There were whispers, whispers of death. The betrayal of Chuck Thorne sent ripples throughout the community. Ralphie's Parents had been widely beloved, as many idolized them within the Spades. The realization that they had been puppets chilled most who learned about it. The fear of CelTec spread by word of mouth as more and more people questioned their loved ones' intentions, unsure who they were. There was a series of rapid riots that spanned across the country, which were quickly stifled by hundreds of people getting arrested and subjected to brutal, unlawful experimentation.

  To some people, Ralphie was a hero who had uncovered what CelTec planned to reprogram those who didn’t agree with them. But to most, they saw him as a halt to progress. A threat to becoming Integrated. The world was split in two, and Ralphie was the greatest threat CelTec had seen in decades. Tensions rose, and the threat of civil war began to grow.

  In the weeks following CelTec's infiltration, Ralphie spent a lot of time mulling over the details in his head. He had known his parents as puppets more than he had known what they were originally like. He wondered how different his life would have turned out if he had grown up with his real parents. He might have joined this fight a long time ago.

  The dreamcatcher sat upon Ralphie's desk. It was an oily black, and it had only seemed to gather more weight. Ralphie had trouble picking the gun up. Why had it bled black, Ralphie wondered. It was a troubling thought, though one that he thought only Jedd might have the answers to. Jedd had kept a keen eye on the weapon ever since he had first seen it.

  But, he had gone back into hiding following the events and was staying in an undisclosed location.

  He had given Ralphie the location of a warehouse on the outskirts of town that Ralphie could use to reach him. When Ralphie arrived at the warehouse, it sat amongst desert and dust. There appeared to be nothing around for miles besides the couple of cars that were parked outside. They were tattered and filled with bullet holes. Inside was an old, carved-out barn, and it had cobwebs lingering on the sides of the doors. It looked like it had been around for a long time, covered in grime.

  When Ralphie first arrived, he was introduced to a hefty man who had various tattoos running up the side of his neck. The man had a very distinct Irish accent. He recognized Ralphie instantly.

  “Earlier than expected,” He said before nodding over to his left. Six men were sitting down at a nearby table, and they all stood up. Ralphie tensed up as they bound his hands and feet and blind folded him.

  “Is this necessary?” Ralphie asked.

  “Not really,” the man said before slightly chuckling to himself. The men then lifted Ralphie, placing him in some kind of vehicle. A whirring noise came on that drowned out all the sounds of the vehicle driving. They continued to drive for some time. Ralphie could feel himself slide just slightly, being pulled towards the ground. He realized that they must be going underground. The temperature began to drop significantly before they came to a stop. Ralphie still couldn’t hear anything and was starting to get nauseous when the blind fold was torn off of him.

  He felt something pat his foot, “Hey, pal, how are you doing?” Ralphie felt the metal underneath him shift around. It took a couple of seconds for the brightness to subside before he was able to see properly. Jedd sat in front of Ralphie, gripping the gun in his hand, his eyebrows raised as he inspected it. Ralphie blinked rapidly, still trying to rid his eyes of the light that was scaring his vision.

  Ralphie noticed he was on a large metal bench and turned around to look at a large tube behind him. “What's that?” Ralphie asked, pointing over his shoulder.”

  Patiently, Jedd looked past Ralphie, “Not sure what we're going to call it yet. Still workshopping the idea. If you have any bright ones, you will have to let me know.”

  “What does it do?” Ralphie said

  “It scans your brain to try and detect if someone has been altered into a puppet. But it's finicky and doesn’t always work. We had to run you through it five times before we got a negative reading. It's also helpful in disorienting people so they don’t know where I am.

  Ralphie took a look around and finally adjusted to the light. There were various tables, all littered with different kinds of circuits and various electronics. Jedd picked up on his curiosity, “I can give you a tour in a second, but first, I need you to tell me why you brought this.” Jedd held up the gun, waving it in front of him.

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  “It was the one that Dullahan used to kill Leon,” Ralphie said.

  “I remember, but why did you bring it here?” Jedd asked, flipping it over and over in his hand.

  “Well,” Ralphie paused. “I didn’t notice it at the moment, but I’ve been thinking about everything that happened that night, and I noticed something. Dullahan talked the entire time, I think, to scare me. But why didn’t he just kill all of us? He could have easily killed us; we were outnumbered, and we had walked right into his trap. So why not capture us or kill us? It seemed like he was stalling for some reason. Like he was trying to test something. He had a purpose for us.” Jedd kept flipping the gun around in his hand. “Also, if you feel it, the gun is a lot heavier than it was before it was used to shoot Leon. There's something special about the Dreamcatcher; look at its color and its weight. I don’t even think Dullahan knew what it was used for. I think he was trying to figure it out.”

  Jedd weighed the gun in his hand, bobbing it up and down. It did feel heavier to him. Jedd motioned for Ralphie to follow him. “I’ve run into Dullahan before; there are stories about him. He toys with people because he finds it fun. Tortures without a purpose. He wanted you to shoot Leon to prove to himself that his puppets are worth more than we are. When you didn’t, he killed Leon out of frustration.”

  Ralphie hopped off the bench. Realizing he was in a hospital gown. He also wasn’t wearing any shoes as the bitter ground sent a shock wave up his spine. What he thought had been a car ride was an unconscious dream. Ralphie looked back at the machine that he had been pulled out of. It seemed to taunt him. Ralphie followed Jedd as they snaked their way back and forth between various contraptions before they came to a large scale. The gun clocked in at about five pounds, much heavier than it should have been. “That's strange,” Jedd said, mostly to himself.

  “What is all this stuff?” Ralphie asked, gesturing around him. Jedd took the gun and placed it in a glass box that was surrounded by white rings. Various lights hit the gun, and the surface reflected a bright fractal pattern.

  Jedd didn’t take his eyes off the gun. “Most of it is modified contraband, various weapons, and drugs. Some of this stuff mimics CelTec’s Technology, the drugs have various diffrent functions that could help us in this fight. Things like Melt.”

  “How does Melt help us fight CelTec?” Ralphie was still in awe of the bizarre experience he had gone through with Leon.

  “Well, without it, you would have never known that there was a version of Dullahan in Leon's mind. It's not a guarantee, but when two people take the same strain of Melt, it can temporarily link their subconscious. What happened with you and Leon? We have a team of extractors, which we use on people of importance. They have very little information on what we do with the Spades so that the enemy can’t gain anything, but they are experts at finding secrets buried in other people's subconscious." Red lines of code vomited out onto the small display screen on the outside of the glass box.

  “What are you doing?” Ralphie asked. The patterns on the gun slowly began to fade.

  “Scanning,” Jedd replied. “I’m going to send a replicate scan to an old friend, a very old friend. The gun finished the fractal pattern, returning to the smooth black of the dreamcatcher's surface. Jedd took it out and handed it back to Ralphie. “Be careful with that,” Jedd motioned for Ralphie to follow him. “What else do you have going on?” Jedd asked

  “Preparing for the funeral,” Ralphie replied. “Are you coming?” Ralphie didn’t want to beg; he had barely started to know his Uncle. But to his knowledge, he was the only true family that Ralphie had left.

  Jedd looked over at Ralphie, “Probably not, it would draw too much attention. Everyone would be vulnerable if I were there. CelTec is still looking for me.”

  “You could be incognito, plus I will be there, will CelTec not be looking for me?" Ralphie said.

  Jedd sighed. He looked old. “We don’t know; it depends on how much of a threat CelTec sees you as. If anything, I came up with the attack; I’ve done it before, and I will do it again. The fight never ends.” Jedd walked over to a nearby safe. It was small, made out of solid metal. “I’ve already mourned my sister's death. What you would be mourning is not my sister.” He punched in a couple of numbers, causing the safe to pop open. Inside the safe was another gun that looked very similar to the gun Ralphie was holding.

  “What's that?” Ralphie asked

  Jedd inspected the two guns side by side. Cliff's gun handle was completely stained black, while Jedd's gun still resembled the red color.

  “The scan I sent was to an old friend. Years ago, he gave me this as a gift. He called it a mercy loop. They shoot, but that's not all; most of them have a lock.” Jedd reached into his pocket, pulling out a long pick which he slid into the midsection of the gun. The gun split into two pieces. Nestled inside the gun was a perfectly spherical blue ball. “It's a supercomputer. Each Mercy loop has a different lock and a different key. They are each customized and inserted with a design for different purposes. For example, this inside here can be used to power almost anything, even a car. CelTec must have created the technology to erase people into these mercy loops. Once the mercy loop is programmed, it is given a name based on what it does. That's why the Blues have mindsweepers.”

  Jedd looked back at Ralphie, letting out a sigh, “You have to be careful with this. It looks to be your mother's craftsmanship. CelTec will want to know what this dreamcatcher does. Promise me that you will keep an eye out.

  “I promise,” Ralphie responded.

  “Good,” Jedd nodded. “Now, take care of that gun. I will let you know what I find out about it.”