Since Rex failed, should Skylar and Shaia try to kidnap Gem now? And somehow Gem could prove more useful than the villians had ever expected in some way?

Willomena~

"Gem, I have to tell you something."

Will bit her lip as Gem turned. Should she...?

No. Gem could tell others that Will and Zandi were vigilantes.

"Yeah?" Gem looked suspicious.

"I know who the vigilantes are. They said to be careful." 

Gem gaped. "How'd you know-how-"

"I told you, they're my friends. The boy who kidnapped you is just a link in a huge chain. That vigilante Skylock told me that they... need you. That you have some kind of latent ability. Be careful."

Gem took one last look at Will and ran.

Willomena sighed.

MEANWHILE, in a hidden lab across the city...

"Sir?"

Leopold turned to his employee, scowling. "What?"

"The... Gemma..."

"WHAT? Spit it out!"

"Subject Beta, Willomena, told Gem about the villain's plans..."

Leopold swore loudly, swiping papers off of his desk. "We kept this project under wraps for years! I will not let one of our own experiments blow the whole operation!"

The employee paled. "S-sir... we already experimented on these kids when they were babies... you don't mean..."

"Yes. Kill Subjects Alpha, Beta, and Gamma."

"Who?"

Leopold growled. "Zandibar, Willomena, and Gem. Before they discover the powers we gave them." 

Ok, I'm back! I have not abandoned you. Very sorry I couldn't post over the week.

Saana~

"See ya," Rex says. "You know, you guys aren't exactly the blond, blue-eyed girls I always thought I'd be hanging out with someday..." 

I snort. "Someday. For now, just shut up, Andy."

He whips around. "Never! Call! Me! ANDY!"

I grin. He'd always hated being called by his real name, Andrew. Most people didn't even know what it was, always assuming it was just Rex. But Andy and I had been best friends all our lives, up until we became criminals. Things had changed since then. And they would never be the same. 

Skylar and Shaia started towards the door. "Where're you guys going?" I ask. They had tied me up rather tightly and left me in an abandoned apartment block, completely empty save for a few nails and scraps of cardboard. And knives. And guns.

"Going to find the girl," Shaia said icily. "Can I come?" I ask, knowing the answer but wanting to annoy them. They laugh scornfully. "After what happened last time, traitor? Yeah right. You're a deserter and a coward."

I go still. "Never call me a coward." I hiss.

They laugh and walk out the door, leaving me tied up alone in an empty room. But they'd forgotten abou the tracking device.

You know when you've known somebody for an incredibly long time, and one day you look at them funny and go, "Wow. They've really grown up"?

Well, that happens to me pretty much every time I see Saana. On one level, I hate her. She's a traitor to all of us, and she completely foiled my kidnapping. She deserves to die.

But then I look at the lines of her face, the way she wears her hair, and I can see traces of who she once was. The four-year-old on the school playground. The laughing eight-year-old leaping off the schoolyard swing, trying to make me smile as I looked on.

What happened to her? And me? What happened to Evernaught City? What happened to us all?

I return to the small room where we're currently hiding, and slump against the wall in the opposite corner from Saana's chains. I like being a villain, right? Right. It's fun. Right?

And even if it's not fun, it's absolutely neccesary. If I wasn't a villain, I'd be dead. So better my victims dead than me.

But... I don't know. If I had the choice between preserving myself and staying a villain, or saving Saana... what would I do? My childhood best friend. Could I kill her if I had to? I hate her now.

I couldn't have known how soon I would have to make the choice. 

~Shaia

I sneak out with Skylar beside me, going to find Gem. I know she works at a cleaning place, so I go over to where she works, peeking into a window. I find her, folding laundry, the gem clip in her hair, looking peaceful and worryless. I look and Skylar, and she nods, mouthing, "How do we get in?" 

I mouth back, "Wait until she's done and comes out."

She nods, and we stand in the shadows, waiting for ten minutes. I pet my snakes, thinking that I might get to use them. If things go too far... A smile creeps onto my face slowly, and the back of my mind wonders what is wrong with me. But the front of my mind is pleased, so I follow that side of it. 

Minutes later, she walks out with a garbage bag into our alley. I smile coldly. Perfect. Skylar slowly walks out and blocks the alley entrance, and when Gem turns around, she lets out a shriek, stepping back, "Wh-who are you?"

I sneak behind her, and send Ebony to wrap around her ankle. She looks down, terrified, and shrieks, kicking her foot furiuosly. I grab her, and smile, "Stop fighting..." 

She kicks me, and I grab her tighter, cursing under my breath. Skylar comes and knocks her out, and we stuff her into a bag, dragging it behind us. I smile. Mission completed. Then, a boy comes, younger than me, staring at me with innocent eyes, "I saw that!"

I raise my eyebrows, "And?"

"And- And I'm calling the police! I'll be a hero!" He whips out his phone, but before he can even turn it on, I take it and smash it on the ground. His mouth turns into an 'o' of surprise, and his face turns red, "That was my phone!"

I laugh coldly, "And soon it's going to be your life!"

He turns pale, and Skylar nods at me, "Go on ahead. This'll be interesting." She leans against the wall, and I take out one of my knives, a guilty, churning feeling in my stomach. Was I able to do this? To kill an innocent little boy? 

I gulp, and raise my knife high up, putting on an expression of pure evil, and slice it into his neck, were he'll die within seconds. I'm not totally merciless. Before I go, I carve some words into his arm. The Darkness Princess.

Then I put the knife back and smile at Skylar, "Come on. Let's go." But inside, I'm wondering what's wrong with me.

Later, I'll lock myself in my room and cry, I'm sure of it, my weak, little girl side coming out briefly, but now, I'm still the Darkness Princess, and the Darkness Princess never shows any feeling. At all.

Willomena-

Will couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She knew the villains were monsters, but...

The boy's blood pooled around her feet, cold. The words "Darkness Princess" were etched into his arm.

That monster.

Will had sent Zandibar to get Saana (the tracking device in Saana's wrist helped) and now she raised the walker-talkie to her dry mouth. "Skylock... oh, I-"

"Will? What is it?"

Will licked her dry lips.

"W-well the subject's phone is dashed against the ground... he likely saw the villains capturing or mugging someone... he..."

"Oh my-Will, they didn't-"

"Subject is male, blonde, looks to be about 10. They... they killed him."

Skylock gasped. Will grunted, "follow me to these coordinates."

Will turned back to the boy and saw something glinting under his hair. She swooped and picked it up.

Gem's hair clip.

Will turned it over in her hands. At that moment, she spied something: tiny lettering.

TRACKING DEVICE:SUBJECT GAMMA

Will paled. She had deduced that the lab on Riverwood Street had conducted human experiments in the past, but if this was subject Gamma...

...that meant that there were at least two more subjects.

And Will had to find out who.

Will smashed the hair clip beneath her foot and continued onwards, tracking the villains.