Hops and Leon continued to stay silent, as the moon from the night sky illuminated the long carr's inside. They were back on the road for two days now, and according to Alice, they would arrive at Lexington and their airport in mere hours. Cautiously watching, Leon stared at the small gap left over the box, with Jamal barely awake. If they didn't plan this right, everything would fall apart, and the situation would only deteriorate from there.
As they continued the drive, Hops sighed aloud, causing Alice to slow down slightly, as she looked back through the mirror.
"Something up?" she was a bit worried.
"It's just that I've been holding this leak the last three hours, and I really need to go." Hops whispered, not to disturb the sleeping Fonda, Brat, and Heskins. "Can we just stop for a brief moment?"
"We're so close but fine." Alice fumed, as she pulled to the side of the road, the thick forests alongside it.
Once the vehicle lurched to a stop, Hops opened the door, and quickly walked a bit into the woods. Once he was out of sight, he crouched down to the earth, and emptied his pockets. On him, was a solid roll of tape, a pistol, and a small pocketknife. Looking back, he quickly laid aside the pistol and knife next to a tree, before putting back the tape. Taking a deep breath, he looked back towards the direction of the vehicle, and began making his way back.
.....
Meanwhile, Leon was distracting Alice with basic responses, just to keep her engaged and stalling time. This was the most boring but severe part of the plan, Leon continued talking, as he eyed the book latched to the woman.
"How long does it take for you men to take a piss?" Alice began to get impatient.
"I'm sure Ryan is coming back by now?" Leon stared back into the woods, to which only the wind swayed the flora as a response. "He had been holding it in for a bit."
"We need to get rid of the body as soon as possible. It's going to start smelling soon." Alice looked back at the box, "I'm surprised there isn't a strong stench yet. It should be decomposing now."
Crud, Leon hissed quietly, as he made sure Alice couldn't exactly move around him with ease. Hops needed to come back quick and now.
"I'm sure due to his powers, Jamal's body is going to take a bit of time. We'll be fine, don't worry about it." Leon grumbled, as he finally saw Hops stride back carefully, holding a finger to his lips.
"You see something?" Alice looked worried at Leon, before turning around. "What's going on?"
"I'm so sorry for this Alice." Leon stated, before tightly grabbing the woman, limiting her movement.
"Hey!" she cried out, "What are you doing, you burnt donkey! Let go of me!"
Leon almost began to burst out laughing from the insult, as Hops quickly entered the carr, and compactly wrapped the tape around her arms and legs. Finally, Hops stared back at the woman, with panic in her eyes, struggling to reach for her book.
"Fonda, Hingai, and Heskins help me!" she screamed, causing Hops to swiftly cover her mouth with tape.
The cry of desperation caused the two pre-teens and adult to begin to stir awake from the commotion. Without hesitation, Hops moved through the carr, before wrapping all of them up while they couldn't use their full senses.
"What are you doing, Ryan?" Fonda managed to ask, before Hops covered her mouth as well.
"Is that everyone?" Jamal asked from inside.
"It is." Leon confirmed, as Jamal pushed the lid over.
Still in pain, he rolled out of the box, as he flipped onto the carr floor. Getting up steadily, Jamal looked to the shocked prisoners, who began to squirm in surprise at the man they thought was dead.
"I know, I know. I have a lot to explain." Jamal grinned, "Let's go to the woods."
Jamal waited until Leon and Hops carried the rest of the Eluyim Hexan out of the vehicle, as Hops lead them to the spot where he stashed the rest of his items. Why did he need a pistol or the knife again, he recalled Hops asking him to have for the situation. Well, he was finding out now.
Stopping in front of a tree, Hops and Leon placed the captured squadron onto the ground, as they attempted to move out of harm's way like flopping fish. It caused Jamal to chuckle, before grunting to clear his head and fix all of their issues.
"So why did you need a pistol and a knife for?" Jamal was curious, as he asked Hops.
"Easy," Hops replied calmly, grabbing the weapon before cocking it back. "It's going to get their memory back."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jamal got in front of the man, as the rest of the members began to squirm even more frantically from the sight. "I don't think it's necessary."
"Is that so?" Hops said, before aiming it at Alice, trembling a bit. "I have to do this, I have no choice."
"No!" Leon and Jamal both cried out, as he fired at the woman.
The bullet lodged itself next to Alice, missing her by several inches, but the shock caused her to faint from fear. Not only it produced more fear among the rest of the members, but it was worsening the situation.
"What was that for?" Leon ripped the weapon from his hands.
"We got shot at, so I thought it might do something?" Hops shrugged, "Plus I really wanted to use it, since I never, well, did."
"This is not a game. We don't have time for this." Leon emptied the clip, before throwing the weapon away. "Solutions are needed now, and quickly."
Jamal continued to ignore them, as he crouched down next to Brat. The boy looked at him in disgust and still resonating fear. Calmly, Jamal ripped off the tape covering his mouth, providing relief to his lungs.
"You. What do you want?" the boy muttered.
"What do I want, Brat?" Jamal said, "I want to actually apologize for the incident at the apartment complex, and our rather unfortunate "encounter". It was foolish of me to burn it down, and wreck havoc to the three of y'all there. But before I free you, I need you to respond to me with this question."
"Brat?" the boy was confused.
"That's what you went by. At least tell me you remember that?" Jamal was a bit worried. "Brat, the boy that can turn into just about any animal."
Jamal watched, as the boy's face was strained with thought, before he began to exhale and inhale more rapidly.
"There you go, fight it Brat!" Jamal began to encourage, "Don't let Youden continue to consume you and free yourself. Save yourself. Do it for Fonda and Hops and everyone else. Do it to make things right!"
Jamal continued to focus on the boy, whose eyes temporarily dilated and fur popped through his skin, before they calmed down. Hops and Leon watched the commotion, as Brat began to take more relaxed breaths. Jamal gave him a minute, before removing the tape.
"Jamal? Is that you?" Brat was confused, once the tape was removed.
"It is me, but we have more important matters to get to." Jamal grinned at the boy, before staring back at Hops and Leon. "I think I found a pattern. If I can make sure y'all recall events, or through injury apparently, you should have a fighting chance to fight back whatever Youden did to you guys. Now, let's finish the rest."
.....
The process continued for another twenty minutes, as the rest of the reclaimed group, began attempting to save the others still under Youden's control. For Fonda, Jamal helped her recall the hospital stay when they fought in the student tournament, to where he was with her for as long as she could. It was a difficult process, as one had to fight the effects of the serum, but once she pushed through, he let Brat comfort her, before moving on to Heskins.
This was going to be more difficult, as he was very responsive and fearful of the man, that didn't even scratch him while fighting him at the field.
"Don't make this harder than it has to Heskins." Jamal stated, to which the man calmed down, "How's your wrist doing?"
Heskins looked down at his arm, to which there appeared to be nothing wrong. He didn't even recall there being any problems until he felt something tug at the back of his head. It was blurry, but it was a faint sight of explosions, and Jamal himself was there, surrounded by fire, before disappearing.
"Wait," Heskins looked at the man, "You, you hurt me didn't you."
"Yeah, it's not a proud moment I want to say, however, I will make it up to you." Jamal admitted.
"And how so?"
"I'm going to let you hurt me back, but only if you fight back Youden and what he did to you guys, just like everyone else almost has."
With those words, Jamal watched as Heskins strained himself in thought, before he began to feel the effects of the serum attempt to retain control. Jamal didn't say anything, as he walked towards Hops, who stared at Alice. He was going to let the man get through it, although he could tell something was wrong.
"Something wrong?" Jamal asked.
"I can't really believe we let Youden get us into this situation after you had left. Now, we're almost united again. We're just missing-" Hops began to count.
"Ula." Jamal sighed in disappointment, "We got to deal with Alice first."
"I was already on it." Hops made clear, "Just look."
Jamal looked, to see the woman free of the tape, as she held her head in pain, before looking at the two men.
"Hops, you found Jamal. I thought he left." she muttered, struggling to get off the ground.
"Well, let's just you're the one that found him." Hops grinned, before hugging the woman.
Smiling, Jamal let them bond again, before staring back at Heskins, who finally freed himself from the tape. He was going to greet him, before Heskins landed a solid punch across his jaw. It caused Jamal to collapse onto the ground, seeing black circles.
"I wish I broke your jaw with that, but that's only fair for what you did to me." Heskins looked down at the man, as Jamal's head began to clear.
He was confused until he recalled his prior promise once he was freed from Youden's grip, as Heskins held a hand out. Jamal grabbed it, as Heskins pulled him up, causing him to stagger in pain, still after the fight from days prior.
"Looks like I didn't need to hurt you after all. It appears that someone did it to you for me." Heskins was relieved at the sight.
"It was actually everyone, but you surprisingly," Jamal stated, causing him to recall the moment.
"Oh, well I'm still satisfied as a result." Heskins joked around, as Jamal looked at the rest of the members staring at him. It was time to make an announcement.
"Alright, I'm going to make this sweet and to the point. I know this is going to be weak at the moment, but I'm extremely sorry for the events that occurred in Suruthum. My actions were foolish and ill-intended, and as a result, well, we know what happened because of it. The effects are dire, and I'm now realizing that Youden is actually stronger than I initially assumed. This is why I've created a new plan prior to what I had said when the "events" occurred. We're going to get Ula back, and fully reunite the Viligantes of Power. I can already figure the bastard also has my son, so I'm not only going to make sure he's okay, but alas, I'm doing what I intended to do from the start. We're going to stop Youden from continuing forth, by killing him and returning Saputa to its former glory. This will be life or death for the rest of the world, as the longer we wait and do nothing, the more suffering will come. We already have nothing, so let's make and do something with what we have!"