"Here." Kenneth stepped up to Zoe with a glass of water in one hand and his other hand closed over something in his palm. When Zoe turned to him, he unraveled his fingers to reveal three different pills. "Something to take the edge off."

Zoe examined the pills in Kenneth's hand as she anxiously rubbed up and down her own arms. "What are they?"

"They'll help you relax." Kenneth smirked as he gestured both his hands forward. Zoe was still reluctant, looking between Kenneth and his hands. "I'm glad you're hesitating to accept unsolicited drugs, Zoe. It's good to know you're not a moron. But, you can trust me. I'm not going to give you anything that you can't handle."

"Then, you should appreciate me asking what they are and tell me." Zoe firmly pressed.

Kenneth sighed and pushed the water even closer to Zoe. She accepted it as she watched Kenneth pick up one pill after the other to explain them. One was an anti-nausea pill, nothing special but, definitely useful. The other was suppose to calm her anxiety, which had been tormenting her for hours. Kenneth was very vague about the third, bright orange one. He said Hiro took about five of them before an important meeting, on good days so, on a bad day, only one should do the trick for Zoe.

"So, mother approves of these, then? I can ask her if I should take these?" Zoe bitterly asked as she plucked the pills out of Kenneth's palm.

"You trust Rin to give you pills over me?" Kenneth chuckled.

Zoe shot Kenneth a half-hearted glare as she bounced the pills idly in her palm. "Good point."

Without anymore questions, Zoe tossed the pills and her head back before she gulped down some water. Zoe hated swallowing pills but, she hated this situation a whole lot more. The amount of guns all around were making her sick. She didn't want to look at another gun, let alone hold one and fire one. However, this is the agreement she made with her mother so, she could go back to Cincinnati and she would do anything to go back.

"Alright! This is the one we're using." Rin announced as she turned away from the wall full of various handguns displayed in little spotlights against a black wall.

Zoe and Kenneth turned to see her open one of the black drawers under the display and grab a full magazine from within it to load the gun. Zoe could feel her muscles tense as she watched her mother so proudly cock the gun and start across the room to get to the station you were suppose to shoot from. There were only two stations, both with paper targets a few feet ahead, in this customized shooting range located in the basement of a high-class mansion.

Zoe didn't know who's house this was but, Rin came here with confidence and greeted the owner before she led Zoe, Kenneth, and a few bodyguards downstairs. They were immediately greeted by a tacky seating area centered around a stripper pole once they stepped downstairs but, against the far end of the room, there was a shooting range and a huge wall of polished guns. For whatever reason, Rin preferred this method over simply going to a professional shooting range.

"Get the lead out, everyone!" Rin hollered when she realized nobody was moving.

Kenneth and Zoe hurried after her, along with two bodyguards. Zoe raised the big earmuffs from around her neck and placed them over her ears just as her mother did, Kenneth following suit. As if she had done this a thousand times, Rin stood in between the two black walls of the station she had picked and lined up her shot with the paper silhouette on the far wall across from her.

Zoe fearfully backed away and put her hands over her earmuffs to brace herself for the sound of the gun firing. She was already shaky and nervous and totally not prepared for this. So, when Rin took her first shot, Zoe violently flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. To everyone's surprise, though, Rin only fired one shot before she turned around to Zoe.

"Make the same shot and we can go home." Rin said as she pulled an earmuff aside and turned to Zoe, who was still squeezing her eyes shut with her hands over her earmuffs. "Zoe!"

Zoe flinched again and opened her eyes to see her mother staring very sternly at her. Zoe pulled her earmuffs down around her neck to hear what her mother was saying.

"Did you hear me?" Rin bitterly asked as she adjusted her slightly disturbed suit. "Or were you too busy squealing in the corner like a child?"

Zoe gulped and straightened out her posture. "Sorry.."

Rin didn't entertain Zoe's apology as she gestured the gun towards her daughter. "Take it and shoot. Hit the same spot and we can go home. Alright?"

"Okay.." Zoe whispered, her nerves too shaken to speak any louder. She didn't even really process what Rin had said because, if she had, she would've realized just how ridiculous it was for Rin to want her to shoot exactly where she had just shot. In one attempt.

Zoe raised both of her shaky hands to Rin, hesitantly accepting the gun. Rin didn't care to be gentle as she closed Zoe's hands around the gun and grabbed her arm to drag her towards the station she was suppose to shoot in. Zoe anxiously panted, her heart racing, and fingers trying to find their place on the gun. Meanwhile, Rin grabbed the earmuffs around Zoe's neck and pulled them back up to sit on her head and cover her ears.

Rin only pulled one earmuff off for a moment to speak into Zoe's ear. "Shoot." And then, she let go and backed up.

Zoe took a deep and slow breath in and out as she let her eyes fall shut. Kenneth's pills hadn't kicked in yet but, she sure hoped they would very, very soon. There was no way she would get good at shooting with her hands shaking as much as they were. Holding the gun was difficult but firing the gun would be a whole different hurdle to get over. All Zoe could think about was Rin holding down her finger and forcing her to fire. That was the first time she had ever shot a gun and it was forced on to her in the most uncomfortable situation she had ever been in.

Finally, Zoe decided she was just going to shoot and get it over with. Rin was going to make her shoot, whether that be now or tomorrow. All Zoe had to do was pull the trigger. Nobody was even in front of her this time. It was just a piece of paper and a wall. All of that rationalizing was enough to make Zoe open her eyes, line her gun up with the target, and shoot, which made her eyes squeeze shut again. All of the nerves she had talked down within herself came rising back up just as quickly as the gun fired.

Rin stepped forward and Kenneth did as well, both of them flanking Zoe's small form. As Rin stared ahead at the target, Kenneth grabbed the gun out of Zoe's hands, set it down, and pulled her earmuffs down before he did so with his own. He quietly asked if Zoe was alright and she nodded, even if it was a lie. She was only freaking out a little bit. Shooting a gun this time wasn't so bad compared to the last time she shot one, although, she still hated it.

"Zoe.." Rin sighed as she tapped her pointy acrylic nails beside the gun. "Did you aim before you shot?"

Zoe looked towards her mother and then towards the target across the room. There was one hole directly in the middle of the silhouettes head and one hole in the bottom corner, not at all within the black silhouette on the paper. Zoe nibbled on her bottom lip as she dreaded the treatment she was about to receive from her mother. This was going to be a very, very long day.

"I tried." Zoe pouted.

"Such a bad liar." Rin disappointedly sighed and stepped back as she pulled her earmuffs over her head. "Shoot until you run out of bullets. And do it quickly, please. I have a dinner reservations to get to."

Zoe looked to Kenneth, who gave her a very hopeful and silently encouraging look. He wanted her to do well so, she didn't suffer the wrath of her mother. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to help in anyway. He had already gone through training to get this job so, he could help but, Rin would never allow it. She was the kind of parent that just tossed their child into the deep end of a pool to make them learn how to swim. Help wasn't exactly her forte so, she sure wasn't going to let him help either.

"Just focus and don't be scared." Kenneth whispered with one nod of his head before he also stepped back.

Zoe took a deep breath and turned towards the target again. She wanted to do this correctly or not at all and, frankly, doing it correctly was her only choice anyways. So, Zoe straightened her posture, pushed her fear as far down as she could, and picked up the gun without any hesitation. Zoe ignored her nerves, ignored the shaking, ignored her fear, and fired. And fired. And fired again. Until there were no more bullets in the gun, just as her mother demanded.

-

"Hey! We have AP Calc together!" Howl happily exclaimed as he stepped into the classroom.

Everyone in the room, along with Teddy, raised their heads to the boisterous guy walking in with a big smile on his face. Teddy snorted a laugh and shook his head. He wanted to be upset that Howl was in the same class as him, since he would inevitably be a huge distraction but, Howl was his friend now. They were boys. Teddy never had that before so, it actually felt nice to see him walk into his class and be excited about it.

"Sup." Teddy smiled as he did a short handshake with Howl. They hadn't come up with something long and ridiculous but they had at least three steps to their familiar little handshake. "I didn't know you were smart."

"Shut the fuck up!" Howl playfully shot back, which made Teddy chuckle, as he stripped his backpack off and fell into the seat in front of Teddy's. "I've always been under the impression that there are three types of smart. Book Smart, Street Smart, and plain, common sense. Anybody can have one or two but nobody is capable of all three. Luckily, for me, I don't mind having zero common sense because I'm getting by just fine with the other two."

Teddy couldn't help but smile and stare as he listened to Howl ramble so confidently about this. It was also a very interesting concept to Teddy. He hadn't heard of this theory before and it actually got him thinking. This sounded like a real, mature, stimulating topic that Teddy was very excited about. As someone who would claim to be very Book Smart, a topic like this was fun. It had clear invitation for debate and new ideas. Teddy was down.

"So, you think you're Street Smart and Book Smart?"

"Exactly."

"What would you say I am, then?"

"Probably... Book Smart and Street Smart.. Street Smart is kind of a gamble with you but you seem like you'd have more Street Smarts than common sense?"

"What? What does that mean? You don't think I have common sense?" Teddy asked, obviously offended but intrigued. Howl simply shrugged. "What's the difference between Street Smart and having common sense?"

"Street Smart are those people who know their way around their city and they know people really well, you know? They can haggle with people and make their way around the world like sly ass ballerina's. They just connect with that shit and it works. Common sense is totally different. People with common sense don't jump off bridges to go swimming in rivers because that's very dangerous, which I've done anyways. Or, hypothetically, they know that telling the whole school that Zoe has a secret boyfriend is a really, really bad idea that's going to completely backfire on them at some point." Howl cheekily explained.

Teddy's gleeful wonderment of this conversation instantly vanished as he processed what Howl just said to him. He was so excited to have this little concept explained to him and even that backfired on him. It completely took the wind out of his sails, which made him slouch and pout in his seat. Howl, on the other hand, was cheesin' over the fact that he got Teddy so good just then. It all came so naturally to him, he couldn't help it. He was born to be a cocky prick.

"Motherfucker, if you believe you have no common sense, how are you going to tell me what I did was stupid?" Teddy fired back, a bit defensive but not entirely angry, as he also believed what he did was a bit absurd.

"Takes one to know one." Howl shrugged, his cocky attitude radiating off of him like a strong cologne.

Teddy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. And then, his leg started the shake and cause the heel of his foot to gently tap against the floor. He didn't even know what the hell he was doing with this fake secret boyfriend thing. It was the first thing that popped into his head so, he just went with it. That lie didn't seem like something that was going to backfire, when he thought about it in the moment. If everyone found out it was a lie, they'd all wipe their foreheads out of relief and go on with their day.

"What's your plan now?" Howl quietly asked as he studied Teddy and all of the complicated emotions he was piling on top of one another.

"My plan?" Teddy cocked an unamused eyebrow at Howl. "With the lie?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing. The lie served it's purpose. After I told Joseph about Zoe, he totally forgot I was even at the party because he was too busy gossiping. What else is there?"

"Zoe still exists, Teddy. Have you completely forgotten that you told everyone a rumor about a girl that exists and is inevitably going to find out about this?" Howl kept his voice quiet and kept close to Teddy's desk. "What happens when she finds out you spread a rumor about her? She trusts you, Teddy. And, what about the Kim thing? If Joseph finds out you lied to him just to get him off your back, don't you think he might try to retaliate?"

Teddy averted his eyes from Howl to continue anxiously tapping his foot and contemplating everything Howl was saying. He had already considered all of these possibilities and he came up with nothing. Teddy had absolutely no idea what he would do if Joseph found out he was lying. Even if Zoe never found out about Kim, because she never came back, Teddy would still have to deal with Jennie and the rest of the school. He considered talking to Kim to make sure she set everyone straight but, she already graduated from this hellhole so, what did she care?

Not to mention, there was always a possibility that Zoe would come back. Even if she only came to visit. There were rumors spread about Zoe all the time but this one originated from Teddy's mouth. He would get blamed for it. What would Zoe do if she found out Teddy was a liar? Even if Teddy hadn't lied straight to her face, he still lied about her and, he made a promise with Zoe that they wouldn't lie to one another. This had to fall into the same arrangement, right? Or was this a loophole? Some sort of technicality that could get Teddy out of this?

What if people started tweeting about the rumor and raided the internet for information on the truth and then, it somehow reached Zoe while she was miles away? What if that all happened and this lie fell into Rin's lap? Teddy didn't know Rin but, he knew she dealt with her problems in a very aggressive manor. He really didn't want to be one of her targets again. Zoe still wouldn't text or call him, though. There was complete radio silence. There was no way Teddy could explain himself if Zoe found about all of this.

Not to mention, Carmen would kill him if Zoe turned her emotions upside down because of something he did to her. Carmen warned Teddy to take care of Zoe and he agreed to do so. Teddy's intention with this rumor was to protect Zoe from Joseph so, technically, he was taking care of her but, if all of this made Zoe upset, he would be in loads of trouble with multiple people. Rin would be after him, Carmen would be after him, and Zoe would hate him. There was absolutely no way that could happen. Teddy had to be prepared for the worse case scenario.

"What do you think I should do?" Teddy let out a heavy sigh as he asked, his eyes shifting to Howl. "I did this for Zoe. I only made up that rumor to get Joseph to back off of her. If she finds out about all of this, how do I explain that to her without sounding all possessive and gross?"

Howl smirked and shrugged. "No clue. No common sense, remember? I would probably do all of this dumb shit with Fisher and end up paying the price."

Teddy sighed once more, a bit harder and with a bit more frustration this time. "But, you and Fisher always seem to figure it out. How do you get him to forgive you for all the dumb shit you do?"

"Well, first of all, Fisher and I are in an actual relationship." Howl playfully teased, hinting at the fact that Teddy and Zoe were not at all in the same place that Howl and Fisher were in. Teddy glared at Howl, feeling bitter over his teasing. But, he let him continue. "Second, the only reason Fisher is giving me another chance is because I was completely open with him. I told him exactly why I did all the stupid shit I did and told him just how much I like him. And, everyday, I tell him just how much I like him. You have to be honest with Zoe, Teddy."

Teddy was floored by that suggestion. So far, Teddy thought he had been more than honest with Zoe about a lot of things. He told her things that nobody else knew about. Zoe and Teddy shared more of their lives together than they did with anyone else. What more could he be honest about? It's not like he could confess that he also thought of her as his best friend. That's totally embarrassing. It would be even worse to confess that he felt betrayed by her leaving him and disappearing like she did. That would make it sound like he had feelings. And, it's not like he could blurt out that he was pushing her away to avoid getting hurt because he had lost so many people already and was terrified of losing her...

Or maybe, after everything that Teddy had done, that was exactly the sort of things Teddy was suppose to be telling Zoe. There was just no way Teddy could imagine saying all of those things out loud. All of those confessions would have to be saved for worse case sceneries because, even then, it might not make a difference. All of his excuses weren't good enough to justify the fact that he made up a lie about Zoe, or almost with Zoe, or pushed Zoe away so aggressively since the day they met. Maybe he deserved the worse case scenario outcome...

All of those defeating thoughts made Teddy's head fall and hit the top of his desk as he wallowed in his own self pity. Howl scoffed a laugh at Teddy's misery and gently massaged one of his shoulders. It was no secret that Teddy pushed away all of his feelings and ran away from the world to avoid getting hurt but, in the process, he was hurting other people too. Even if Teddy didn't want to hear it or do it, he had to come face to face with his issues and conquer them somehow. Zoe was the key to that. Once he could face her with unfiltered honesty, he could finally start improving on himself.

This wasn't a situation where a woman had to hurt in order for a man to rise, either. It was different. Zoe wasn't one of the stepping stone to Teddy's growth and success as a person, she was a symbol. Zoe was the symbol of everything Teddy had struggled with all of these years. Zoe was love and happiness and wonderment- all three things that Teddy shunned after being burned by them. Now, instead of pushing those things away like he pushed Zoe away, he had to embrace them. Teddy had to break down the walls he built to protect himself and let in the things that scared him the most.

"I hate this." Teddy mumbled mostly to himself.

"You did this to yourself, you know." Howl smiled. As much as he loved Teddy, he wasn't going to act like Teddy was justified in his stupidity, otherwise, he would keep being stupid. Friends were meant to help each other grow, not shield each other from perfectly valid consequences.

"I know. That's the part that sucks the most. I have no one to blame." Teddy groaned. "If I wasn't so scared of Zoe then I wouldn't have almost slept with Kim and, if I didn't almost sleep with Kim then, Joseph would have no power over me and, I wouldn't have spread that stupid lie. This sucks!"

Howl snickered for a moment before he bent over to unzip his backpack and pull out his new class schedule for this trimester. "While you're wallowing in your own self pity, can I see your class schedule? I want to know what other classes we might have together."

Teddy begrudgingly shimmied out his class schedule from the notebook beside his head and handed it to Howl, who looked between them both as he tried to line up their classes. Luckily, they had the same lunch period together again and they even had Business Management together at the end of the day. Teddy was intrigued by that and raised his head, surprised that Howl would want anything to do with professional business stuff. And, until the bell rang and signaled for class to start, Teddy and Howl idly chatted about their classes this trimester.

-

"Zoe, you're letting this pistol push you around like you have no control over your own limbs." Rin huffed in frustration as she stole her daughter away from the shooting station.

Rin took the pistol out of Zoe's hand and unloaded it before she mindlessly tossed it to one of their bodyguards. Zoe was a bit distracted from her mother as she watched someone run out to the target across the room and pull it down so, it could be reviewed by Rin. While someone changed out Zoe's gun and ammo so she could keep shooting, Rin forced Zoe into the proper shooting stance again. It was her fourth time doing this, which meant she was annoyed and had significantly less patience than previously.

"Right foot back." Rin demanded as she kicked the toe of Zoe's shoe, which caused her foot to flinch and bounce back. "Arms up. Aim." Rin lifted Zoe's forearm and guided her to hands together so, it looked like she was holding a gun. "Look through the sights. Don't let your left arm lock up. Knees are too stiff."

Zoe tried to listen to everything Rin was saying and corrected herself as she was demanded. Rin stalked around her and poked and prodded at Zoe to point out every inch of her that she didn't like until Zoe was standing as she was instructed. When the guy with the target finally made his way to Rin, though, she left Zoe's side to check it. Zoe took that opportunity to loosen up and relax, her gaze shifting to Kenneth for only a moment. She was very, very thankful that he drugged her up before this. They were finally kicking in and she felt somewhat calm.

"You're a terrible aim." Rin sighed as she counted the holes in the silhouettes frame. "And yet, I can at least tell that you were aiming for the heart. Either that or you're terrible at aiming for the head. Which is it?"

"The former." Zoe answered.

"Don't like headshots?" Rin asked, her eyes lifting to her daughter. "Can't look someone in the eyes when you shoot them?"

Zoe averted her eyes from her mother, not wanting to answer such a question. She wasn't like Rin and never wanted to be. Looking someone in the eyes while she put a bullet between them was not a goal she was striving towards. Shooting towards someone's chest felt better to Zoe, comparatively. Ideally, she wouldn't ever have to shoot, and/or kill, anyone. This was just self defense training so she could go home again. Then, Zoe would hopefully never pick up a gun again.

Rin accepted Zoe's silence as her answer and laid the paper target on the pile of other targets that had been shot to hell before she continued. "Alright. Come on, Zoe. Last round. There are 8 bullets in this gun so, count to 7 and wait."

Zoe took a calm breath and stepped towards the station and pulled her earmuffs over her head again. Rin accepted the new handgun from her bodyguard and made sure it was loaded and the safety was off before she handed it to Zoe. After shooting multiple guns this afternoon, Zoe accepted the gun a lot more confidently than she had before and waited for the man across the room to finish setting up the target. As he was doing that, Rin whispered in her bodyguards ear until he nodded and turned to leave the shooting range.

When the man setting up the target was completely out of sight, Zoe corrected her posture, took aim, and shot. One after the other, Zoe tried her best to control the pistol and shoot as close to the heart of the silhouette as she could. She stared down the sights of the gun and counted each bullet until she reached the seventh. Just when she was about to lower her gun and wait for her mothers command, Rin put her finger under the magazine to hold the gun in place.

Right on cue, the door on the far right wall, all the way down by the targets, swung open. Zoe turned her eyes towards the door and watched as two bodyguards dragged in a third party. It was a man, dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans that were both stained in blood, and had a black bag covering his head. He wasn't walking as his toes dragged on the floor and, for a moment, Zoe wondered if he was dead. It wasn't until the two bodyguards shouted at him that he clumsily stood up again, causing the black sack on his head to disappear behind the target.

"Rin-" Kenneth started as he pulled his earmuffs off his head. Rin stopped him before he could continue by raising a single finger in the air.

"Who is that?" Zoe breathed in pure shock and panic, her finger lifting shakily off of the trigger of the gun in her hand.

Rin removed one of Zoe's earmuffs with the hand that she used to hush Kenneth, her other still planted under Zoe's gun to keep it pointed at the target, and the man behind it. "That, my sweet daughter, is a Sensation intern."

"Why is he here?" Zoe shakily asked as tears pricked at her eyes. She was internally losing her mind but she refused to show it outwardly, as hard as that was.

One of the bodyguards plucked the paper target off of the line, revealing the sack on the man's head again. He was just standing there, his chest slowly rising and falling with his hands pinned behind him by the bodyguards flanking him.

"Ryan was an intern in the accounting department for four months and he thought he was smooth enough to steal some of our funds to pay for his student loans and housing. While we thought we were paying for party decorations and extra staff, he was slipping himself a few extra thousand every chance he got. He's a thief and a liar and, frankly, I just don't like him so, I want you to kill him." Rin calmly explained.

"Wh-What?" Zoe stammered as her eyes shifted to her mother. All the nerves that were popping inside her like popcorn. The drugs weren't working since her panic far surpassed their capability to keep her calm. "I c-can't k-kill him, mother.. I c-can't do that.."

"You said you wanted to go home, didn't you, darling?" Rin softly asked as she gently brushed back a strand of Zoe's tied back hair. "I'll put you on a plane to Ohio tomorrow morning if you kill this boy."

"Rin-" Kenneth attempted once more.

"Well, aren't you talkative today!" Rin's beady, threatening eyes darted to Kenneth, silently daring him to say even one more word. Kenneth reluctantly stood down as his eyes fell to his feet, allowing Rin to return her attention to her daughter. "You know, sweetheart, momma will be so, so proud of you if you can do this for me. You'll be a true Yang if you can do this. Ezra was just the first step and you showed me just how much potential you have when dealing with him. Do this, now, and I will have complete and total faith in you, my sweet daughter."

Zoe listened to every word her mother said, feeling overwhelmed by everything that came out of her mouth. Rin had never been this tentative when trying to get Zoe to do something. Zoe never had a choice in the things she did but, now, Rin was coaching her forward with genuinely encouraging words. That's what Zoe thought, at least. Kenneth, on the other hand, was absolutely terrified. Rin was trying to manipulate her daughter with false promises of pride and love to get her to shoot and kill a stranger. This was completely psychopathic.

Rin slowly dropped her hand from the gun in Zoe's hand but kept her eyes glued to her daughter. "You're not going to drop this, right, sweetheart? You're gonna keep holding this gun up, right? You're not going to drop it?"

Her words sounded like questions but Zoe knew they weren't. They were demands. So, Zoe gulped and nodded, keeping her eyes on Ryan and her gun raised to his head.

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. Momma is right here, cheering you on. You can do it, baby." Rin softly coached, like an encouraging mother trying to convince their child to hop back on the bike after falling.

Now more than ever, Kenneth wished he had psychic powers so he could convince Zoe not to do it. He didn't want her to turn into her parents. Hiro and Rin were completely different when it came to how they felt with their business but, they still did very, very horrible things with zero emotions. Zoe was a wonderful beam of light and happiness that they continued to try to dull and Kenneth feared that, one day, they might just succeed. He just hoped today wouldn't be the day. He couldn't watch it happen.

On the other hand, in Zoe's head, all she could think about was going home. She wanted to go back to Ohio and go back to school and see her friends. She wanted to see Teddy. Cheering at football games with her friends was so much fun. Going out to breakfast with Teddy, Howl, and Fisher was even better. And going into the city with Teddy on his birthday was incomparable. Zoe never felt like she belonged in the world her parents had created for her and everyone in Ohio made such a good life for her there. All she wanted to do was go home.

"Do it, Zoe. Do it now, sweetheart." Rin pushed a little more firmly, her voice losing it's false joy. "Zoe. Do it. Do it! Fucking shoot, Zoe! Now! Shoot!"

There was nothing but fear swirling violently within Zoe's brain as Rin shouted at her so angrily. The louder she got, the more scared Zoe became. Zoe didn't know what her mother would do to her if she didn't shoot and she didn't even have time to think about it because her thoughts were just flooded by Rin's screaming. Zoe couldn't think about anything. With every millisecond that passed, she felt like her willpower and control was being ripped out of her completely. And before she knew it, she shot her gun.

It wasn't until she heard a loud cry from the other end of the room that Zoe realized her eyes were squeezed shut. They instantly opened and painfully widened as she realized she had fired. On the other end of the room, she spotted one of the bodyguards was clenching his shoulder as blood seeping between his fingers and dripped down his hand. Zoe knew she shot him but she didn't remember firing. It happened on pure reflex. Zoe's fear of her mother made the decision for her. If Rin couldn't manipulate her daughter with love, at least she knew fear worked now.

Kenneth, on the other hand, sighed with a rush of relief and relaxed against the wall behind him. The intern boy in the middle was squirming with fear as he realized what type of situation he was in but he was fully unharmed. Meanwhile, the bodyguard that was shot groaned and seethed as he fought through the pain in his shoulder.

"I should've seen that coming. You're still a terrible shot." Rin bitterly commented beside Zoe.

Without anymore words of pride and love and encouragement, Rin snatched the pistol out of Zoe's hand and reloaded a new magazine into it. Without any warning, she raised the gun to the intern and fired at him, shooting three bullets directly into him. Two bullets pierced through his chest, in honor of Zoe, and the last disappeared in his forehead just before he was thrown back from the impact and collapsed in death. The one bodyguard still standing barely reacted but let go of the intern to let his lifeless body pool on to the floor.

Zoe instantly gasped and screamed in shock as she stumbled backwards and doubled over on her knees. Her eyes overflowing with hot tears and her hands cupped over her mouth to muffle her violent cries of shock. She just stared at the ground, internally and externally having a mental breakdown as she replayed the sight of holes appearing in that man's body as blood poured out of them. He just fell. Collapsed. Lifeless. He was dead. And she didn't even see his face.

Rin shouted demands at her bodyguard in Japanese as she unloaded the gun and left it at the station, stripping her earmuffs and safety glasses off as well. And, as she strutted out of the shooting range, two bodyguards followed and one stayed behind with Kenneth and Zoe. He only stood watch as Kenneth tried to coach Zoe on to her feet and usher her out of the room. Zoe had zero strength in her shaky legs and little breath in her lungs as she sobbed, struggling too much internally to actually get up and walk.

"She killed him.." Zoe spoke through the sobs slipping through her fingers. "I almost killed him.. I can't believe I almost killed him.. Oh my god, oh my god..."

"It's okay, Zoe. We both know you didn't want to do it." Kenneth calmly reassured as he plucked the earmuffs and safety glasses off Zoe's head. "Come on. We have to go. Don't let your mother see you weak like this, Zoe."

Zoe nodded through her sobs and pushed weakly to her feet, with the help of Kenneth, and stumbled back upstairs with Kenneth's support. Just before they left the shoot range, Zoe turned to see the unharmed bodyguard carrying the lifeless body of the intern out through the door they came in as the injured bodyguard weakly stumbled out behind them. Zoe covered her face in her hand as she tried to pull herself together but, she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she almost killed someone just because her mother told her to.

"I wanna go home.." Zoe cried to Kenneth.

"I know. I know you do." Kenneth sighed.

Zoe knew she hadn't accomplished what Rin demanded of her so, she wasn't going to let Zoe go home. She shot someone in the shoulder, nearly killed someone else, and still, Zoe knew that wasn't good enough. If people didn't obey Rin's commands with perfect accuracy, she wouldn't make good on their deal because, to her, their deal was a wash. Rin was not a lenient woman. She didn't give people props for trying. If they didn't succeed, they didn't get any reward for their efforts. If anything, they got punished for not being good enough.

That was the only thing Zoe had going for her, at least. As Rin's daughter, she didn't usually end up at the wrong end of Rin's wrath but, she still didn't get rewards either.

Zoe was barely thinking about Ohio, though, as they drove back to their penthouse in the heart of Tokyo. All Zoe could think about was her mother whispering all of those motherly things in her ear. She wanted to make her mother proud. She wanted to be treated like Rin's beloved daughter. She wanted her mother to have faith in her. Zoe just couldn't understand why she was only going to earn all of those things by killing someone she didn't even know. What did Rin want her to prove?

Even Zoe couldn't figure out what lengths she would go to, to earn her mothers love and trust and, frankly, that scared her almost as much as the very thing she did today.

Kenneth kept an eye on Zoe all the way to the penthouse and kept a close distance behind her since she looked so pale and completely catatonic. He was worried she would pass out or something. He could only read her enough to know that she was definitely scared and understandably devastated. Rin paid no mind to Zoe as she waltzed into the penthouse and started towards her office, demanding Kenneth to follow so he could discuss their schedule for tomorrow. Zoe, on the other hand, headed towards her bedroom in autopilot.

For awhile, Zoe sat at the edge of her bed and stared at the floor as her thoughts floated endlessly through her head. She couldn't stop replaying the moment all three holes appeared in that interns body. She couldn't remember what happened when she shot at him first though. Her mind with blank and her body clenched and she fired. That's all she knew. There were no thoughts. It just happened. It scared her. Hiro and Rin had been training Zoe since she was a child to listen and obey like a robot and Zoe always hated it so much. And then, today, like a robot with no free thought, she just fired.

Zoe couldn't help but feel like Rin got exactly what she wanted, which was so confusing. Zoe wanted to be a good daughter, which is what Rin wanted. But Rin also wanted a ruthless robot that would obey her every command and Zoe just couldn't do that.

However, Zoe did fire. Even if Zoe didn't manage to kill the intern, Rin still figured out a way to force Zoe to fire. Zoe felt traumatized by that fact. Rin wanted a puppet for a daughter and she got one. Unfortunately for her, she got one that didn't work as well as she had hoped but, it was a start. This was only the beginning. Rin had never pushed Zoe this far into the deep end and, now that she had, Zoe didn't see her ever stopping.

Rin would try to turn Zoe into herself. It was inevitable. Because, if Zoe never managed to do the things her parents were able to do to build the Sensation enterprise then, Zoe would truly become of no use to them. If they didn't kill her spiritually then, Zoe would surely be dead in a more physical way. Even if it was her own parents she was talking about, Zoe didn't doubt that thought for even a moment. Neither of them cared about her more than they cared about their money.

"Zoe." Kenneth's voice broke through Zoe's thoughts, yanking her back to earth much more violently than his delicate voice meant to. When she turned to him, he frowned at the sight of tears dripping down her face and pooling in her eyes. "I brought you something."

Zoe didn't say a word as she watched Kenneth walk into her room and kneel beside her bed. In one hand, he lifted up her phone.

"Rin didn't plan on rewarding you for failing this afternoon but, I managed to convince her to give you this." Kenneth flashed Zoe a sad smile as he gestured Zoe's phone towards her. "She said you can have it for the night but, when we start our day tomorrow, she wants it back. She doesn't want you getting distracted, of course."

Zoe reached out a shaky hand and accepted her phone from Kenneth, staring blankly at it as she contemplated whether she even wanted it right now. Immediately, she wanted to call Teddy but, even the thought of telling him how this afternoon went made her heart clench in her chest. The guilt and the shame and the trauma was eating at her more and more as the minutes turned over. Kenneth, on the other hand, felt like Zoe needed to talk to her friends and put a smile on her face before she jumped off the roof of this very skyscraper.

"Don't stay up too late with this thing, Zoe. You really need to get some rest." Kenneth quietly insisted.

Zoe simply nodded and wiped away the tears on her cheeks and under her chin. Kenneth sighed as he pushed himself back on to his feet, landing a sympathetic hand on top of her head before he exited her room again. And, for another few minutes, Zoe sat and stared at her phone in complete silence as she tried to figure out what to do. She could call Teddy but, hearing his voice right now just might make her break down in even more tears. She could call Chuck but, she didn't feel like she would have anything sincere to say to him. All Zoe really wanted right now was a bath.

By the time Zoe was in her bath and trying her best to relax her body and her mind, she had fully decided that she wanted to talk to Teddy. She didn't want to bring up what happened today, though. She just wanted to hear about his day and, if he was home with Carmen, she wanted to hear from her too. She wanted to listen to Teddy talk about his Christmas and talk about Howl and Fisher and work. Even if it did hurt to not be there with all of them, Zoe couldn't wallow in this toxic world she was trapped in any longer. She needed a breath of fresh air, even if it was just for a moment.

"Holy shit!" Teddy mumbled as he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and turned his phone to Howl so he could see the Caller I.D. on his screen. "Zoe's calling me."

"Well, that's fucking random. I thought you said she's in Japan. What time is it there?" Howl asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know. What do I do?" Teddy slightly panicked.

"Answer it! Talk to her! Nobody has spoken to that girl in weeks! Not even you!" Howl urged.

Teddy put out his cigarette against the brick wall of the school before he flicked it in the trash and skipped away. He didn't want to talk to Zoe for the first time in so long with Howl hovering over him. Howl let him leave without pestering him, though. He understood that those two had a few things to talk about that was suppose to be just between them. Teddy waited to answer the phone until he was around the corner, out of sight from Howl, and able to calm a bit of his nerves.

"Hey, Zo." Teddy said as he answered the call, instantly making Zoe's tense muscles melt as a smile spread across her face.

"Hi, Teddy." Zoe blissfully whispered. It was so nice to almost feel at home after so long.