Naomi's POV

"Are you sure she'll be back?" Glitch asked impatiently.

The three of us were sitting on the cold ground in the alleyway. Choco had run off—presumably to her house—and hadn't returned. It had been at least thirty minutes since she left.

Leo nodded. "Just give her time."

"We can't afford to give her time," Glitch muttered. "The bots are gonna find us eventually."

I sighed. "You're right. But we don't exactly have anywhere to go. We can't go to any of our houses, we can't go back to that warehouse, and we can't go anywhere public."

"We need to figure something out," Leo said. He began pacing back and forth.

"I live outside the city. We could try going there," I suggested.

"Does Todd know where you live?" Glitch asked.

"Yes," I answered with a sigh. "So I guess we can't go there, either."

The three of us sat in silence, trying to think of better ideas.

Suddenly, a figure walked into the alley. We jumped up, readying our weapons. But we relaxed as we saw who it was.

"Let's kill Todd," Choco said emotionlessly.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"Home. They took my brother," she answered, still stone-faced.

I gasped. What did that mean for my sister?

"Damn, that's rough," Glitch said. "We'll rescue him and Rebel once we regroup and figure out a plan."

"But where are we going to do that? We can't stay here forever," I pointed out.

"I believe I can offer a place to stay," a creepy voice came from behind all of us.

The five of us jumped and whirled around, pointing our weapons. The voice came from the side of the alley that didn't lead into the street, which meant whoever it belonged to was there the entire time. It was completely dark where the voice was coming from.

"Show yourself," Leo ordered.

A human figure stepped forward. It was wearing completely black clothing and had a hood up that put its face in shadow.

"The name's Hood."

***

Rebel's POV

I started cracking up. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. I almost fell out of my chair trying to catch my breath and stop laughing.

"You want me..." I was still laughing, and tears were coming out of my eyes. "To be your cohost? That's ridiculous!" I snorted with laughter.

Todd was staring at me, not a trace of a smile on his face. When I finally composed myself, he spoke. "I'm being serious. The people are getting tired of seeing the same old face hosting the competitions. They need to see someone new and young."

"We're the same age, nerd," I interjected.

"You know what I mean. A new face, by my side, as we host the Games. What do you say?" Todd asked.

"Heck no is what I say," I replied instantly.

Todd sighed. "Did you not hear what I was saying earlier? Don't you want to own a piece of the universe? To control everything that happens? You can basically become God!"

Okay, this dude is crazy, I thought to myself. "It's not like you control everyone's every move. The contestants still have some freedom."

Todd nodded vigorously. "Yes, but you control the deciding factors. You can sic a pack of wolves on someone, you can push people together, you can set off a bomb when someone steps on the ground. Whether someone lives or dies, that's all up to you." 

I narrowed my eyes. "You rig the Games?"

He shrugged. "To an extent, yes. Not enough to change the outcome, most of the time."

"Most of the time?"

"Well, there was this one time—but I can't tell you. This is a host-only secret. If you agree to be my cohost, I will tell you," Todd said.

I hesitated. I did want to know how he rigged the outcome of the Games, because what if he rigged it so I won? But I also didn't want anything to do with the Games ever again. I could be content with not knowing if he rigged my win or not. Right?

"I'll give you time to think about it. For now, enjoy watching the Games." He walked away, and some of the bots followed him. A few of them stayed with me.

I turned my attention to the multiple monitors in the room. I saw the bald man that killed Infinity on one of them and clenched my fists. But I shouldn't be mad at him. It was Todd's fault my best friend was dead. He hosted these games.

And I would not join him.

***

Glitch's POV

"Uh, were you there the whole time?" I asked.

Hood nodded.

"That's creepy," Choco pointed out.

Hood shrugged. "Creepy or not, you four need somewhere to lay low before the Radish bots find you. And I am offering you a place. Do you accept, or not?"

"This could be a trap," I heard Leo whisper.

"What other choice do we have?" Naomi whispered back. "Okay. We accept." She directed this at Hood.

"Excellent. Follow me." He turned around and walked into the darkness.

This whole thing shouted "trap" to me, but I followed him anyway. The others did the same.

He opened an obscure metal door on one of the buildings and walked into a dark room. Out of the four of us, I walked in first. When nothing immediately killed me, the other three filed into the building.

I heard the sound of a switch being flipped, and a single lightbulb attached to the ceiling flickered on. I took in my surroundings, which weren't much. We were in a small room with pure white walls and no doors to any other parts of the building. There was nothing in the room except a single bed.

Hood stood in front of us. Even though the light was on, his face was still enveloped in shadow from his hood. He didn't make any moves to put it down.

"So," Choco broke the awkward silence. "Is Hood your actual name, or do you just use that because you wear a hood?"

Hood didn't respond.

"Are we just supposed to sleep on the floor?" Naomi asked.

Hood nodded. After another slightly awkward pause, he asked: "You four want to take down the Radish?"

I glanced around at my fellow Victors, wondering if we should tell him or not. What if he was secretly working for Todd?

"Yes," Leo answered. "What's it to you?"

"I have wanted to see his reign end for years," Hood replied. "Allow me to help you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well here's another sucky chapter for y'all

Hood is interesting though, eh?

Comment predictions for what will happen next so I can steal your ideas and pretend I came up with them first

Next chapter will be up eventually.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!

~Radishologist