Chapter 11: Big Bada...

Leighla yawned as she wandered into the kitchen area, the scent of pancakes drifting into her nose. She tilted her head to the side and peeked over Finn's shoulder as he placed the fluffy treats onto a plate. She grinned impishly, looking up at him.

"This is unusual." She commented, stealing the first plate. He sent her a playful glare as he got busy setting the next plate up.

"I figured I would make something sweet as we take a break from training for a bit. We need to be at our peak before this goes down, but we can't overwork ourselves. That's how we'll get ourselves killed." He hummed, looking over fondly at Hideo before walking over to him, gently tapping his shoulder. Hideo looked up, a smile on his face as he graciously took the plate from him. Leighla looked at the two for a long while before a small smile came to her own face. She took her plate and made her way out of the room. Finn looked up when he noticed her leaving.

"Where are you going?" He questioned. She brought the fork to her plump lips, munching on a triangular piece of fluffy goodness. She turned to look at him after her mouth was clear.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air on the roof. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I won't go out there with a neon target on my back." She sent him a wink and dipped out of the door before he or Hideo could protest.

She made her way up the small stairwell in the garage and headed up to the roof access, peeking out of the door to check and make sure she was alone up there before she made her way out, sitting with her back to the ledges, eyes up towards the sky.

Blue eyes scanned the clouds until they landed on the looming shadow of the Moon Drop. She munched thoughtfully as she scanned the large solar panels that surrounded the spherical building. The more she stared at it, the angrier she got. The Correctional Facility was within there, she could only imagine what kind of horrors were inside.

Leighla shook her head and got back up after she finished eating. She wiped her mouth and clenched her fist.

She'd burn it all down to ash.

(Correctional Facility)

Leva hummed as she was escorted to the arena, head swaying slightly as she walked between Leo and Bo, a few armed Bureau members behind her with guns held tightly in their grip in case she were to try anything funny. They relaxed after a look from Leo.

That's right. The pills he gave her and some of the other inmates should weaken their abilities a little bit more for the next few days. No need to worry.

Leva shuffled a little faster when she got into the seating area, eyes lighting up as she looked around. Other inmates were bustling around, chattering loudly as they leaned over the railings, watching two inmates below prepare for the death match. Leva gently grabbed the cold railing, peering over as she saw a fiery redheaded girl make her way to the center of the arena, deftly tying her hair back into a ponytail as she came forward. There was a man across from her, eyes crazed as he eyed her up and down.

"So, you're telling me, all I have to do is kill this little lady and I get a week out of solitary and no more tests for the month?" He inquired, practically bouncing. A lower ranked Bureau member-Otunga? Leva could've sworn she remembered that being his name-was lazily sipping coffee, eying the two. He nodded and Leva watched his lips move as he responded.

"That's right, Bull. Now back up so I can start the match."

Bull nodded and backed up, cracking his knuckles as he sent the small woman an ear to ear smile. "Sorry Sasha, but the Bull can't afford to lose. I hope you understand." He chuckled. Sasha's eyes narrowed and she tilted her head to the left, hearing her neck crack. "I won't feel the least bit sorry about what's going to happen to you." She growled out, teeth gritted. Bull blinked in surprise before letting out a booming laugh.

"You really think you can beat me?" He inquired. He was met with a curled lip and a growl from the redhead.

Otunga hummed and stepped back, looking up at the other inmates as they crowded around the railings, some pushing and shoving to get a good view. What animals. He rolled his eyes and moved further from the two, lowering the setting on Sasha and Bull's shock collars so they could fight.

"You may begin in three...two...one! Fight-"

He barely got it out before a violent flutter rushed past him. He jolted as a giant, paper bird flew past him from Sasha's side, heading towards Bull at an alarming speed. The large man let out a yell in surprise and ducked back, slamming his foot to the ground, making a slab of the concrete raise up, blocking the bird.

Bull grinned and lowered the slab, mouth opening to say something witty when he noticed a blur of red and looked up, eyes wide as Sasha spin kicked him in the jaw, growling as she swung once more, punching him in the throat before she leapt away as he brought his fists down on where she was once standing, destroying the floor below.

He snorted in anger, eyes wild once more as he charged at her, swinging wildly while she dodged them with a series of expertly placed leaps.

Leo watched the woman with interest, shifting the bullet in his mouth from the left side to the right. Bo grinned from beside him, purring. "I agree." he mused. The guards behind Leva exchanged a look, shaking their heads. They'd heard about the infamous duo before. It was impossible to work for the Bureau and not know about the odd pairing of a bubbly manchild (and brother of another infamous Bureau member, except people were actually afraid of Bray) and a South African silent killer that communicated solely through a series of actions via a golden bullet in his mouth.

Strange indeed.

Leva giggled, seemingly understanding what Leo was saying as well.

Back on the ground, Sasha hissed, holding her now dislocated shoulder. Bull had thrown her exceptionally hard and clipped her from the side with a hardened chunk of the floor he had chucked her way. She was dizzy, fatigue eating at her, and that's when Bull decided he should end it for her. He charged at her, both hands covered in stone before he jumped up, letting gravity pull him down towards her for the killing blow. Sasha threw her hands up (with a wince of pain from the pull of her shoulder) and a cocoon of paper appeared around her, several layers thick. Bull grinned and continued slamming his fists on the cocoon as the inmates cheered wildly above them.

"You can't stay in there forever, girlie!" His voice boomed, and Sasha wined within, hearing her heart beating damn there out her chest as her paper weakened with each hit.

"D-Do something, Sasha!" She screamed at herself, yelping when a particularly hard hit almost caved in the paper where her head was. She added layers to that spot and trembled.

That's when she heard the voice. Whispering.

We can help you.

She looked around, blinking in surprise. "W-Who? Who's there?" she whispered, feeling her paper weaken once more. She couldn't hold on much longer. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek as she strengthened the layers once more.

Do you want to live?

"Of course I do!" She snapped, yelping when another hit came from outside her temporary and quickly crumbling shelter. There was no response but Sasha felt something get heavy in her hand and she looked down, eyes widening when she saw it was a gun.

Then take back life. Take control.

She swallowed thickly and counted in her head, timing Bull's smashes to the weakening cocoon. She waited until she got down to one and let the cocoon fall, making him lose his footing.

Quickly, she aimed upwards and shot him in the jaw, yelping when the hulking behemoth suddenly went still, all of that dead weight coming down on her unceremoniously. She cried out when her shoulder was disturbed, feeling the gun that was in her hand seemingly disappear. Her hand felt cold without it. The arena went silent for a moment before erupting with chatter and cheers.

Otunga nodded in surprise and made his way over to her, picking her up after kicking Bull's motionless form off of her.

"The winner is inmate #2651, Sasha Banks!" He announced, lifting her hand. The cheers got louder as she was ushered away. The near deafening chant of 'We want Sasha!' following behind her. She swallowed thickly and panted as she was handed to two men who would take her to the infirmary. Both had their hair tied back in buns, but one was wearing the dumbest smile she'd ever seen on anyone's face as he swayed.

"Heya! That was pretty close out there!" He chirped. Sasha blinked, brows furrowing. Something about this guy was off. She looked at the taller man, but he simply nodded in the direction of the infirmary, a small metallic scraping sound coming from his mouth. She nodded and followed them in, letting one of the medical staff push her shoulder back into place. After that, they left her in the care of the two men. She'd learned that the small one's name was Bo Dallas and the tall, silent one was Leo Kruger.

"We'll go get your things out of your room. You'll be bunking with another inmate that was recently taken out of the solitary chambers as well." The small woman in the infirmary muttered, glasses drooping down her nose as she typed nametag read: Eden Stiles. Sasha quietly looked down at her hands, frowning as her mind began racing.

Where….where the hell did that gun come from? Who's voice was that?

Eden had turned while Sasha was lost in her thoughts, frowning slightly. She hesitantly walked up and stood in front of the redheaded woman, placing a small hand on her shoulder. That was enough to break Sasha out of her thoughts, as she sent the other woman a heated glare, shoulder tensing.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but seeing as you won the deathmatch, you will have no more experiments performed on you over the next 30 days. Despite that, I do have to put a nullifier on you to make sure you don't harm yourself, your roommate, or anyone else." She explained calmly. Sasha's lip curled slightly.

"What's stopping me from slitting your throat and escaping?" She hissed. Eden hardly looked fazed, eyes half lidded with her hands now in the pockets of her lab coat. There were two clicks, and the guards had guns aimed directly at Sasha from over Eden's shoulders.

"I could care less at this point. And if you tried to escape, they'd probably send one of the higher ups to chase you down and stop is, if you can get out of this room. They'd sooner shoot through me than let you leave. If you feel you can get out, by all means," Eden stepped back, neck bared. Sasha stared at her, brows furrowed at the absolutely defeated tone in her voice. When she didn't move, Eden lowered her head and pulled a bracelet out of her pocket, securing it around Sasha's wrist.

"This will suppress your ability. Come, I'll bring you to your new roommate. Follow me." Eden turned and headed out of the door, two armed Bureau members following behind her and Sasha. The latter woman watched the former with a small frown, curious to know more about the scientist.

"So...what's your deal? You don't seem to be like the other sadistic creeps in this place." She mused. That earned her a jab in the back from one of the guards. She yelped and Eden sent him a sharp look before turning her gaze back up forward.

"No, I don't suppose them and I have very much in common." She muttered. Sasha nearly ran into her as she slowed down, hazel eyes looking at one of the thick doors of an isolated cell. There was a shuffle, and almost immediately, a figure came to the small window, a Cheshire-like grin on his face as he pressed his cheek to the glass. Sasha heard Eden let out the smallest of gasps before one of the guards cocked their gun audibly, and the red haired woman could see them press the barrel of it to the back of Eden's head.

"Keep moving, Stiles. It would be a shame if my finger slipped." He taunted. The second 'click-click' that followed was a form of agreement from the second guard. Eden ground her teeth together before looking forward sharply, fists balled as she began walking again.

"Yes, I suppose it would be a shame." She hissed. Sasha blinked owlishly before she glanced at the man in the cell, seeing the bright yellow parts of his face bleed into a crimson red, with matching eyes narrowing on the guards as he hissed.

How...interesting.

They walked on until they reached the secondary isolation cells. Each room was as large as a master bedroom in a home, with a huge bed and a joined bathroom. Sasha's face lit up when she saw the spacious room as Eden lead her inside.

"This is your room for the next 30 days until you have another scheduled match. Your roommate's name is Leva Bates. She keeps to herself. You don't have to worry about a fight. Enjoy." Eden quietly closed the door, and Sasha turned her head a tad to see the small woman briskly walk away, with the two smug guards following her.

"I feel bad for her."

She jolted when she heard the voice from behind her, finding Leva playing with a blue origami bird. Sasha straightened up, sizing the taller woman up.

"Why's that?" She inquired.

"They took her husband from her. Turned him into one of us. Now they're forcing her to work for them. She's almost as much of their plaything as we are." She hummed, eyes drifting up to meet with Sasha's. "So, I feel really bad for her." She repeated, smiling.

Sasha shook off the unnerving feeling she got from that smile and moved to sit down.

"I've never seen you fight before. How is it this is the first time I've seen you?" She questioned. Leva smiled and lifted the bird, fluttering it's triangular wings in amusement.

"Because I killed half a row of inmates and guards last time they let me in the arena." She cooed, tossing the bird at Sasha. She was shocked when the small paper bird managed to make it's way to her lap. Leva smiled at her and winked, mouthing 'open it' to her before she went to the bathroom portion of the room.

'I was chosen too. I hope you can run fast.'

*Hidden Village*

"Okay, listen closely." Charlotte commanded, eyes scanning the plans they had set up earlier in the day. The Badlands group leaned in closer, watching as she moved an arrowhead around, pointing to various spots that Seth had drawn out for them pertaining the insides of the Babylon States.

"First, it would be stupid to try and run directly into No. 6. You idiots managed to escape, but that doesn't mean they haven't learned from their mistakes. The only reasonable way we do this is to sneak in from one of the other States and make our way to No. 6. From my knowledge, there are only two Trees. The one here, and the one in No. 6. No matter what your vengeful agenda is, you must destroy the tree within No. 6. Do you all understand?" She inquired, sharply looking around the room. She was met with a series of nods.

"Good. Now that I've taught Seth how to make the antidote, he will spend the next two days with me making vats of the antidote for you all to put into the water supply. There are more innocent people within those states than there are evil and it's our job to save them before it's too late." She continued. Dean snorted from his spot beside Punk, eyes half lidded. Charlotte shot him a glare.

"Something funny?"

"Only the part where you want us to play heros. None of us in here besides Sethie boy are going in trying to save everyone. We all want revenge. We'll all have revenge. This tree shit is just an added bonus because it'll help us get the advantage."

The blonde woman surveyed the group. Seth shuffled, while the rest of them only stared back unblinkingly. She clicked her tongue before pointing back to the map.

"Well, no matter what your view is, my second mission is to save as many people as I can. Maybe if you guys lost someone from those wasps, you'd get it." She huffed, shaking her head. Roman tensed up, eyes cold steel as he glared at her.

"We've lost plenty of loved ones, and not from a 60 second death. That's merciful compared to what we've seen and been through. You want to save people, fine. But that comes later on my list of priorities." He growled. "I think just a day in that hell they call the Correctional Facility is leagues worse than the fucking wasp."

Tamina closed her eyes, fingers deftly touching the scar across her neck while Dean stood, stretching as he headed towards the door. Charlotte looked up, frowning when she saw him going out with Punk in tow.

"Where are you going?" She hissed. He waved her off before stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Gonna go lie down. Our little tactical meeting clearly isn't going well, so there's no point in pretending we don't wanna fight. We can shoot the shit in the morning instead. Night." He walked out without another word, with Punk shaking his head and following close behind.

Charlotte frowned and looked at the remaining group, seeing they were all getting up to leave. She opened her mouth to protest, but closed it with a defeated sigh, crossing her arms as they all left one by one.

"...Goddammit." She spat, pounding her fist over the map.

*No. 6, 3 days Later*

Leo and Bo stood quietly in the back of the conference hall as Stephanie moved to stand in front of a podium, eyes narrowed at everyone.

"It has been brought to my attention that some of you are...questioning the way we run things here and speaking out of line." She took the time to pause, blue eyes drifting down to Eden, who was sitting front row. The scientist looked back unblinkingly, hands folded over her crossed legs.

She simply tilted her head a fraction of an inch to the left.

That was all the movement AJ needed to draw her sword, aiming it at Eden's neck, eyes narrowed with her foot on the edge of her chair, pushing with enough force to tilt the chair back, giving her more than enough access to the vital parts of her neck.

"I'd be on my p's and q's, Stiles." She purred after a moment of tense silence.

Eden's own eyes narrowed slightly.

"-Afterall, it'd be a shame if Stardust suddenly wound up dead, now wouldn't it? Do you think you could do a proper autopsy on his starry ass corpse? Or whatever I leave left of it?" She hummed.

Eden visibly tensed up before all forms of defiance melted away. She sighed and looked away, biting her lip.

AJ grinned before kicking over the chair anyway, making the lithe scientist fall to the ground at the feet of some other high ranking Bureau members in the row behind her. Some hadn't even spared her a glance while Bray placed a foot on her midsection, apparently applying enough pressure to keep her from moving, if the small uncomfortable grunt she let out was anything to go by.

"What are we going to do about the Wastelanders? The ones who came in here and killed Axel and escaped?" He inquired.

Stephanie ran her fingers through her hair before she smiled sweetly.

"I've got a plan we'll implement for that. First, the goal is to take out that pesky news van. The other sectors don't know of our plans and though we are the largest, the discourse would be troublesome to control. Dwayne has the information." She stepped aside as the lights lowered, a holographic display popping up with 6 faces on it.

"The following are our targets: Adam Rose, Sami Zayn, Zack Ryder, Tyler Breeze, Adrian Neville, and Davina Rose, Bayley as she's called to her peers. They have a rather...discerning van that they live in that completely cuts the feed to their ID bracelets. We let them live this long because it didn't seem that they'd pose a threat to us. Now, with the unrest and uprising from outside, we need to squash any communications that aren't under our control, lest word gets out and we have to handle the other sectors. I'd rather us not mobilize when we don't have to." He cleared his throat, head lifting up high to make eye contact with the mirror image in the background.

"Leo, I hope you don't take it personal. Your brother has to die."

All eyes turned to the tan man, who still seemed bored with the whole gathering. He hummed quietly, teeth scraping against the bullet before he crossed his arms.

Dwayne, who clearly didn't expect an actual answer, turned his gaze onto Bo. The smaller of the duo smiled back.

"He says he's pledged allegiance to the Bureau and that Adam is a minor sacrifice for the cause." He chirped.

Stephanie seemed interested in this, pushing Dwayne aside gently to take center stage again.

"Excellent, I hope you don't mind killing him and the others for me tomorrow morning, then." She cooed.

Leo merely spit out the bullet, replacing it with another, eyes half lidded. Bo nodded, pushing himself off of the wall.

"He says; 'consider it done'."

Stephanie seemed satisfied, continuing with some minor notes before she adjourned the meeting. The two stayed as the Bureau members filtered out, some not even hiding their fear of the man willing to take out his own brother without hesitation. Some higher ranking officers send Leo long, scrutinizing looks, with Bray getting directly in his face.

"If you'd like, I can turn your beloved brother into one of my puppets. That way you can keep him around. I know the significance of...family." He drew the word out like it was something dirty.

It didn't go over his head how Bo's fists clenched ever so slightly before releasing. It also didn't go unnoticed how Bray hadn't addressed his little brother standing a breath away from Leo.

Leo simply pushed past him, with a silent Bo in tow behind him. They walked towards their rooms in silence, as usual before Bo stopped short.

"I...I'm going to go for a walk before bed. See you in the morning?" He inquired. Leo simply nodded at him and he sent him a small grateful smile for not asking any more questions, turning left down a hall leading away from his and Leo's little condo in the HQ.

He continued down until he got to the Labs. They tended to be mostly empty around this time, especially since they just got finished with the meeting with Stephanie. Bo walked past rows of test tubes filled with floating bodies, the illuminated liquid bathing the room in a pale blue glow. He stopped at the end of the room, a giant glass wall cutting the room out from another room, much larger and spacious than the one he was currently standing in.

Inside, in the middle of the artificial field of flowers was the sleeping form of a girl, skin a pale, ghostly white. Her hair covered her face in long, unkept black tendrils. Bo stared at her barely moving form for a long time before he sat down on the floor, body falling to the side so he mirrored her curled up position. After an hour of staring quietly, he soon passed out himself.

The sign on the glass reads:

'Experiment #397

Wyatt, Abigail'

A/n

Okay so, since I have a terrible habit of falling off the face of the earth when it comes to updating, I've revamped my updated my…well, update schedule. Before, I would just update whenever the chapter is finished, but since I get easily distracted and discouraged when writing, that lead to no updates for unacceptable amounts of time with no progress in between. Since then, I've been looking at the schedule models of writers I look up to and found a happy ground where I can update in a reasonable time and also keep my readers informed on my shitposting. So, the new schedule is as follows:

Sunday: Off-Day to write and finish chapters

Monday: Carnivore

Tuesday: You're Not Alone (YNA)

Wednesday: One More Time With Feeling (OMTWF, yes, I haven't abandoned this)

Thursday: The Devil Within (TDW)

Friday: Progress updates/quick prompts if I open my ask box on tumblr to them

Saturday: Off-Day/prompts if I open it to them.

The fics are to be updated bi-weekly and if for whatever reason it's not ready on it's day, I'll post a teaser as compensation for not having it done.

Hopefully, now I can get back on track. If anyone has any questions, feel free to drop into my ask box, and happy reading!

My tumblr is the same as my penname: d0uble0hd0nut

Feel free to stop by!

Thanks for reading and until next time,

I love you~

-Scarlet