Somewhere, someplace, it's dark and empty. Ned is standing alone in this wasteland of nothing, without clothes and without a mouth.
He can't speak, he can't move, but he can think. He talks inside his mind, wondering where he is.
But in this dark and empty place, there's not only Ned. In front of him, far in the distance, is a white glow, almost like a single flame, made out of what can be described as fur.
It's just hovering, glowing in the far distance, alone.
Then—
This thing, this entity, shapeshifts, slowly morphing. It shapes itself frantically, then takes the shape of a wolf's head.
A wolf's head with a single eye in the front of it. It opens and glares at Ned.
Ned stares back at this thing. He can't do anything except stare at it.
After quite a bit, this thing makes a sound—a sound of instant, constant static noise.
The sound makes Ned's brain go crazy. It's like everything and anything goes inside his mind, aconstant overflowing of information.
Blood comes out of Ned's ears, eyes, and nose. It's painful—so painful that Ned screams inside his mind, until—
He opens his eyes, staring at a ceiling.
He's lying in bed. He slowly gets his body to sit up and looks around. Ned is inside an unfamiliar room. It's dirty, filled with dust and spider webs. The room looks like it hasn't been used in years.
Ned notices that his arm is covered in bandages, and the wounds have been treated.
Inside the room, it's empty—only a bed and a window beside him. The door in front of Ned opens.
An old lady comes out, holding a plate of bread and a glass of water.
She says, "Oh, you're awake, dear," with a soft and comforting voice.
She walks toward Ned slowly and stands beside him, sitting on the bed. She puts down the plate beside Ned's bed.
"This is gonna be painful, so hold still," she says. Ned is confused. "What do you mean?"
She grabs his hand that's been broken by the fight from before. Then she says, "Can you move your arm, boy?"
Ned looks at his arm and tries to move it. It's painful. The pain stings—shock moves everywhere in his body. He yells in pain, "SHIT!!"
The lady then says, "Well, no shock. Better not to move much, boy." The lady then stands up. "Eat up. You'll need plenty of rest," and walks toward the door.
Ned then says, "Wait! I—I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't stay here for much longer. I need to go. There's something important I need to do," Ned says in a worried voice.
The lady then stops. "To find Claw, right?" she says in a low, now menacing tone.
"Huh?" Ned is confused. Panic sets in a little.
Then the lady says, "No need to worry. I'm not an enemy here. Your friends are already on their way. You should focus on resting here for a bit."
Ned then says in a low, suspicious voice, "Who are you…?"
The lady answers, "I'm just an old lady."
Ned then proceeds to get even more anxious. "Look, I'm thankful and all, but I need to know—why does some random old lady know about me?" Sweat runs down his head.
"Lady, there's a lot of shit I've already been through. At least prove to me that you're not an enemy," Ned anxiously says.
The lady says, "Eat up. It's not poisonous."
Then she proceeds to exit the room and close the door.
Meanwhile, somewhere
Brad is running through an alleyway. He holds his phone, looking at the map coordinates Mark sent him.
He runs and destroys any obstacle that comes in his way—trash cans, bunches of scraps, and people. Not really; he just pushes them away.
When he almost makes it out of the alleyway, someone comes out in front of him at the corner.
A person with his arm out in the air catches Brad by surprise. The man's forearm bashes into Brad's stomach, sending him flying back into a pile of trash.
Brad quickly stands up, and before he can fully react, the guy runs to punch Brad in the face.
Brad tries to block using his metal bat, only to be stopped mid-pose. Brad feels a sense of force stopping him in place.
The guy manages to land another hit, sending Brad flying back.
Brad finally manages to get a sense of the situation. He looks toward his enemy—a skinny guy with a white shirt, black pants, a red bow tie, and a pair of circular glasses. He has neat hair and looks like a nerd.
"How is this skinny guy punching me with ridiculous power?" Brad thinks to himself while having a nosebleed. "Shit, I can't think too much. I have to defend myself.
In some other place
Mark is running toward coordinates from an anonymous number. He knows he can't trust some random number, but he doesn't really have anything to go on anymore.
He runs through the sidewalk in the city.
Until—
He feels a sudden pain in his leg. It's bleeding.
A gunshot.
"Shit," Mark says to himself, panicking.
The passengers all see Mark suddenly fall to his knee, bleeding from his leg. They all scream and yell, running after seeing the scene.
Mark quickly uses the crowd's frantic situation and runs to hide inside an alleyway.
Far, far away from above, a sniper glint can be spotted slightly.
Recovering from the gunshot wound, Mark undresses his jacket and rips a part of his shirt.
He quickly covers his wound with the ripped piece of clothing, then proceeds to tie his jacket around his waist.
"This piece of cloth should help me, even if it's just a little", Mark thinks to himself.
"It's a sniper… shit," he thinks. But then another thought follows.
Why am I being targeted? He thinks for a second until it clicks. "Ah, fucking right—Brad's betrayal. They probably already tracked him down and already fucking know his plan," Mark thinks, infuriated.
Without wasting any more time, Mark tries to think of a solution rather than getting angry in this situation.
"Let's test the water, shall we," Mark says. He grabs a piece of rock and throws it outside the alleyway. The rock instantly gets shot.
Seeing that, Mark sweats a little. "Heh," he chuckles. "I gotta get godlike luck to beat this guy."
Mark searches through the alleyway garbage, trying to find a piece of glass that could mirror the cityscape, so he could get a view of his attacker.
"Let's pray I'll get a chance to attack back… heh," he laughs to himself.