want once we get out of this hellhole,” she said with what she intended as a form of jovial sarcasm. After a moment or two of nothing, Kaden reached out and took the redhead’s outstretched hand.

“Excellent,” Piper said warmly as the two began toward the back of the dark, decaying structure.

[Friend or Foe]

Gunfire erupted from above them. Kaden and Piper were running down an alleyway in the ghost town, dodging a slew of single shots from three different rifles. There was no way either of them could get up to the rooftop where the trio was firing, so they shuffled down a corner, trying to get to the main road where they would have more open space.

"This way!" Piper shouted, ushering Kaden past her as she ducked to avoid losing her forehead.

"Look!" Kaden said as they made it into the main road. "It's Orion!" He shouted, just as lept onto a porch nearby, narrowing dodging a ki bullet. Piper followed him up.

Sure enough, standing in the middle of town, right near the dried up fountain which sparkled under the moonlight above them, was the saiyan named Orion. He was in a fast-paced close-combat duel with the bulky black man known as Balrog. There was no talking, or taunting, or insult-throwing. The two men were just focused on dispatching the others. None of the soldiers around them were interfering in the fight.

Orion suddenly caught a fist just as Kaden and Piper started watching. He twisted the black twist around and send Balrog to his knees. It would have been very easy to just break the man's arm off, but instead he looked up, noting his audience, particularly the blonde man.

Try not to kill anybody...

The cycloptic saiyan threw Balrog down, the battle won. "Leave us alone," the man told the boxer. "Or I'll kill you and everyone you've ever known."

He began to walk away, very causually. It seemed like out of a movie, but the soldiers did as they were told. Balrog, who had yet to actually say anything since arriving, watched in pain while Orion walked away arrogantly.

There was a lot to be said about Balrog and his past. The things they brought him under Kai Demolic's wing and the pain driving him towards being the best had still not yet been uncovered. But they were still there, and one thing was for certain: he was not the kind of guy to play by the rules.

By the time Kaden shouted his name, Orion had already been shot twice in the back.

The saiyan looked with one good eye right at Kaden, even as he fell to his knees. He couldn't say anything because of the blood pumping from his lips, but if he could, he still would have been silent. Some things didn't need to be said.

He should have been mad. He should have taken the chance to kill Balrog and wipe out every single person holding a gun to his head. He should have got their names and wiped out their families, then disgraced their bodies. He could have gotten away with it, and probably got rich for doing it. Instead, Orion took two bullets to the back. He would die there, on that island.

He wasn't angry. He didn't regret it. He didn't know why.

By the time Orion's blood face hit the ground, Kaden and Piper were already caught.
























(Orion is dead. Kaden wins a stasis grenade. Piper survives)