Ren was in the backseat, hanging off the seatbelt. Once he opened his eyes, he saw the puppet also hanging off its seatbelt, while the rest were trying to get out. Actually, they had already gotten out of their seatbelts and were trying to climb out of the overturned car, so Ren quickly did the same.
He unlatched his belt, but instead of falling onto the roof of the flipped vehicle, he used his shades to balance himself and smoothly pull his body outside of the car. Landing lightly, he stood on his feet and immediately tried to look around to see what was happening outside.
But before he could get a clear view—
Boom.
An explosion went off nearby, sending dust and debris everywhere. His vision was instantly swallowed by the cloud, turning everything into a brown haze.
"Shit…"
With his sight blocked, Ren immediately activated Shadow Radar to understand the situation. Even though he had briefly pushed it further in the previous test trying to sense the shapes of shadows that level of focus had only lasted seconds. Right now, all he could reliably do was detect locations.
He sensed his teammates.
And four other shadows.
The villain team.
He narrowed his focus, locking onto his allies first and trying to interpret what they were doing through movement alone.
One shadow was clashing with another in close range fast, aggressive, constant motion. The intensity of the exchange was obvious even through radar alone.
That's Peter, Ren concluded instantly. He's the only one who can fight like that head-on.
He shifted his awareness.
Two more shadows.
One was running trying to escape while the other followed close behind… but not urgently. The pursuer's movements were controlled, almost playful. Like it was letting the other think escape was possible.
The running shadow is either Rex or Sophia… but which one?
He couldn't really tell.
Then he focused on the third ally shadow And frowned.
The shadow was dodging sometimes it paused to do what he assumed were attacks.
But there were no other shadows near it.
It looked like they were fighting empty space.
Why would they—
Then he realised something.
Wait… there's nothing there, but they're fighting… Could it be—
Ren immediately expanded his Shadow Radar outward not just over his teammates, but across the entire battlefield.
And then he felt it.
A shadow moving fast right behind him.
He tried to dodge—
But The shadow was too close And Too fast.
He didn't have the time or space to avoid it.
The shadow slammed into him, tackling him backward and nearly crushing him against the overturned car. Instead of driving him straight through it, though, the attacker backhanded the vehicle away slightly pushing it aside rather than destroying it.
They didn't want the car completely wrecked.
Not yet.
Ren skidded across the ground, sand scraping against his body. When he finally stopped, he realized he was pinned flat against the earth, his arms twisted and held behind him.
He immediately tried to use his shades to attack the person holding him down.
But before he could move, he felt something sharp press against his neck.
When he finally turned his head to see who it was, he saw him.
"Hello there. Been a while, hasn't it, Ren?"
It was Luke.
And he was holding a dagger against his throat.
"Oh, it's you. Well, I guess this is gonna be easier than I thought," Ren said calmly.
Luke's face twisted with anger.
"What the hell are you acting all calm for?" he demanded.
"Because I literally defeated you earlier when you had a sword, and now you have a dagger. This fight should be easier and much quicker. So I'm gonna finish it off and then help out my friends. Do you get it now. You don't intimidate me at all Ren said in a mocking tone.
Luke looked furious.
But then he forced himself to calm down.
"Well, no. That won't happen. And even if you somehow escape from my hold, that won't change anything. After all, I'm here with my friends as well."
Luke's words sent warning signals through Ren's mind.
He shifted his gaze as the smoke from the earlier explosion slowly began to dissipate. He focused on the direction where he had heard footsteps through the haze.
When the smoke finally cleared, he saw her.
Astra Walking straight toward him.
"Oh shit…"
He's with Astra.
Even though he had been confident earlier about defeating Luke again, he still acknowledged the truth beating him had been unbelievably difficult.
And since Luke was from Advanced School, and probably from a hero family considering Astra was with him, then the same likely applied to the other two teammates.
"you are Ren Dover right. A Canadian. Born and raised in Vancouver. Mostly raised entirely by your grandmother. Your parents weren't around much. Because of that, You helped take care of your little sister with your grandmother."
Astra said it casually while walking closer.
Ren stared at her in shock.
Why the hell does she know all that stuff about me?
Didn't she completely ignore my existence until Kai pointed me out during our first meeting
So what the hell does she know all of that for?
You seem to know an awful lot about me considering you completely ignored me the first time we met," Ren said calmly, trying to figure out what was going on here.
Astra lifted the corner of her mouth slightly, smiling smugly.
"Oh, how could I ignore you anymore? After all, you forced me to pay attention to you after you defeated Luke."
After saying that, she visibly shivered. "Just the thought of a worm like you actually defeating him almost makes me puke."
Ren just frowned. He was slowly starting to hate this conversation.
"How disappointing, seeing the daughter of Snowflower act like this. I guess her legacy will end with her," Ren said calmly.
His words made Astra and Luke's smiles drop.
In fact, both of them slowly started to get furious.
"How dare you," Astra muttered.
"What? Why the hell are you acting so offended? Did you honestly expect to be as great or greater than your mother when you literally hate the people you're supposed to save?"
Astra managed to regain her composure and smirk once again.
"Oh, I don't hate civilians. I actually find them quite cute. The ones I hate are people who don't know their place. People like you."
She said it in such a calm tone it was chilling. Her expression remained relaxed, even smug but her eyes were cold.
So cold that even Luke, who wasn't being stared at directly, flinched.
Ren narrowed his eyes, feeling like whatever came next wouldn't be good.
"You are the worst. You're a goddamn leech," Astra interrupted.
"I made my little research on you. I didn't just look at your background. I know what you did ever since you came to the island. On your very second day here, the first thing you do is get involved with Kai Mercer someone from a highly influential family. If it weren't for his unfortunate circumstances, he's someone who would have never talked to you in your life. And yet you make a connection with him."
She tilted her head slightly.
"And surprise, surprise, surprise. the reason he was disowned for having a weak power suddenly wasn't a problem since it showed potential."
Her smirk deepened.
"And later on, you contact Cassandra Hale."