Back in the Present. "Whoosh," a portal opened. Dean, Claire, Bianca, Ruby, and Lily stepped out of the portal, arriving at a terrifying warehouse complex. The buildings were chained with barbed wire, and there was horrific graffiti drawn in blood. The ground was cracked and purple, and the sky was a deep red. A road stretched out before them, lined with warehouses on both sides.
"Let's go, we need to hurry," Dean said, getting ready.
"Yeah, poor Natalie," Claire replied.
"What are we waiting for?" Bianca added.
"But it doesn't look like they're going to let us pass easily," Ruby said.
"Raaagh!"
Hundreds of zombies emerged from the warehouses. Three two-headed zombie titans came up from behind them, their footsteps shaking the ground. The massive horde of zombies marched toward them, forming a horrifying army.
"I'll go first," Lily said in their heads.
Without waiting for the others' replies, Lily shot forward. "Snikt," she unsheathed claws from her pair of iron gauntlets.
"Heh... alright everyone," Dean said.
"Yeah," Claire, Bianca, and Ruby replied.
They all started running, with Ruby floating to follow them. The battle was unavoidable, and in an instant, they managed to significantly reduce the zombie army thanks to their drastically increased power levels. Dean charged forward, and a single swing of his scythe could split all the zombies in front of him with a massive, crescent moon-shaped beam of light.
Claire split herself in two, placed a sword at her waist, and shot forward like a comet, slicing through every zombie she passed. Bianca conjured a large ball of light at the tip of her syringe gun, and when she fired it, the huge green orb killed all the zombies in front of her, leaving a long, semicircular line on the ground.
Floating in the air, Ruby swung her fiery chain whip at the ground, setting it ablaze and destroying the zombies standing on it. Meanwhile, Lily spun incredibly fast with both arms outstretched, creating a whirlwind of claws that tore through every zombie in her path.
Finally, they stood before the three slow-moving two-headed zombie titans. Dean jumped and spun in the air, and a full spin of his giant scythe created a massive red, full-moon-like disc that went straight through all three titans, who were lined up.
"BOOM!" "Raaagh!" The three zombie titans were instantly split in two and fell to the ground. Dean landed and looked at the others.
"Let's go," Dean said.
"Yeah, let's go," Claire replied.
"Hmm... that wasn't too tiring this time," Bianca said.
"Yep... it was even a little fun," Ruby added.
"Come on, come on... what's next?" Lily said cheerfully in their heads.
"Let's go, don't waste time," Dean said.
"Yeah," replied Claire, Bianca, and Ruby. "Yeah," Lily said in their heads.
They ran out of the back of the warehouse complex and saw a burning warehouse that was black and white, as if time had stopped around it, freezing the flames.
"It's over there," Dean said, pointing at the warehouse after checking his map.
They ran toward the warehouse and opened the door. The inside was full of black and white flames that weren't moving. Dean and the others looked around.
"Over there," Ruby yelled, pointing to the left side of the warehouse.
They immediately went to where Ruby was pointing and were shocked to see Natalie lying face down on the ground with a burning wooden beam on her back. Both of her arms were burned, and one of her legs was also trapped under some debris. Dean immediately pointed the tip of his scythe at Natalie's head and pulled out her soul.
"Huh," as soon as it came out, Natalie's soul looked very confused, seeing the black and white surroundings as if time had stopped. Then she turned around and saw Dean, Claire, Bianca, Ruby, and Lily, all with red eyes, standing behind her. She immediately jumped back and pointed her pistol at them.
"Um... hi, hehe," Claire said, slowly waving her hand.
"Huh... Dean... Claire... Bianca?" Natalie asked in shock, lowering her pistol.
"Hehe... it's us," Bianca replied.
"That's right," Dean added.
"What is this... what's going on... why are you guys... what is all this?" Natalie asked, confused.
[Hohoho, let me explain.]
"Plop," NS suddenly appeared and landed between Dean and Natalie. Of course, when Natalie saw NS's horrifying appearance, she immediately backed away and pointed her pistol at them again.
"Wh-who are you... seriously, what is going on, Dean? Explain this to me!" Natalie yelled, panicking.
"Put down your gun, I'll explain everything," NS said.
"That's right, Natalie. Trust us," Dean added.
Natalie lowered her pistol, though her face still looked very confused and full of questions. Dean leaned in and whispered in NS's ear.
"Hey, you usually make me do the explaining," Dean said.
"She's different. She's not a kid you can fill with fantasies. She's a police officer, an adult. When it was your turn, I came down myself, right? It's the same now. Leave it to me. Just accept the target for revenge, and I'll show you what happened," NS said.
"Oh, okay," Dean said.
Dean stood up again and backed away. Suddenly, "Whoosh," a huge hologram screen appeared in front of Dean, Claire, Bianca, Ruby, and Lily all at once. The screen showed what happened to Natalie and how she used the app to call Dean and the others.
After that, the footage also showed why Natalie's soul was special. It turned out Natalie wasn't the biological child of Michael, who, as it happens, was never married. She was the daughter of Michael's sister, who was left by her husband and died in a house fire. Michael adopted Natalie when she was only 1 year old, and since then, Natalie had always made Michael her idol.
Since she was a kid, she'd wanted to be a police officer, had a strong sense of justice, and never messed around. Her life was very straightforward, but she was always alone. She never even had friends or a boyfriend because she spent her life defending and helping others, even though a lot of people took advantage of her kindness.
"Hold on... she's... a virgin? Literally a virgin?" Bianca asked.
"Wow... a 26-year-old virgin... how come someone that pretty and beautiful still be a virgin?" Claire asked.
"This is... truly surprising. No wonder she's special," Ruby added.
"What's a virgin?" Lily asked in all their heads, her face looking confused because she didn't understand.
"Hey, what's wrong with you guys? Lily's here," Dean said, scolding them all and covering Lily's ears. "Don't listen to them, Lily," Dean said.
"Oh... okay," Lily said in Dean's head.
Bianca, Claire, and Ruby poked their heads out of the screen and looked at Natalie, who was being spoken to by NS, with pity on their faces. Natalie noticed them, and her face seemed to say, "Why are you guys looking at me like that?" A moment later, the display on the screen changed.
============================================
Target Data
Target: Oliver Dalton
Age: 58
Occupation: Police Chief
Evil Deeds: Corruption, accepting bribes, smuggling, mafia accomplice
Victims: Too Many
Status: Alive
Location: His office
Record: None, he's the chief
Reward: 30,000 exp points
============================================
NS turned around and smiled, then he raised his staff. The screen disappeared.
"You guys know what you have to do, right? Have fun," NS said.
"Yeah, it'll be our pleasure," Dean, Claire, Bianca, Ruby, and Lily said with glowing red eyes and sinister smiles on their faces.
Dean knew from the footage that what happened to Natalie today was connected to Heather and her father, Zack. And this made him smile wider than the others.
After Dean and the others vanished, NS turned to Natalie. He tapped his staff on the ground, and a screen appeared in front of them.
"Now let's watch your revenge. Oh, and here, use these for the sound," NS said, snapping his fingers.
A pair of earbuds appeared and landed in Natalie's hand. She put them in and turned to look at NS.
"Is everything you said true?" Natalie asked.
"Every bit of it. First, we watch this, and then I'll show you my world," NS replied.
"Okay," Natalie said, staring at the screen. "(So... my gut were right all along. Dean is the one behind all those mysterious murders... sometimes I hate my gut. I mean, I'm attracted to Dean, and my gut are getting in the way. And now... I'm actually in his world... this is confusing... Ugh.)"