Hidden: In the Dark

Breaking Out

"We've checked the warehouse, where else could they be? They're not in a hotel. There has to be a clue." Zip paces around the hotel room.

"What other options do we have?" Maze asks. "I've checked all the recent store closings for a potential hideout but nothing that stands out. They found the tracker we put on them because it's not responding."

"Looks like I'll have to face this head on." Vera stands up with a strong look of initiative on her face.

"What are you doing?" Zip asks.

"I'm going to find Mitch." She looks off into the distance, not making eye contact with any of the others. "To ask where Steve went." She begins walking towards the door. "You sure you want to do that?" Zip asks. "I mean we can back you up." Maze offers.

"Trust me, I don't need superpowers to handle a whiny ass b*tch." She turns, closing the door behind her.

A few hours later, Maze, Zip and Emmy get a text simultaneously saying "The Battery." They all look at Remedy. "Remedy, where's the battery?" 

"You mean 'the three batteries', Battery Sherwood, Battery Blaney, and Battery Slaughter." Their eyes get wide at the word 'slaughter'."

"Are they near each other?" 

"Yeah right across-" 

"Great, let's go." Zip zooms out of the door.

They climb into the rental and make their way down the highway. "So, what's the difference between these places? Any clues as to where they could hide?" Zip's the one who decided to drive.

"They're gun batteries used for World War 1."

"Not active, right?!" Zip stresses. If they got control of military grade weapons, they'd be in some serious sh*t.

"I doubt it, I've never been there!" Making sure to make herself heard. "I just know they're near the Golden Gate Bridge."

"I just looked it up. The way we're going, we'll run into Blaney first, Slaughter second and Sherwood last." Emmy says from the back seat.

"Well, looks like we're checking Blaney."

~

Maze bursts in like she's on fire, raring for something to extinguish. "Where's Steve?" She shrieks. Standing there are both cousins rattled but they've been expecting her. "There's someone you haven't spoken to yet." Randolf coughs.

Bert holds up a phone. Maze approaches with caution, anger, and fear. "Hello?" She picks it up, knowing what's coming.

"Katlyn."

"Katlyn- My daughter." She's not sure what to say. "I've been wanting to meet you." "You didn't have any part in my life." She keeps herself firm but calm. "I know, I know. A lot of things happened, but hear me out. When you were born, we weren't financially stable, your mom didn't want to admit it but we couldn't afford you." He excuses. "Screw that, you find a way, you still had me, you still didn't tell her. You went behind her back, you-" She's getting emotional now.

"There are two sides to every story, she's always going to say bad stuff about me and I'm always going to have to turn it around." He's placing the blame on their mom, not something she's too fond of. "You didn't want a girl." 

"I'll admit I didn't but I've changed, I wasn't the best person back then, let alone father but we can make it work out now, I hear you've been revisiting your mom and well, I think it's time- I miss you." It's the same spiel that Steve said happened to him.

"You can't miss someone you haven't met and that didn't apply to Steve?" She challenges. "I fought, but the system's against me."

"So, you gave up." 

"Whatever Steve's told you, it's based on what his mother's told him. He was two when we split and he barely saw me. Whether he likes it or not, we're still related, don't you want to get to know that missing side of your family?"

"I did and good thing we have nurture over nature then, am I right?" She hangs up and tosses the phone gently enough for Bert to catch it. "Where's Steve?" She clenches her fist.

"You know when you see blood? When you're hurt, blood is always there. Right now, you're hurt- Steve is blood too. We'll let him go as soon as we find this Nexite."

"Against his will? You're justifying things that can't be justified. Use me! He has nothing to do with it."

"Kat!" Zip slides around the corner. They both change their stance, obviously not going to comply. "I got this, go!" He says, sending her running. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Drake and Josh." They stand off with Randolf wrapping up his barbed wire. Zip sets his gun to full-sleep.

Emmy and Remedy come in from behind Zip, guns blazing.

Seeing they're outnumbered, Bert's face tightens as he sidesteps before running away from the scene. Emmy steps to Zip's right, and with a snap of her fingers, without hesitation, Zip picks out a round of ammunition from his pocket and tosses it to her. She catches it and runs after Bert.

"Looks like your brother took the high road." Zip teases.

They keep shooting but nothing is hitting him and they can't get closer because of Randolf whipping his wire. "Screw this." Remedy throws the gun at him as a distraction and runs towards him. He pulls back his whip and she takes her hand and waves it quickly at his face. He can't see, missing and striking the ground multiple times. She kicks Randolf in the chest, sending him backwards. "Together." She says to Zip.

"Don't move." Someone yells from behind Randolf, catching him by surprise. He drops the wire and puts his hands up. A police officer appears, handcuffing his hands behind his back. "Get on the ground!" Zip looks to the side and sees another one approach, holstering his taser gun. "Evening, officer." Zip greets.

"You had this planned out." Remedy says. "Once we figured out the location, I set it up, told them what they looked like and not to shoot us down." Zip explains.

Maze runs into a set of doors, using her powers to open them without breaking stride, before skidding to a halt. "Steve." She hears footsteps closing in. She grabs a nearby door stop and slide kicks it into the same set of doors. "Let's get you out of here." 

"Wait! Wait! It's charged with electricity!" He warns. She picks his head up, putting her hands on the sides of his head and the mask itself. She charges her fingers to short-wire the mask, giving off a *buzz* sound before ripping it off. 

Suddenly the door makes a "BLAM!" as if someone ran into it. Maze holds her hand out but nothing comes out of the door, she eases up and looks back at Steve.

He looks ahead wide-eyed with a red ring where the mask used to be. Maze grabs him and hugs him. He looks at the digital clock across the room '11:55' his tension rises. '11:56' He eases up, almost melting into Maze's arms, relieved. "You can sleep when we get home. Can you walk?" She holds him out in front of her, looking down at his legs to see if he's hurt.

Steve goes to answer but he starts crying. "V-violet."

Meanwhile, Emmy is chewing gum that has lost flavor and is desperate to spit out, chasing after Bert in the process. She keeps shooting ahead of her but they're both running so fast and awry that she can't make a solid hit. Bert doesn't bother firing back, knocking down boxes behind him to try and gain distance. He runs into a door but it doesn't budge, opting to turn to his right down another hallway.

At the end of the path, he busts through another door, this one actually opens with its weak rusty exterior. Emmy busts through the same door to see nobody there, just an empty lot. Screeching from the side comes a dirtbike, riding away.

She slaps her thigh with her gun, angry that she's been bested again.