The dull and sudden thudding of batons echoed off the copper walls of the alley. It was agonizing moments before a little girl held up a gloved hand, tapping her white parasol on the ground. The crowd stepped back, eyes focused on the bruised figure of Will at their feet. She brushed them aside. “Enough. I will take it from here.”

The little girl patted down her dress, procuring a silver necklace from her pocket. She brought it around Will’s neck, holding the pendant’s emerald gem a moment before it began to glow. “He must be in restored health and comatose, or he’ll never survive a trip through Euceal Sii…” She paused, dark ruby eyes lingering on Will’s face. “... Or in humanity’s naïve terms, their ‘Dark Matter’.”

“Yes ma’am.” The crowd murmured.

She knelt by Will, holding a small, glimmering orb of Void in her hands. It sparked with electrical bolts of light before snapping out, expanding to envelope the two within it’s infinite depths. Just as quick, it collapsed, blinking out of reality and taking it’s voyagers with it.

~~~

**Atlantis, The Director’s Laboratory | Minutes Later**

Deep below the highest skyscraper in Atlantis, The Director paced the spacious lab of his basement, leather heels clicking against the floor in cold impatience. In all normal terms he appeared human, wearing a tailored suit and gold cufflinks. He was in his late thirties and had short, styled dark blonde hair. To most he would seem almost beautiful, perfectly sculpted as he was. What wasn’t as comforting were his eyes. Cold and alien, the very sight was frightening -- Red iris eyes ringed with coal-black sclera. 

It was only the Master himself inside his circular, steel-walled facility. Everyone else had been sent away -- he wished to be alone for this instant. To relish this moment of triumph, unrestrained.

The Void opened up in front of The Director, dispelling to reveal the little lady half kneeling, supporting Will’s upper body in her arms. She bowed her head, ruby eyes gracing the floor. “I have the Elemental, Father. Just as you asked.”

“Good, Aavi. You have my gratitude.” He spoke with a metallic tongue, slippery and warped as his voice sounded. “Everything’s going just as I foresaw. We will exterminate the Lifers with one Harbinger of Despair and reclaim the last free city of man. Then, my Child…” His eyes glimmered as a monstrous smile stretched his face. “Then, nothing will stop us.”

“Yes, Father.” Not once did Aavi meet his eyes. She stayed at his side, knowing he would have need of her again.

A table rose up from the unfolding floor, centering itself in the middle of The Director’s lab. Will’s unconscious body was laid upon it, hands and feet locked to the metal bed with solid bands of polycarbonate glass. Slowly, the effects of Void-traveling wore off Will, being absorbed and healed by the crystal about his neck. With his stamina, Will was no longer bound by comatose.

The Director eyed his captive, tilting the metal bed so the head was a couple feet higher than the feet. The ceiling directly opposite of Will clicked opened a sliding panel. A dark, metallic ray machine of some alien make descended from the above, seeming rather menacing with its ominous humming and glowing spear aimed directly at Will’s chest.

The Director patiently watched Will for signs of life. He wanted the Lifer awake for this part.