Chapter 45：Return of the warriors

James bounced a tennis ball off the floor, off the wall, and into his hand. He'd been repeating this motion so many times it came as instinct to him as if it was brushing his teeth. His cell was minimal with only a grey bed and solid white walls fitted with ability dampeners. It had already been 10 years since the army had captured them and the effects of ageing was already showing in the others. Now in their early thirties, most people's facial hair was long - or at least for those how didn't cut it - but James still stayed as he had been. A thirty year old man living in the body of a twenty year old. Rawley explained that the ritual meant he wouldn't age on the outside and would only grow in wisdom and power ... another of the many prices of resurrection. Liam and Ben had been spending more and more time together and talking about their adventures after the war. Ben had already saved more than a hundred people from execution and had heard about the fight with Okubi from someone who was in contact with an Asurian on earth. Rawley and William spent a lot of time together morning Cynthinia's death yet the blame still mostly fell on James as it his attack that killed her and he was unable to stop it.

Abigail and the others had been placed in a different group of cells as they were considered less dangerous and volatile than James, William, Gaia, Edward, Ben, Liam, and Rawley but glimpses of them could be caught as they were marched through the halls to the cafeteria.

Every now and then, a guard by the name of Sergan would enter James' cell and order him around for a bit. Technically, they weren't allowed to do this but the prison's hate for those with abilities - from Asuria or not - made other guards turn a blind eye on the activity. James was normally told to stand up in his cell to take beatings from Sergan and sometimes other guards who wanted to vent their anger on something. James' fast healing still operated as normal so these attacks would go on for sometimes up to two hours or more. Sergan would then leave and say the same phrase every time:

'Powerless scum.'

But today Sergan never came. Nor did he come the next day or the day after. He never came for weeks until one day a short lady entered James' cell. She introduced herself as Sarah. She had black hair, greeny-blue eyes, and wore a white lab coat over a blue sweater, black, knee length skirt, and a pair of black high heels to try and minimise high difference.

"Sergan has had his patrol routes changed a few weeks ago. I thought I should inform you as you seemed confused." she said. There a very slight Irish accent to her voice that was quite high for her age.

"No, I merely wish for you to assist me with something." she said.

"With what?"

"You'll find out when you get there." she taunted.

James reluctantly agreed and followed Sarah through the prison to a large warehouse that became illuminated with floodlights attached to the ceiling. James stepped ahead of Sarah and looked around.

"There's nothing here. What do you want me to do?" asked James. He turned around to find that Sarah had disappeared and the door to the ware house was bolted shut. A wave of heat suddenly swept through the ware house and James turned around to see a boy and a girl using what seemed to be a quite unstable form of blitz.

"Let me introduce you to PK zero seven and PK zero eight." boomed an electronic voice through concealed speakers in the warehouse. "We'll turn off the ability dampeners and you fight them, simple as that. But be warned, if you lose, YOU DIE! So try to kill them or be killed yourself. We'll be watching." The walls of the warehouse went translucent and crowds of faces cheered on the fight. A soft whine could be heard lowering in pitch signifying the turning off of the dampeners and James felt a rush of power.

The two children screamed and charged at James who, in the blink of an eye, launched forward, grabbed their heads, and smashed them together like grapes. Blood splattered over the wall and the crowd fell silent. A surge of blue fire filled the room and began to slowly warp the metal of the warehouse.

"Well? Who's next?" asked James.

The room started to blur and became a mess of colours. But slowly, it started to become more familiar with benches, tables, and people. It had become the cafeteria.