Downgrade

Centre

“Well, well, well. I guess we have some uninvited guests from below.” A woman wearing a red furry robe was looking underneath to Kinzel and the others with a wicked dreadful smile. It was Penelope Hamington, the leader of the Royals. The most competitive person in the city. She’s been keeping her role as the Royals’ president for over 3 years now, yet no one ever dared to take her crown. She laughed in excitement as she touched her hands over the faces of her captives, Loshiana and Miguel, who’re standing straight next to her, strangling from the strong grasps of her soldiers. Their mouths are sealed with tapes and their eyes are filled with tears, asking for help as they saw their comrades hopelessly looking above them.

“We have to save them!” Vixen shouted at Kinzel, clenching her fist, almost digging her nails and making them bleed.

“Hello there! We didn’t expect you to come over for this celebration. Anyways, do you have something to say for these two?” Penelope said and whistled as she waited for their response.

“We have to do something,” Guilbert said, gritting his teeth. He couldn’t stand looking at Loshiana and Miguel’s desperate faces. They are crying in pain, the blood’s running down their cheeks and bruises are all over their arms and legs. They barely move from their positions. Quinten who’s standing still behind Cody anxiously grabbed something from his pouch and directly slashed it through the air, coming straightforward where Penelope’s group are standing from above.

“Takedown!” He shouted. Everyone was moving to different locations, making themselves hide. At a split moment, he threw the object, made it float up to the third level and a grenade exploded from above, making the Royals covered with dust and greyish heavy smoke. They couldn’t hear anything, but the loud noise of dogs howling from the distance. The Lowies neighborhood’s lights began to shine. People woke up from their sleep and went out to the streets. Some from the Elites are also awoken and glanced over the third level.

Now, everyone’s giving the attention to the Royals, who slowly stood from the ground, together with the captives. Penelope’s face is raging red, full of lust to harm. She forcefully dragged the members at the edge of their level’s center, gripping their shirts to keep still their balance, she was smirking upon looking below.

“The hell… did you do… to my comrades. You still don’t know your place…let me remind that for you!” Slowly, she released her grip from Loshiana and Miguel, making them fell rapidly in the air to the bottom. The fountain is still flowing its water freely. Cody suddenly rose from hiding at one of the trucks being parked at the side of the street. He swiftly ran towards the fountain, stretching his arms wide, his eyes glimmered through the dense smoke. The crystalline sufficient cold water slowly came outside the fountain, bursting! A large hand was formed with the water, catching both Loshiana and Miguel, absorbing them in the middle. They held their breaths as Cody slowly walked towards them, having great control over the water. He carefully let it touched the ground and eventually made Loshiana and Miguel stood in front of them. Both of them are wet. The water, fell to the ground, splashing in different directions. Everyone gathered behind them and look beyond the third level, seeing Penelope and her group’s shocked faces, but eventually, she smirked in awe at what happened.

“Oh, now a Resurrection power had appeared and stopped our elimination. We wanted to take this in normal silence, but I guess you wanted to be our guests and audiences. Sadly, the elimination didn’t succeed.” Penelope clapped her hands slowly. “You’re maybe lucky for now, but destiny will always have its own way. We’ll be seeing each other soon.” She added and looked in the direction of Loshiana and Miguel.

“In your dreams, your highness!” Guilbert said in mockness. The woman just gave him a wry smile and eventually headed to their quarters with her group, slowly disappearing through the smoke. The Lowies stared at them for a while, including the Era. Loshiana and Miguel cried in tears as they met and embraced their friends. The others who tend to go for sleep, are kind of happy to see their comrade being back again. Despite of Era’s appearance occasionally, there are still some who oppose their agenda. Some lost the hope of having a rebirth of a new system, some don’t care at all. But most of them didn’t bother to take part in it either, they didn’t want to have any fight with the higher authorities.

Slowly, the Lowies went back to their respective households and spend the night with their own families, not bothering with what happened at the fountain. To them, it was just a part of how they live every day – usual fights and misunderstanding.

Vixen went where her colleagues have gathered around. They are happy to get Loshiana and Miguel safe again. They directly went to their base, carefully assisting the two, not knowing that a man with broad shoulders, 5’11” tall silently stood at the Royals’ Centre, looking over them as they head home. The man smirked and suddenly vanished through the darkness.

___

“How’re the two doing?” Quinten asked, drinking his water as he read an old newspaper. It’s been twenty minutes when they arrived at the base.

“That’s rare of you, Quint.” Guilbert said.

“Yeah. You should practice more.” Kinzel added and laid on the couch.

“Stop teasing our little boy here. They’re quite doing fine. They're currently having their rest.” Cody said and patted him on the back.

“Talks about ‘little boy’.” Quinten rolled his eyes and pulled the newspaper near his face.

Vixen is at their kitchen, obviously, cooking some noodles. The distribution of goods throughout the city is not that good, especially for them, Lowies. They got the least among the other two levels. With their population of seven hundred, it would take them to wait for another month to get their resources. Of course, the Elites and the Royals are enjoying their privileges. As for the first level, they needed to save and be thrifty at all cost. The water flowing down their place isn’t that good either. Sometimes, dirt is mixed with it or it would smell like chlorine. Each level also has its own standards.

Vixen finished cooking their meal with a happy face. She carefully put the noodles inside the ceramic flowered bowl and added some seasonings. She walked to their cozy living room and placed the food over the circular wooden table.

“Dinner is ready.” She announced and gave the utensils to each and every one.

“Noodles. This will take us forever to change this shitty food.” Quinten bluntly said and partially played with his food.

Kinzel looked at him and sighed, changing her attention to Cody.

Cody was fuming and feebly collapsed on the other couch. He looked blanch and kind of distress. Vixen wiped her damp hands with a clean towel and sat beside him. She offered him some noodles.

“Are you okay, Cod?” She ponderously asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I used too much power a while ago. And hey! Stop whining about our food, Hot Head. It’s still the thing that keeps us living.” He glared at Quinten who’s currently looking over his bowl.

“I was just trying to compliment this shitty food, Codfish.” He sarcastically muttered and sluggishly served himself with his food.

The two of them can’t have a good conversation at all times, but when it comes to teamwork, they are beneficial and trustworthy for the team. Kinzel stood up from her seat and attentively stretched her arms. “I’m going to bed.” She suddenly said.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Vixen asked.

“Nah. I’m full, and I still need to finish some papers for you to distribute tomorrow.” She winked at her and headed to her room.

“Count me in. I would love to have someone join us. The least I can do to work our plan in a good way.”

“As if there’s someone who would want to join our team.” Quinten mockingly said, his mouth is still full with his food.

“Whatever, Hot Head.”

Looking over the room where Loshiana and Miguel taking their rest, Cody blinked rapidly behind his thick lenses of his glasses. He turned his gaze to the others who’re enjoying their meal.

“Do you think we need to use Miguel?” Cody suddenly asked.

It was oddly comforting to realize that he is still worried about the two. Cody had been anxious since they arrived at the base. Quinten looked right back at him, already finished his meal.

“For what?”

“Well, maybe we can get some information about the Royals.” He suggested, which has also caught Kinzel and Guilbert’s attention. Now everyone is minding the current situation. Guilbert rubbed his chin, deeply thinking of what happened to Loshiana and Guilbert with the Royals.

“Well, you got a point there, Cod. We can try to do that, after they gain enough rest. For now, we need to let them take some break from what happened. For sure, Penelope is aware that we will do that, but she doesn't know how.” He smirked and laughed.

“This will be our chance to get some about them.”