If someone were to ever tell me that I'd been on a cliff overlooking a beautiful scenery as the sound of the crashing ocean below us rang out, sundown imminent within the next few hours, I'd assume I was on some romantic date with the love of my life.

But I wasn't. I was here for training.

And the love of my life may have been there with me, but that was too scary to think about at that point.

It didn't seem like the safest place to train to me. The only thing that stopped us from going over the edge of the cliff was a fence built out of rope and wood. Any kind of force would unearth the wooden pegs and they'd be falling onto the ocean rocks below. Not exactly the safest place to train in the world.

"My teammates and I would come out here all the time to spar and train," Vince explained as he looked out into the sea, and it made me feel like kind of a jerk for thinking that this wasn't the best place to train, even if it was the truth.

There was still so much I didn't know about my parents, even with all that I'd learned. I wondered when I'd be ready to hear absolutely everything, if I even got the opportunity to.

"Obviously, I would refrain from going near the edge of the cliff," Vince advised, shrugging before he looked over to me. "Except for you, Violet. Since you can fly it's not much of a danger to you."

I turned toward Aiden, a scowl evident on my face. "You really just tell him everything, don't you?"

"Probably because he's jealous," Anthony chided quietly beside me.

Aiden opened his mouth to say something was without a doubt going to be rude, but his father cut him off with a laugh. "Hank and Nay actually filled me in on the details of all of your powers," he informed us. "Though I'm sure Aiden is jealous about not being able to fly."

Aiden looked incredulous that his father picked on him in front of all of us, and I couldn't help but find it incredibly amusing. He knew just how much of a pain his son could be and he was going to make fun of him just as much as the rest of us did.

As Vince went on to explain that he had brought us up here to spar with each other just like his team had, I couldn't help but stare off into the ocean at the setting sun. It was such a beautiful scene; it was not a place where you'd expect to see people fighting with each other. But I shouldn't have been surprised.

My parents had stood where I was standing. The only other time I had been somewhere I knew my parents had been was when I had gone to the house we'd all lived in together, or inside of RV. I wonder where else I'd been that they had been too.

I realized I was zoning out when Dex elbowed me in the side, snapping me out of whatever trance I had been in. I looked over at him and offered a weak smile, which he returned. I wondered if he was thinking about his parents too.

"Let's see..." Vince looked over all of us, as if he was trying to decide who to choose to spar together first, even though I knew right away who he was about to pick. "Aiden and Violet are up first."

Aiden and I scowled at each other. Vince picked the two of us to go first for his own entertainment. The only other pair that may have been just as entertaining would probably have been Aiden and Dex, but it seemed like Vince would have rather seen Aiden spar me first.

"Okay," Vince sighed as Aiden and I stood across from each other, our three teammates off to the side to watch. "Now the purpose of this exercise is to show each other what you're capable of, but you're not trying to seriously hurt one another. This is the same goal you have when you fight members of Redrum or any rogue superhuman or human."

So that was the point of this exercise. We spent so much time fighting together and focusing on other targets that we weren't paying attention to each other. And knowing what your teammates could do was beneficial in the long run.

Aiden had petty fire powers he used predominantly, and his physical attacks were weak. He relied way too much on his fire, nearly forgetting the fact that he could control all the elements and even talk to animals. I didn't see how that last power could help him much in combat anyway, but I didn't pay attention much to what he did during fights or training unless I deemed it important. Especially because it was Aiden. But it turned out this wasn't the best way of going about things.

"I'll stop you when I think you've done enough," Vince continued, and it was good to know he was there to finish it for us since both Aiden and I were known for going overboard. "You guys are good to start. Ready, set, go."

I didn't even hesitate as I flicked my fingers immediately after he said go, causing a rock to go flying right toward Aiden's head. He raised his arm to block it, the rock crashing against his forearm instead of his forehead. He stared at me incredulously.

"Oh, so we're not holding back then?"

I shrugged. "Guess not."

Vince opened his mouth to say something, but we both ignored him as Aiden's hands engulfed in flames and all the rocks and any other kind of heavier debris on the ground floated around me, ready to go whenever I chose to throw them.

As I dodged his fire attacks one by one, Aiden was growing more and more annoyed. Though I didn't pay much attention to him, I'd been on his team long enough to expect what he would do with his fire. I wasn't surprised when he was able to dodge most of the rocks I threw at him, most likely for the same reason.

Growing frustrated, Aiden now cupped his hands around his mouth and started shouted. I thought for a moment that this was it, he'd finally gone crazy and getting hit with a couple of rocks was all it took to get him there. But it only took a moment to see what exactly he was doing.

I looked out toward the setting sun as something caught my eye. I squinted as I tried to see what the giant mass was, my mouth gaping open when I saw it was a gigantic flock of seagulls flying right at us.

"When'd you start being able to do that?" I screeched, in awe by just how many birds came rapidly toward us.

Aiden smirked at me. "Maybe it's time you start paying attention to more than just Dex!"

That was rich coming from him, but I said nothing of the sort as the birds came crashing down on me, pecking away at any part of me that they could get to. Even so, it wasn't hard enough to break the skin or even be more than a slight annoyance, so I knew Aiden wasn't trying to hurt me badly. That was nice to know, at least.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do. There were plenty of rocks laid about that I could have easily used to swat the seagulls away, but that would do doubt kill whatever I hit, if not at least hurt them. If this was a real enemy I would have had no choice and would have had to do it, no matter how much I didn't want to, but this was only training. I didn't want to injure practically innocent birds for a training session.

This being the only thing I could think of to do, I sent a burst of energy outwards, the birds were immediately pushed back in multiple directions. They seemed to realize that I was much more than they bargained for as they flocked away, even with Aiden calling after them to come back.

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Is that as good as you've got?"

Suddenly without warning, I was knocked off my feet and crashing to the ground. I looked up to yell at Aiden, assuming that this was somehow his doing since we were sparring, but was shocked to see the rest of my teammates crashing to the ground right after me, knocked over by a near invisible force that I soon realized from the flash of red was Carmine.

"Hi!" she greeted once she finally stopped moving, Kristie being the last to crash to the ground. "Long time no see!"

Without even saying anything else, she was suddenly clamping something down on Kristie's wrist before dashing off again. Anthony went to move, but Carmine was even quicker. One of these gold bracelets were suddenly clamped down on his wrist in a blink of an eye.

Though I was distracted for a moment by whatever Carmine was trying to do, I could see Tom and Striker making their way up the hill, not even attempting to be sneaky as Carmine had already dealt with the element of surprise. We were all back up on our feet now, both Anthony and Kristie trying their hardest to yank the tight bracelets off themselves.

Vince took a protective step in front of us all, as if this was an instinct to him, which I was sure it was. He had been a leader of his own team. But I'd never seen Aiden step in front of his team to protect us, instead only doing it to fill his ego.

"Hi, Violet," Striker grinned at me, creepy as always. "We missed you."

Tom's grin matched his uncle's. "The base is so boring without you."

I could hear Dex growl from beside me, and I grabbed onto his arm to stop him from advancing forward to early. We couldn't go into this completely blind with no strategy. That had never helped us before.

"Do you maybe want to explain what exactly you want?" I ordered, even though I was sure it was the same as always, just to cause us problems. "Or are you just coming here to pick a random fight?"

Suddenly, Kristie began convulsing beside me, dropping to her knees as she clutched onto her wrist that the bracelet was wrapped around. Before I could even acknowledge what was happening, Anthony was following suit and collapsing a well, his wrist in his other hand.

"What did you do?" Aiden demanded, but Carmine only laughed. Her teeth were starting to turn yellow.

"Remember that stuff we used to keep Violet brainwashed for weeks?" Striker questioned, as if this would be something we'd easily forget. "Well, Redrum been working on that formula so that it can work without even having to be digested."

Kristie and Anthony continued to convulse, grunting and groaning as whatever was happening to them continued to happen to them. I crouched beside Kristie, grabbing onto the bracelet to try to remove it, but it immediately burned my hand, causing me to pull away.

Pushing me out of the way, Aiden was now by Kristie's side. Knowing that this would not be the best time to argue with him, I moved to Anthony's side instead. His bracelet also burned to the touch.

"These bracelets can only be removed by the person who placed them," Carmine cackled, waving her hand as if we weren't aware of who was the one to put the bracelets on them.

Dex reached for Anthony's bracelet, but I stopped him before he could touch it. My hand was red and burning from when I had touched it, and I did not want him going through the same thing, especially since his powers required him to physically touch a lot more than I had to.

I doubted that the bracelets could only be removed by Carmine, especially with how strong Dex was or I could be. But when they were that blistering hot, it was not a good idea to touch them. I could only imagine what they were doing to Anthony and Kristie's skin below.

Kristie and Anthony suddenly stopped convulsing, breathing jaggedly as they tried to calm themselves from whatever agonizing pain they had just gone through. I turned closer to Anthony to see if he was okay, but soon realized this was not the move to make when he lashed out, throwing me as far away from him as he could. From the grunt of Aiden and the growl of Kristie I overheard, I assumed she did the same thing to him.

I was expecting as much, so I was able to twist around and land on my feet, albeit sloppily. Aiden, however, had been so blinded by his feelings for Kristie that he did not see it coming, slamming down onto the earth right on his back.

Vince moved to go help his son, but stopped short. It was obvious that he wanted to protect him, but knew that it wasn't what he needed to do if he wanted Aiden to get stronger. Dex, however, didn't think the same way, and he was by my side immediately.

"We really have to deal with this shit again?" he glowered, his hand on my lower back to make sure I was upright and okay. "I thought it was bad enough when it was just you we had to deal with. Now we have to deal with two?"

I couldn't help but agree that it was annoying, but it was not surprising. I pretty much expected Redrum members to have some kind of trick up their sleeves now.

As Anthony pushed himself up off the ground, I turned to see Kristie was already towering over Aiden, who was still on the ground. I was not ready to fight my own teammates. It seemed like today's lesson had been a lot more important than I'd thought it'd be. Too bad we didn't get to finish it.

"I'm not fighting you," Kristie spat down at Aiden. "I want nothing to do with you."

Aiden stared up at her in shock, seemingly unable to move as Kristie turned away from him and began to stalk toward me, Anthony doing the same as he made his way toward Aiden. It seemed whatever they were under, they knew exactly how to hurt us the most.

Kristie said nothing else as she suddenly shifted from her beautiful self into a jaguar, baring her teeth as she growled at us. I felt frozen in place, unaware of what I was supposed to do. Did I fight with my full strength or try not to engage? How could I ignore a giant cat who wanted to fight?

Dex was nowhere to be found, so I assumed he was invisible somewhere near us. This was confirmed when Kristie suddenly swiped her paw sideways, bashing against something we couldn't see. Dex suddenly became visible again as he flew backwards, slamming down on the ground hard. Sneaking up on a jungle cat was not the option.

She stalked back toward me, and I tried to think of my options as quickly as I could. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her, but this wasn't a training session like earlier. I most likely had no choice but to do what I had to do and deal with the apologies and feeling bad later.

When someone suddenly jumped in front of me, I expected Dex, or even Aiden. But as Vince stood there, blocking me from the threat, all I could do was stare at him. For a moment, I wanted to ask why he was protecting me. We'd only met just weeks before, and his son did not like me. But then I realized that to Vince, personal relationships weren't what were important when it came to protecting people. He was a hero, and that was what heroes did. That was the entire point of the DAU.

Vince's hands engulfed in flames, and I couldn't help but think just how much he looked like his son in that moment. I could only imagine what he was like when he was fighting by my parents' sides. I wished more than anything that I could have been able to see that.

Kristie made a beeline toward Vince, backing away as he threatened her with his fire. I could see Aiden nervously trying to make his way over toward us, but Anthony was too fast and wouldn't let him past. Carmine acted as a second wall, stopping him if he was able to get past Anthony if even for a quick moment.

With Kristie preoccupied with Vince, I saw this as my opportunity to focus on somebody else. I could see that Dex was now busy fighting hand-to-hand with Striker, which meant there was one person left who was not preoccupied. The person I probably wanted to deal with the least.

However, Tom was nowhere to be found as I took a moment to actually look around and pay attention to my surroundings. I thought that that was odd, but didn't let my guard down as I knew he hadn't just left. He wasn't going to run away from a fight; he was there and he was watching. He was waiting.

When I turned back toward Vince and Kristie, my heart immediately dropped. He fought against her as much as he could, bravely and selflessly, but nothing would stop Kristie as she pounced forward, snarling as she sunk her teeth right into Vince's neck. He let out a choked breath as blood poured from his wound and Kristie's mouth.

Aiden screamed from somewhere behind me, a familiar scream I'd heard once before from a boy who watched as his parents was brutally murdered right in front of him. Just like with Dex's mother, I was frozen in time as I watched Vince fall backwards, his throat still in Kristie's teeth as his lifeless body tumbled backwards off the cliff, right over the useless fence.

I thought maybe if I was fast enough, I could fly down and grab Vince before he could hit he rocks below. But I knew I wasn't fast enough, and I knew I wasn't strong enough. I wished nothing more at that moment than that Hank and Nay had told me and taught me how Enders were able to take other people's powers, if it meant I could borrow from Dex and Anthony and save Vince from falling.

But even with all of that, I knew that there was no point. He was already gone before he fell. There was nothing I could do to change anything now, no matter how much I wanted to.

When arms suddenly wrapped around me from behind, it wasn't he usual warm embrace that I was used to. I couldn't even see where Dex was at that point. All I knew for a fact at that moment as that Tom was behind me, my back pressed up against his chest.

I'd been right. He was waiting for his opportunity to strike. He knew I had been on guard before, but after what Kristie had done to Vince, all of that defense was gone. He knew exactly what would get to me and used it to his advantage.

"Hello again," Tom grinned, and I felt his teeth against my ear as he clamped my hands down against my chest. "Sorry to say, but you're not getting away this time."

Before I even had the chance to react, giant cuffs were being placed over my hands, covering them completely up to my forearms. He let me go, and as I tried to use my powers to throw one of the many rocks strewn about at him, nothing happened.

Tom laughed. "Those handcuffs cancel out your powers," he informed me, and my jaw dropped. "So right now, you're useless."

I knew that that wasn't exactly true. Even without my powers, I still had physical attacks that I could resort to. But I didn't know exactly how well-trained Tom was in that sense, and with his electrical powers that could stun me if he needed to, there wasn't much I could do if he wanted to throw me off the cliff now.

Maybe my fear was evident, because Tom laughed again. "I'm not going to throw you off the cliff," he told me, clearly seeing me glancing toward it. "That would be a big waste that I'd get in trouble for."

I wanted to know what he meant, but knew that there was no point in asking. It was clear they wanted me alive, though I didn't know exactly for what. I could assume it was because I was an Ender, but something told me there was more to it. Me being an Ender was most likely just a perk that they would want to take advantage of.

"There's really nothing you can do against me now, Violet," Tom grinned, taking a step toward me as I took a step back. "You either come voluntarily, or I take you by force. It's your choice."

There was no way I was going anywhere voluntarily with him. I may have been powerless, but I refused to back down like a scared little girl. I was not scared of him. I was done being scared.

"Come and get me then, Jester," I spat, not about to go down without a fight.

He scowled at my use of the name, and at that moment I didn't even know why I'd used it. But it was enough to piss him off, which was good enough for me.

An electric current shot down my spine then as someone else gripped the back of my neck. My entire body went rigid as I fell forward, collapsing onto the ground.

"This was taking too long," Carmine spat as I faded in and out of consciousness, Striker being the one who had struck me as he now stood beside her. "Wipe your soft spot for the girl away and do your job."

I couldn't move. My vision was going black. I had no idea what had happened to my teammates, but I assumed Aiden had been knocked out since his wailing had come to a stop. I couldn't see what happened to Dex, or even Kristie or Anthony now as my visions continued to blur until everything around me went black.

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Well, uh... 2020's sure been something, huh?

It's been a tough couple of months. I'm currently in quarantine and you'd think that would give me more time to write, but school is even more difficult and time consuming now that it's all online. Not to mention I've been bedridden for the past few weeks due most likely to a sprained neck so I haven't been able to do anything at all. Most of this was written before I got hurt but it wasn't completed yet and I couldn't even sit up and write when I was bedridden so this took much, much longer than it should have.

We're getting to the good stuff though and I'm so excited. Y'all are in for a time. I've had the rest of the novel planned since I was fifteen years old. That was almost eight years ago. So I could say I'm pretty excited for what comes next.

I'm going to be focusing on this story more than my other two ongoing ones because I just want too finish it while I focus on attempting to self-publish something during this quarantine. I started working on Managing Boys before I got injured but I wasn't able to touch it for weeks. I'm going to try to work on that while finishing this up as well. And I'm pretty excited about it!

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!