Ten and the group had left the isolation room and broke off into their own directions throughout the hideout.

“Why is the crybaby following us?” Naomi teased, referring to Ten who was trailing behind them.

“That’s mean Naomi! You shouldn’t say that!” Mag laughed.

“I know you’ve been visiting Ten everyday and crying your eyes out telling him to wake up!”

“WHA- I was?” Naomi asked innocently. “No I wasn’t!”

“Who’s Ten? Is he Ten? Also… who are you?” Naomi pointed at the two of them with a confused look on her face. Mag bursted back into laughter.

Ten couldn’t help but crack a sad smile as he stared at his new arm. Trying to remember the feeling of what it was like when he grasped his flaming sword and vanquished his enemies with overwhelming power.

Wolf and Q had walked in the opposite direction. Their mood was the complete opposite of the trio.

“You lied to him…” Q said.

“Oh that… you’re talking about the paranoia he was having?” Wolf answered.

“Why not just tell him it was the massive amounts of dopamine enhancing drugs that we put him under?”

“Do you trust me Q?” Wolf calmly asked.

A loud silence followed.

“Of course… it’s the job of the vice captain after all.”

“Good… then to answer your question…”

Another grand silence.

“Sorry… but… It’s something I can’t answer right now…” Wolf said as a red glare beamed from his menacing helmet.

“I figured as much…” Q sighed.

***

Later that night, Ten found himself alone in his dank room again. He was still under constant monitoring from Q and Wolf. Although his withdrawal symptoms had weakened, he would still have sharp head pains every now and then.

The dark figure would sometimes visit him, but with much less frequency than before. Whenever it did, Ten would simply lose himself in deep thought, drowning out its whispers of temptation.

He recalled his blurry memory of losing control and getting into a fight with Dreya. She wasn’t present in the room with everyone else earlier in the day and he’d completely forgotten to ask what became of her.

He got up from his bed and took a long swig of water from a canister that Mag had given him earlier. He was told that drinking plenty of water and staying hydrated would help a lot with withdrawal. Something about cleansing his system from residual NGF that was still present in his body,

He walked into the hallway of the hideout and made his way towards the nearest restroom. As he was walking, he crossed paths with an unexpected face. 

It was Dreya. 

Her eyes had become sunken and dark as she silently glared at him.

“Fuck are you lookin at?” She hissed.

Ten quickened his pace. Nervous that she would want to finish what she had started the other day. But she continued to walk down the dark hallway, disappearing into the shadows.

Ten let out a sigh of relief.

***

Later that night, Wolf came in to check up on Ten, who had been quietly brooding alone in the darkness of his room.

“Starting next week, you’ll be going through a crash course on Neuroscience. By then, your withdrawal symptoms will have subsided.”

“Neuroscience?”

“The study of the human nervous system, which includes the brain and the spinal cord. Key structures in our bodies that play a huge role in the output of neural potential.”

Ten stared at Wolf a little intimidated and confused by all the jargon being flung his way. Back in Elysion, he wasn’t quite the academic prodigy like Zena might have been. But to make up for his lack of booksmarts, he had the power of his divine blessings. 

“I sent you some links to give you a jumpstart on your studies.” Wolf continued.

“Links?” Ten asked a little confused.

“They’re in this device over here.” Wolf walked over to a dirty desk in the corner of the room.

He pressed a small button and a screen lit up.

“This is called a computer. It’s a common device that many people use in this world. You use it to access the web.”

“The web…” Ten murmured. It sounded familiar. Something that Q and Mag were casually joking about, calling it the most addictive drug of all time.

Ten seemed a little hesitant.

“Here… I’ll show you a quick rundown on how to use it since it’ll be needed for your studying.” Wolf said as he pulled up another chair for Ten to sit down.

***

The next day, Ten woke up feeling dazed and groggy. It was only after having Mag’s breakfast that he started feeling better. But the ambient chatter in the main room suddenly died down after Wolf’s voice boomed from a platform in the center of the room.

“This is an important announcement everyone! Listen up!”

The members of the Fourth began aggregating in the center of the room. Ten sat down by a nearby table to hear what Wolf had to say.

“It’s been confirmed that Dreya has gone missing.”

The room bursted into anxious chatter.

“She was last seen three days ago when we checked the security feed.”

“Three days ago…” Ten muttered.

But he had seen Dreya on his way to the restroom last night? Did his eyes deceive him then? Perhaps it was another side effect of the withdrawals. But if that was the case… 

No… He didn’t want to keep lingering around in a pool of negative thoughts and what-ifs.

The room broke out into more murmuring. There was a worrisome tension that slowly filled the air.

“We already have a team assembled to track her down. If anyone has any information about her possible whereabouts, you can come talk with me or Q later.”

After things died down, Ten returned to his computer to practice what Wolf had taught him last night. Trying to get his mind off of the news about Dreya’s disappearance. Perhaps it was because a small part of him felt like he had been responsible.

As Ten surfed the web, he couldn’t help but get sucked in with mesmerization. He had access to a vast library of valuable information at his very fingertips. Something he desperately needed if he wanted to learn more about this new world. 

To think that such magic existed. If Zena was here she would have loved it.

He clicked on the links Wolf had sent him and started watching videos and reading articles about the history of Axel and the rise of BANE. Noticing just how much positive light was shed on BANE’s corporation. The AA would claim that such nonsense was because of media propaganda and a corrupt elite. Something that Ten was quite familiar with in the world of Elysion. After all, he was a King of a great kingdom; having his fair share of experience in the realm of politics.

History is written by the winners.

It was a phrase that Kal would often blurt out every now and then.

BANE were the winners, and the AA were the losers. The scum of society. A radical criminal organization whose “main goal” is to prevent the world from achieving Nuro 100 and elevating humanity into the next level of "consciousness."

Every article and video about the AA relayed a similar sentiment.

The Axis of Associations are evil.

Yet, Ten couldn’t help but wonder. Would that mean Naomi was evil as well? What about Mag? Ikara? Maybe Dreya, but Q? What about Daphne? Elyza? 

He knew very little about Wolf, so he couldn’t really say…

As he continued, he noticed a section full of messages from what seemed like other individuals who had watched the same video and read the same articles.

“Comments section?” Ten said curiously.

There seemed to be quite a diverse array of opinions that were being expressed. Some were arguing, others seemed to be poking fun, a couple of comments were just wild ramblings filled with profanity. What they all had in common was that they were all anonymous.

Before he knew it, he was leaving comments and interacting with these anonymous accounts as well. Slowly becoming part of the conversations.

And just like that, the day had sped by in the blink of an eye.

The next day felt more or less the same. Ten would spend most of his day on the computer, occasionally taking breaks to eat, meditate and exercise. It was important that he didn’t spend too much time browsing the web. Overly cautious of what Q and Mag had told him about the web.

The days seemed to speed by, and by the time he realized, it was the beginning of a new week.

***

“It must be around here…” Ten murmured as he was looking for Wolf’s room.

Wolf had told him to be in the Captain’s room at 9 am sharp that morning.

“W-who are you?!” A voice bursted out anxiously.

Ten turned around and was greeted by a member of the Fourth he had never seen before. But what really stood out was the fact that the man had a brown paper bag over his head.

“Are you with the syndicate?!” The man asked. He seemed to be very uncomfortable.

“The syndicate?” Ten repeated looking confused.

“Don’t play dumb with me! They’ve sent you to kill me haven’t they?!” He exclaimed while clutching onto the brown paper bag that hid his face.

“Wha? What are you talking about?”

Ten seemed genuinely puzzled and concerned at the same time.

“I see you two have finally met.” Said Wolf as the door to his room opened up.

“Wolf!” Chimed the man.

“Wolf… who is this person? And why does he seem so…”

“Ah yes… that’s Angel…”

Wolf whispered into Ten’s ear.

“He has an SAD…”

“SAD?”

“Social anxiety disorder… he tends to get quite paranoid around people…”

“What is he doing here?”

“He’s going to be the one teaching you about Neuroscience.”

Ten looked over to his ‘new teacher’ with astonishment. Angel was twiddling his fingers around and shaking his leg quite erratically.

“Him?!”

He didn’t look the least bit qualified to be a teacher.

“Don’t worry… he may not look like it… but he’s one of the best teachers we have here at the Fourth…”

Ten glanced back to his new teacher who was now pacing around frantically in circles. A small part of him was a little doubtful, but for now, he would take Wolf’s word. He’d noticed earlier the extra raspiness of Wolf’s voice. Dreya's disappearance was probably weighing heavily on his mind.

“Anyways… Angel.” Wolf broke the silence.

“Y-yes Captain Wolf!” Angel’s body stiffened upright.

“This is Ten… and since I know you’re going to ask… no… he’s not from the syndicate… you have my word on that.”

“H-he’s not?”

“That’s right… starting today I want you to teach him about Neuroscience… and the fundamentals of neural potential.”

“No… No way! I don’t even know who he is!” Angel spouted as he tried to run away.

Wolf shook his head and sighed.

“I’m sorry Wolf… but this is why I can’t stand coming out of my room…” Angel muttered to himself as he ran face first into one of Wolf’s barriers.

“AGH!” He screamed as he fell to the floor.

“Only a week. And after that, I won’t bother you for a whole month.”

“A-a whole month?!”

Angel’s whole tone had shifted.

“I promise.”

“A-alright… fine… b-but… you better keep your word!”

“I always keep my word…”

Angel nodded and hesitantly looked over towards Ten, who was making a silly face.

***

“Damn it Dreya… where could she be?” Q muttered to himself as he slammed his fist.

He was in an underground bar that was infamous for serving AA members and exchanging information.

“Sorry… those were all the spots that I could think of whenever Dreya ran away…” Ikara said while sitting right beside him.

Q let out a sad chuckle.

“That’s right… I remember… when she first joined the Fourth… she’d always get upset over something and run off…”

“But she’d always come back…” Ikara replied.

“That’s true…”

All of sudden, Q became serious again.

“But this time… this time I’m not so sure… even though you two would fight all the time… and even though she’d probably never admit it in a thousand years… you were her closest friend… losing you… might have been the final straw…” 

“That may be true… but I’m sure she feels the same way about the Fourth… about you… about Wolf… about Naomi…”

Q looked down at his drink in silence.

“Is he talking to himself?” A woman’s voice whispered.

“It must be the drink…” A man’s voice whispered back.

“It can’t be… he’s been talking to himself for the last couple of days now… I was there… I saw it…”

“Did you bring it up with Wolf?”

“I did… he told me that ever since the incident with the new kid and Dreya, Q’s become an entirely different person.”

“Not surprised… he was about to go through the same shit that had happened with Daphne… it’ll drive any man crazy… so he’s seeing ghosts now or what?”

“Sounds like it…”

The volume level in the bar suddenly shot up as a small altercation erupted in the corner of the room.

“Psychodynamics?!” A voice busted out.

Murmurs began to infect the room.

“That’s right! Know your place in Humanistics! You lowlife scum who drag down the AA!” A girl shouted.

It was a slender girl in a baseball cap and a face mask who was sizing up to a muscular man from the third branch of Humanistics.

“You think you’re all that?! YOU’RE JUST A SKINNY LITTLE GIRL! WHAT ARE YOU GON-”

All of a sudden, the girl disappeared into thin air.

“WHA-”

And shortly after, the man’s head jolted back as if he had been punched square in the jaw. And in the timespan of mere seconds, the man fell backwards completely unconscious.

Then, from thin air appeared the girl back in her original spot with no sweat whatsoever. It was as if nothing had happened.

The murmurs grew louder and louder.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCKING RETARDS!’ The slender girl shouted with vitriol.

The bar grew silent.

“MOST OF YOU ARE JUST TADS ANYWAYS! IF IT WASN’T FOR PSYCHODYNAMICS, EVERYONE HERE WOULD STILL BE SULKING AWAY IN YOUR FAKE FUCKASS PROTOCOLS!! SHOW SOME FUCKING RESPECT!” The girl screamed as she spat on the unconscious Humanistics man on the ground.

“Alright, alright Jin P… That’s enough…” a young man had gotten up from where he was sitting. He looked like that of a samurai with his long hair, flowing cybernetic cape, and traditional looking sword.

“Let’s get out of here… looks like we’re not getting any useful information…” added another young man who looked like that of a cybernetic boxer. He had on a headband, some training weights, and was wrapped up in athletic tape.

The three of them all seemed to be from Psychodynamics.

“Whatever… he started it… fucking loser…” her voice calmed down as the three of them left the bar.

The bar returned back to regular business hours and the unconscious man was carried out by his friends.

“Those damned Psychodynamics… always so condescending… thinking they run Sensory City when their HQ is all the way over in Intercity… I’ve been seeing them around more and more lately…” The woman’s voice from before continued on.

“It is what it is… a lot of the stuff she said wasn’t wrong… still… would it kill ya to be a lil’ nicer?” The man replied.

“That girl sure reminds me of Dreya,” Ikara chuckled.

“Same outburst and everything.” Q laughed.

He knew his place. Even as the vice captain, he knew the place of Humanistics in the hierarchical food chain of the AA. He even knew the place of The Fourth Branch in the hierarchical food chain of Humanistics. The first, second and third branches would badmouth and get into fights with the other factions of the AA all the time. The bullied versus the bullies. 

But the Fourth was different. They simply steered clear of the drama and focused on doing what they needed to do. As long as they stayed quiet and submissive, nobody would really bother them.