Tether

Chapter 5

I was cornered, the three villains loomed in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. I wondered if I was able to change the bomb on my neck with my powers. I reached my hand up to my neck when I saw Bomb-rush pull out the remote and teasingly shake it in front of me. Mushroom witch gave Bomb-rush a side-eye before snatching the remote out of her hand.

"Hey! What the hell?" She shouted.

"Quiet!" Mushroom Witch hissed. "I don't trust you with that, especially since you got us in this mess in the first place."

Bomb-rush mumbled to herself before backing off. Mushroom Witch regained her composure and turned to me "Now, Juliana, right? My name is Nina, and this is Blair and Ezra." She points to Bomb-rush and Smokescreen. Blair turns and looks away while Ezra scowled at me.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Nina sighs as she pushes the button on the detonator.

I braced in anticipation for the explosion to kill us all, but nothing came. Instead, I felt the pressure on my neck release as the cold metal disk slid down my neck and into my shirt.

I try to talk "What is happe-"

"Shut it!" Blair snapped, before turning to Nina.

Nina said "Sorry about that, we needed to take precautions, so you wouldn't try anything. Now are you ready to listen? We need to explain some things."

I nod before she starts.

"When we first started out as tethers, we were a group of four. Me, Ezra, Blair, and Rachel or Cerberus as she was called. We weren't really villains in the beginning, just a group of kids trying to survive."

"What about your parents?" I interrupt noticing Blair glare at me.

"They... Disowned us after they found out we were tethers. They threw us into the street and that's how we all found each other, well Rachel did at least."

"Is she your leader?" I ask.

"She was, until she was killed by the TEAR."

I was taken aback but it did make sense. She wasn't with any of them during the attack, or on the news article.

"She was the reason we're together. And we're going to destroy the TEAR for her." Nina said.

"Destroy the TEAR!? That's insane! They're the most dangerous organization for tethers. How do you think you can stop them?"

"We don't know yet, but that's why we're here. Because you have something we want."

"Wait me!? What do I have?"

This time Blair spoke "You're a rouge, but you have some relationship with the TEAR."

"What does that mean!?"

Nina spoke, her calm words contrasting Blairs venom. "We've been across the country and have met several tethers and rouges. But when we saw you chatting up the director of the east coast guardians, we knew you had ties with them. Why is that?"

I shrug "I just got registered today, and ever since Sebastian, the director, has been warning me about the TEAR trying to kill me if I don't join."

"Damn, we should have seen that coming." Nina swore.

"Sorry but what were you expecting?"

"We thought you had some kind of info on the TEAR, like some kind of blackmail." Blair said.

I shake my head. "Sorry, I don't have any."

"Damn, but that's ok we can still work with this." Nina says trailing off