The morning sun shone brightly through the sky as the darkness was pushed away and light took its place. Ring City usually had noisy and busy days no matter where you lived but this time was different. Crowds of people have gathered outside a new shopping centre in The Middle that was about to have its grand opening. It was attracting all sorts of attention throughout the city. Everyone seemed to be enthralled by this new addition to the city and nobody was going to miss it for anything.

---

Liam would reluctantly wake up from his slumber when his alarm clock went off. He lazily got up and checked his phone. It was currently 9:00 AM. He got dressed and walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen to get some food. After he finished eating, he went to the lounge room and noticed that his sister was already awake, watching some cartoon on the TV screen.

Gabrielle noticed Liam walk in and she turned off the TV, stood up from the couch she was sitting on, and walk up to her brother.

”Hey-”

”Hey-”

”There was a news article online about a new shopping centre that is meant to be opening today. Here, look.”

After they awkwardly cut each other off, Gabrielle opened the news article she mentioned on her phone and showed it to Liam.

”Woah. That’s something new. It should open soon so let’s get going.”

They exited their hotel room and locked the door from behind them. Gabrielle took a step and planned to start walking but was suddenly grabbed from behind by Liam, who teased about her being slow. While still holding onto Gabrielle, he sped right over to the entrance of the shopping centre as it had already be opened to the public and they stepped inside. Obviously, Liam started carelessly speeding around the place, observing all the different stores while Gabrielle just sighed and went off on her own.

Slender fingers, pale and lithe traveled through thick bangs of raven black hair, an obsidian gaze fixed upon the lumbering of heavy steps. An equivalent of ten thousand dollars was not a prize to scoff at, neither to discard. Indeed, the fighters who had shed blood in that arena painted the floor with their ambition, sweat and sanguine wine all the same. Surrounded by a roaring crowd, it was difficult to spot a single human in their midst, most notably orcs and savages lining the spectators. Agendas were settled in this ring of most holy combat, bets were made and grudges were put to rest, if not borne from the bloodshed. 

There was only one rule. Physical combat. There was no room, no place for mental prowess. It was not a battle of wits, nor was it a conflict of minds. No, fists were to do the talking, nothing else stepping in the way of these echoing strikes. 

Milo still felt the pain emanating through his form, a deep breath escaping his lips as the boy was all but able to stifle the grin appearing beneath a small nose. "I mean..," a voice came, easily drowned by the rowdy cheers of spectators throwing their arms into the air, "if you're gonna' hit like a bitch, you're better off going back to your knitting," Milo wiped the sweat from his forehead. Indeed, the boy's appearance did not match  the rest, sticking out as if a sore thumb. 

What, one might wonder, was a frail, scrawny boy such as he doing in a circle of blood and conflict? Another question to ask was, of course, what he must have done to wrong a beast like this mighty opponent. Indeed, the answer was quite plain, he wanted the prize money. However, the two appeared to know one another already, introductions traded for a quicker and by all means, dirtier, battle.

"Big words," the man bellowed, his orcish appearance leaving little to the imagination as he stood in shorts and little else. Fat quite easily united with muscle to form a frame most intimidating, large tusks demanding the attention of any onlooker, "coming from a little shit, like you." 

"Yeah, sounds about right," Milo chuckled, raising his fists. The last punch he had endured knocked the wind out of him. Truly, it was astounding that he could still stand. 

"Tonight, I put you back in the grave, zombie boy!" But then, this man appeared quite wary of what the boy actually was. A Revenant was not to be taken lightly, but neither was an orc. 

Visibly tensing, his teeth clenched at the insult, Milo cracked his fists, obsidian eyes glaring daggers at his foe. The more playful Revenant appeared vacant, if only for just a moment, before he finally spoke, "I'm killing you." 

Before an exchange of words could proceed, Milo evened the distance between himself, and his foe. The boy's speed was matched by his grace, each movement a flowing wind as he fluidly dodged the strikes coming his way. The Revenant evaded, his body turning to allow for a counter attack which wasted no time before slithering into a quick, precise kick to the orc's shin. Sending the lumbering giant off balance, any spectator in the bellowing crowd, who had seen this boy fight in the past, was well aware that another attack was hidden behind the first. 

Allowing the momentum to accelerate his pace, Milo proceeded like a stinging viper with a roundhouse kick to the orc's chin. Yet again, the crowd roared. One would do well to know its position on fights. The winner did not only win the battle, but also the graces of those watching. Echoing the battles emanating throughout ancient Rome, if you won the masses, you won the world.

The disorientation was enough to throw his opponent into a state of daze, where an attempted punch was quite easily evaded by the Revenant, "never..," Milo spoke, seeing the strike pass him by before grappling the appendage. Shoving his palm against the orc's elbow, the Revenant effectively broke the man's appendage, earning an anguished scream of pain, "...call me a fucking zombie..." Milo finished, sending a hard kick to the orc's leg. The boy had strength surpassing his size, indeed. 

As the orc fell to a knee, breathing heavily with pain emanating from a broken arm, Milo wasted not a second before launching a kick to his opponent's throat. It sent him to the floor, gagging and choking. A winner was clearly declared, and stumbling back, Milo shoved his fist into the air to mark success. The crowd cheered, and he was ten thousand dollars richer. He had always wanted to go to a super market. Now, he could, and a new one had recently opened. 

Maggy yawned as she leaned up, another sleep on a machine in the Undercity, she flicked on her disguise and stood up. This wasn't the first time she'd done it, but this time she picked a bad machine to sleep on. There had been some kind of leak and now her clothes were ruined, maybe she'd have to go to this grand opening after all. Maybe the huge amount of people would make it easier to go un-noticed, hopefully.

So Maggy waited for her clothes to dry using the heat from a boiler exhaust to speed up the process. It wasn't comfortable but it got the job done. The journey to the new shopping center was just as uncomfortable, the large stains on her dress making her a target for many strange looks. Maggy tried to simply ignore them, but the sheer amount of them was starting to piss her off. The bus ride felt like an eternity, and Maggy was getting to the point where she was going to attack someone. Luckily the bus arrived out the front of the new super store just in time, Maggy had to drape hair over her eye to hide it's faint glow.

She looked up at the massive store and reached into her pocket to feel for how much cash she had on her, felt like she had around four hundred on her. Should be enough for a few backless dresses and maybe some shoes, a new skirt might have to wait. Maggy grumbled to herself as she walked towards the huge building.

The Elemental was sat on a bench in the front row of the makeshift arena, his bright white eyes glowing dimly as he watched the battle before him. An orc fighting a revenant, both powerful creatures with strength far surpassing that of the 'young' god's. His eyes followed their movements as he sat silently, a pill under his tongue and a burning cigarette in his hand, which would ever so often be brought to his lips and puffed upon, only to exhale far more smoke than seemed possible for the small drags.

"S-Smoke?" Came a nervous voice, un-befitting of the massive orc whom it belonged to.
"L-Lord Smoke?"

"Ay mate, the one and only." Came the wispy, accented voice of the elemental, turning to look up at the enormous orc with a lazy expression.

"Something I can do for you? I'm trying to get high and watch the fight." He said lazily, gesturing to the fight that he was now missing.

"N-no my lord, I j-just wanted to meet you in person, my family has worshiped you for generations!"

"Yeah? Cool shit mate. Keep the chaos, and embrace the indulgence." He said with a smile before returning his attention to the fight. He had placed quite a sum of money on the revenant winning, about three quarters of a million, and before long he was able to happily see the outcome of his gamble, and it pleased him greatly.

As the fight ended a human approached him, holding a clipboard and a nervous expression.

"M-Mr. Rah-" He began, before Smoke held up his hand to silence the man.

"I'm aware. Your boss can't afford to pay me all the money I won, It's cool mate."

"R-Really sir?"

"Yeah, just give me the three quarters, and give the revenant triple whatever his win was for this fight. Tell him it's an investment from an interested party, or some shit."

"Yes sir, of course."

The young human left, and smoke was once again left alone, staring with softly glowing eyes at the young revenant. As the young man left, Smoke saw him look in his general direction and, as he often does, made a face at the young man by opening his mouth wide, sticking out his tongue, pulling down his eyelids with his middle fingers, and rolling his eyes back into his head. Smoke hoped that the revenant was indeed looking at him, but he couldn't be certain.

With the night's fights over, Smoke vanished from the place he was sitting, and before too long, a cloud of smoke materialized into a man near a young woman wearing a mask.

Tapping his talons against the floor, Raziel managed a soft sigh as he proceeded to lean against the marble pillar. This new shopping center needed a police presence? Of course it had to be Raziel, the new guy. After finishing his education at the military academy in the Skyline, he was forced to move beneath the shadow of his father, a general. To avoid maintaining a presence in the man's legacy, Raziel sought not only the police force, but also downgraded from the Skyline, to The Middle. One could perhaps consider it an act of defiance, not wanting to be coddled by one's rich parents, a mother owning a fashion business and a father managing a presence in the military force as a high ranking general. 

As such, a lot was expected from young Raziel. He had many options, none of which he chose. Of course, being an Umbran, rebellion such as this was actually condoned. Rather than condemning his actions, the young police officer's parents applauded him for paving his very own path. A police office, in The Middle no less, was not what they would have chosen for him, however. 

"This is exciting, isn't it?" Came a tired voice belonging to an older man, one who had been in the force for quite a notable amount of years. 

"Not what I expected," Raziel sighed, earning a soft chuckle for him elder, a human by the name of George. He had been an officer for twenty years, ready to hang it all up, though continued as a matter of principle. 'I'm never too old to defend others', he would chant. Though, one could wonder how true it was. Ever since getting Raziel as a partner, George had been forced into more aggressive situations than he would want. Truly, danger sniffs out an Umbran with ease.

"Ah, come now, son," George commented, a hand reaching out to pat the canine atop his head, those ears twitching as a result, "take the moment for what it is, eh? You might even find a cutie to ask out when you're not in the uniform," the man chuckled, winking at the younger male.

"Ugh," Raziel clicked his claws against his biceps, "wouldn't say I have time for that," the young officer noted. 

"That's because you work far more than you have to, or should," George frowned, "the only man who works as much as you either has to feed a family of ten or is running away from something," he spoke, "and as far as I can tell, you have rich parents."

The man wasn't wrong. Not only could Raziel need a day off, but he had earned a few to spend. The loneliness of his apartment wasn't the best choice, and for reserved young man such as he, diving into work as a response to personal conflict was a common result. "Why do you care, so much?" The Umbran asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to George. It was no question of malice, but one of curiosity.

"I've seen too many youngsters run themselves ragged in this line of work," he commented, "don't overdo it, kid." 

"I'm fine," Raziel responded, shifting his focus to the mass of people wandering about in the shopping center. "Come on, we should keep going," the Umbran continued, his talons clicking against the floor as he proceeded to walk along their patrol. There would undoubtedly be attempts at theft, it wouldn't be the first time at a grand opening, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"Eh, you know I'm here if you want to talk, Raz'," George finished, earning a quick thanks. Though it came from a place of escape, an attempt to end the conversation, the old police officer had been in the presence of youngsters such as Raziel countless times in the past. People unsure of where to head, where they are and what to seek, they were a commodity in this line of business. Mainly, though, it was prevalent in those riding in the back of the car, not the front.

There was more to it than the cold, hard and solemn exterior. Raziel had much to offer, and while a boy of few words, George had seen his young partner in the field. He was as quick on his feet as he was with his wits. Though, not just that, Raziel displayed a warm heart more so than the Umbran would admit. Though his military training drew him an excellent warrior in the field, there were more emotional aspects to being a police officer that Raziel appeared more than willing to learn. 

Open stores, countless hands tracing an ever growing amount of wares, some hands more eager than others, Raziel's eyes maintained a vigilant gaze upon his surrounding, more so than George who seemed to enjoy the break. After a murder case that was recently solved, it was a pleasant variation. "See anything you'd like?" 

"Might get a video game," Raziel returned, motioning towards a store long their route.

"So, I have always wondered," George tapped his chin, "how does an Umbran get drunk? You can't drink alcohol, can you?" 

"We just need to eat grapes," the Umbran shrugged. 

"Seriously?" George blinked, looking down to the creature who shook his head. 

"No, we don't get drunk on grapes," Raziel admitted. 

"Oh, so you can joke, after all!" George laughed, patting the young police officer on his back, "you should reveal this side of you more often, kid." 

"I'm fun," the Umbran scratched the back of his head, "I just save it." 

"Oh yeah," the elder officer chuckled, "that's it." 

"Mhm," Raziel finished. 

---

Liam was still speeding around, causing a commotion with other shoppers. He sped around talking and bothering people without any notice of his annoyance. Gabrielle saw her brother zooming around, watched as much of his movements as she could, stuck her hand out, and somehow caught him. Her grip tightened around his wrist.

”Stop speeding around like that, bro. You’re gonna get us caught! Look, let’s just go eat. I saw a food place earlier.”

Liam was surprised that someone caught him while he was running at high speed. He was about to turn around and yell at the guy when he realised it was his sister. His face drooped.

”Damn, sis. How’d you manage to catch me like that? Oh. nevermind. You’ll have to tell me later, let’s go.”

They both walked over to the food place Gabby previously pointed out and began ordering food. Meanwhile, some shoppers that Liam had annoyed made their way way out to the front of the store and approached the cop that was out there. They angrily told him about the disturbances that were happening inside the store.

Tilting his head with narrowed eyes, the Umbran attempted to understand the string of complaints thrown his way. A speedster? They were always a chore, but not half the amount of trouble his company would cause for Raziel. "A spider..?" The young officer asked, his attention shifting to the direction where the woman had been pointing. An annoying speedster was one thing, but a spider the size of a grown man? When asked to describe the perpetrators, Raziel swallowed a rapid sense of growing fear. A speedster he could handle, but a massive spider? He wasn't getting paid enough, for this. 

"Of course, ma'am," George offered the disturbed shopper a pleasant smile, along with tipping his hat, "we will look into this immediately," he finished, motioning for Raziel to follow him into the store.

"Right..," the Umbran sighed, following along his partner as they moved through a mass of shoppers, each offering them a curious glance. Had it been anything but a spider, the young officer Raziel O'Conner would have managed a more sublime approach, one worthy of praise. As it was, however, he appeared quite unsure of the situation. Each step of this clawed feet brought him closer to a foe he wanted to keep a massive distance from, but the job demanded his attention. He could not allow personal demons to get in the way of that. With a deep breath, the canine raised his eyes to meet the arachnid's presence, his body tensing at the sight of her. 

"Excuse me," George spoke, "it appears that complaints have been reported of your behavior in the mall," he explained, seeing how Raziel maintained a close presence to the older man. It was obvious that if the situation grew ugly, the Umbran was ready to draw his gun at a moment's notice. Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder to calm him down, George shifted his attention back to the siblings, his calm a sense of professional integrity.

---

The siblings both turned around simultaneously to the sight of two police officers, one young and the other older. Liam wasn’t paying too much attention to them as he continued to get distracted. Gabrielle sighed and looked at the two police officers.

”Sorry about that. My idiot brother was carelessly speeding around the place. I should be able to control him for now on.”

Gabby noticed the younger officer was slightly tensed up and huddled in close to the senior officer. She looked at him for a moment with a curious face, smiling on the inside. Was he really scared of her? She turned her attention back to the older fellow, waiting for a response.

Maggy made her way through the super store. The biggest problem was the amount of people, the amount of pushing and shoving at some points left Maggy on the breaking point. The only thing keeping her from injuring someone was the fact she'd get thrown into jail instantly. She managed to get herself into a fancy clothes shop without murdering anybody so that was a plus.

She walked into the shop, finally out of the crowds she was able to breathe for a moment. "Are you alright there? Could I help you with anything?" A soft voice came from behind Maggy, it was a female staff member come to help her. It was fairly obvious that they wanted Maggy through their shop as quickly as possible, it wasn't exactly good for business having a woman in soiled garments walking around. Maggy let out a deep breath before adressing the shorter woman "Do you have any backless dresses on the cheaper side? I'm a little skint at the moment, and as you can see my current clothes are not in the best condition. Some punks thought it would be funny pouring some... I don't even know what this is honestly, but you get the picture."

Maggy tried her best to not sound threatening, she wanted to be out of this store just as much as the staff wanted her out. The woman didn't wast any time as she escorted Maggy to the dress section, and my what a selection they had. The sight of all the dresses made Maggy forget her frustration for a moment, she did love dresses. "See anything you like?" the woman asked, trying to follow what Maggy was looking at. "Yes I believe I have, this one is beautiful." Maggy would say as she pulled a deep purple backless dress from the rack. "Excellent choice, that is indeed a beautiful dress. Would you like to try it on?"

Maggy rubbed her chin as she checked to see if the dress was her size, "No, I think I'm alright. I'll just take this and get out of your hair, I want to change out of this rancid dress as soon as possible." Maggy's words seemed to please the worker, Maggy knew exactly why but she was keeping it to herself to avoid any unneeded awkwardness.

Maggy had failed to check the price of the dress and managed to blow three hundred and fifty dollars on the dress. The dress was worth it for Maggy, but she couldn't help but get annoyed at herself for spending most of her money on one item. Well at least she could head off to a bathroom and change out of her dirtied dress, then maybe she'd go for some lunch.

“Yes, that is fine,” George responded, his attention fixed on the arachnid. She was well behaved, that was a fact, and her brother, as it was, appeared to lack in the department. Though, Raziel wasn’t too comfortable either, the otherwise steadfast, vigilant Umbran standing behind his elder, much like a child. George would be lying if he didn’t find the situation somewhat amusing, but as it was, he couldn’t indulge too heavily. The man had seen and greeted countless races throughout his life, Umbrans, Arachnids and even Undead on occasion. “We’ll be on our way, remember to maintain peace in public areas, miss, and sir,” he tipped his hat to the two, and motioned for Raziel to follow along.

Making their way out of the store, it was easy to say that having two police officers speaking with you amid a crowd offered a sense of embarrassment. All eyes were on you, and an immediate response to the scenario was that you had done something wrong. Hopefully it wouldn’t need to be repeated.

“Fear of spiders, hm?” George smirked, looking to his partner as they continued along their route.

“They just make me uncomfortable,” Raziel frowned, lowering his gaze towards those sharp claws clicking against the floor.

“Ah, of course,” the elder nodded, thinking it over, “she was polite, though, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sure..,” the Umbran sighed, shrugging his shoulders. He knew, for sure, that in this line of work, he would need to overcome his phobia of spiders. Otherwise, personal demons could easily overcome his capabilities, and it would be a shame to let something so trivial get in the way of an otherwise promising career.

“Say,” George looked down at his witch, “it’s time for lunch, where would you like to eat?”

“They had a salad bar over there,” the Umbran motioned towards the food court. Indeed, being paired with an Umbran did limit the choices offered, quite drastically. Raziel could only eat vegan food if he aimed to maintain his health. Anything else would be the cause of extreme internal trauma. Luckily, with the various races present, more restaurants were starting to make themselves known. They catered to the less common races, which was a welcomed addition.

The Skyline maintained most, if not all restaurants aimed primarily at Umbrans, but Raziel had little interest in getting a job as a police officer in their midst. Nothing ever happened in the Skyline, and being the young Umbran than he was, the slow, eventless days would drive him insane. Almost like a puppy, young Umbrans, even with their more reserved lifestyles, required activity, or else they grew restless.
“Sounds good,” George nodded his head, “this ol’ tummy probably needs to eat healthier, anyways,” he chuckled, patting his stomach as they made their way towards the dining area.

---

Scarlet was doing her average work in Dashwood Workshop and Smith, creating and repairing for something to show the world. The building of the workshop was right at the middle of the middle so it had customers going in and out everyday with barely any break time. While Scarlet worked on larger projects, the owner of the workshop, Jacob Dashwood worked on much smaller things. The two would have chit chat while working and today was no different. Scarlet continued to work on the large engine she was supposed to finish today, goggles to protect her eyes, but yet she was wearing a dirty tank top with the upper half of her jumpsuit strapped to her waist to form some sort of belt, and a pair of gloves and boots really fit it all together.

"So, you moving to the Skyline at any point?" Asked Jacob

Scarlet shook her head, "No, I already told you that I'm fine here in the middle." replied Scarlet.

"Come on, we can be neighbors!" Jacob said, playfully giving Scarlet's bare shoulder a punch. "You have more than enough cash to move there." He added.

"I already told you yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, that I like it here. Imagine Scarlet Emberlee wearing a dress and drinking wine like a prissy little princess, no thank you." Scarlet stated making a mock high pitched voice when she talked about the princess part.

"Maybe with that attitude, I think it is best you stay here." Jacob replied.

"Exactly, now if you excuse me, I only have 46 minutes and 22 seconds to get this engine running before that pilot picks it up." Scarlet stated.

"I'll leave you alone." Jacob replied.

"Much appreciated." Scarlet thanked him.

Scarlet continued, her veins had a feint glow as her hands moved at a rapid rate, fixing the engine as fast as she could to fit the time limit she was given. Though during this time she couldn't help but think what it would be like in the Skyline, she visits every now and then whenever Jacob invites her over to play a quick game on his console in his house. Scarlet was lost in her thoughts, was Jacob right? Maybe living up there could improve her chances of meeting someone to settle down with... Scarlet then shook her head, she didn't want anything to do with that, Scarlet is fine by herself and she'll settle down once she's old or something. Her mood then shifted, she was happy again once she thought about how well this engine is going to turn out once it's done, or it could blow once it turns on, no matter what happens she'll see that pilot fellow more than once.

The bustling centre was not the right place for it. It watched from the shadows, Its form engulfed in them, making it next to impossible to see. With a small turn of its head, it had completed surveying whatever was in sight, and finished mapping out the superstore. A multilevel diagram of the store popped in in the corner of It's HUD, marking out potential targets and locations for It to visit. It sighed, which to anyone else, would have sounded like gears starting up in a car of old. It dropped down from its perch, about twenty metres up, and landed on Its feet, but without a sound. This of course alerted a couple of nearby shoppers, who saw the Thing drop seemingly from nowhere, and they jumped back in fright. It stood up straight, glanced in the shoppers direction, and they made haste in the opposite direction.
Another intake of breath, this time seemingly in amusement.
And then, as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared again. Its form rippling, then seemingly fading into the tide of new shoppers. Unbeknownst to all, it was making its way to the nearest target displayed on a map.
A small weapons store. Something that might be selling what It wanted.

The young Elemental's eyes glowed faintly as he watched the masked woman with interest for a few moments, his glowing eyes catching the attention of more than a few passersby. Smoke was the only Elemental currently living in the city, and quite possibly the only one on the continent. Given that there are only seven other elementals at any given point and time, they tend to instinctively flock to separate continents, likely nature preventing the possible clashing of such powerful entities. That being said, his presence anywhere public seemed to amass attention, especially from the more recent generations that were particularly fond of his leanings towards indulgence and pleasure.

Although, he barely noticed the awestruck stares as his focus was entirely on the beautiful girl before him, she had him hook, line, and sinker.

"I'm digging the mask doll, it's a helluva lot cooler than mine." He said with a wink, pointing to the black medical mask he had covering his mouth and nose.

"I'm not so sure how I feel about the dress, but I'm no fashion expert. He continued, giving a raspy chuckle before waiting for the girls response.

Perhaps she'd be as fun as she looked.

---

After their conversation with the two officers, the siblings found themselves being stared at by a few shoppers. Liam was confused, having not listened to the conversation earlier while Gabrielle shrugged it off as they continued to the food court with their meal. They then picked out a table and started eating.

Gabrielle paused for a moment when she saw the two police officers from before, focusing more on the younger one. ”I might just have to try and see what he was so scared about before.” She thought to herself as she continued eating the food.

”So, how did you grab me before, anyway?” Liam said in between bites of his food.

”I’m not actually sure. I must’ve just got lucky and was able to follow you with my eyes somehow.” She said thumping at her four eyes, blinking in the process. ”It must be a benefit of having four eyes.” She said with a smile as she and Liam went back to eating her food.

Maggy was walking along headed for a bathroom when a voice seemed to address her. She sighed as she looked at whoever it was, looked like some street rat,only interesting thing about him was the glowing eyes. He complemented her mask, mistake one, the he pointed out her dirty dress, mistake two. Maggy let out a angered growl "Don't call me doll. I understand that you spend an awfully large amount of time with inflatables, but real women have brains. Something you clearly lack if you think pointing out someone's soiled dress is a good way to start a conversation. Now if you're done being an idiot, please leave."

Maggy hissed as she noticed some people looking at her, it didn't help that her left eye was lighting up. She had to get out to a bathroom, not only was she getting far too angry and needed to change her dress, but she also felt like she was going to be sick. Before getting a response she turned and walked away, she couldn't waste anymore time on him. This was the last time she slept down in the Undercity.

---

After quite some time of working, Scarlet finally finished the repairs and slight upgrade to the large jet engine, she was covered in oil and grease and it was just a big mess. She moved her goggles up to her forehead and wiped her sweat with her forearm, even though her powers involved flame, sweating is still a normal function for a human such as herself. She pushed back and slid her chair backwards, examining the engine from afar to see if there was anything wrong, doesn't look like it.

"Hey Scarlet!" Jacob called out.

"Yeah?" Scarlet replied.

"You done over there?" Jacob asked.

"Uhh, yeah pretty much." Scarlet stated, as she looked at the engine.

"Alright, can you go to the shopping centre and grab me these things? We're running low on those." Jacob asked, holding up a piece of paper.

"Why can't you do it?" Scarlet asked, raising her brow as she turned to him.

"Because I have my hands full, and I don't like leaving you alone here while it's working hours, remember that time with the frogs and-" Jacob said, but got cut off by Scarlet.

"Alright, that's enough, I'll do your damn errands." Scarlet replied.

"Sweet, here you go." Jacob said, holding out the piece of paper.

Scarlet looked down at the piece of paper, it seemed pretty average so it doesn't look like it would be too much of a hassle but the stuff on the lists has her practically roaming the entire shopping centre to find the perfect one, should be fine, as long as there's no drama.

Scarlet quickly changed out of her dirty workshop clothes into average casuals, black jeans, gray shirt, red and black flannel, black boots and she even kept the goggles on. After she had gotten dressed she made her way to the shopping centre to Jacob's silly errands that a 4 year old can do. (Probably not true because like, 4 year olds don't have cash.)

He was wrong.

She was way more fun than she looked.

Smoke was glad he was wearing a mask at this particular moment, for if he wasn't blood would have been trailing down his chin from biting his tongue to avoid laughing quite inappropriately. It was clear that she was unfamiliar with who, or what, he was; as not even another Elemental would have the confidence, or perhaps the stupidity, to speak to him in such a manner. He was, by all intents and purposes, a king among Gods; he had far outlived any other Elemental in History, and his younger years proved that he had been quite the formidable enemy, even to an Elemental's standards.

With such an intimidating History, no one dared to speak to him as she just had; neither friend nor foe.

And fuck was it boring.

With a slight pulse in his Eyes, Smoke watched as the girl walked to the woman's restroom with what appeared to be a new dress. With a smirk hidden behind his mask, he entered the store she seemed to have moments ago left and approached the cashier, who nearly doubled over at the sight of him.

Holding up a finger to his mask, he gestured for her to be silent rather than stuttering out some nervous greeting;

"The woman here before, wearing a mask, get me a dozen more dresses in the size and style of the one she purchased."

The girl silently nodded, quickly abandoning her post at the register and completing the task given to her by the Elemental, and before long they were packaged and paid for. He then provided her with a second set of instructions, while placing ten one-hundred dollar bills on the counter before her.

"I'd like you to deliver these to her, and take her to lunch; she should be in the women's restroom nearby, presumably changing." He said, placing his hands in his pockets and turning to leave.

"Oh, and another thing, he began, turning back around, "Give her this?" He asked, placing a black card with silver lettering that simply said "Smoke" on one side, and had his personal phone number on the other.

With an excited Nod, the young girl pocketed the cash and quickly gathered up the few bags of dresses before half-skipping to the woman's restroom, which she would wait outside of patiently. Smoke however, kept his distance, keeping an eye on the girl should she decide to take the money and bounce. Standing a few dozen feet back, he stood silently, tossing a handful of pills and chewing them slowly as he observed.

The doors to the shop swung open and... nothing walked in. This left the shopkeep both stunned, and confused, before standing up and moving to close the door, though something caught his eye while he was in the act of doing so. A displacement of light? Must just be his imagination playing up, he thought. He closed the door, turned to return to his seat where he was, before being interrupted by the shutters to his store closing... again on their own. He stood up again, this time reaching under the counter for his very own weapon: A new, gleaming shotgun. He didn't even get to aim it before it was yanked out of his hands, by... the displacement of light. It's form rippled, and standing before him was the jet black for of something out of his nightmares...

"I... please don't kill me! I'll give you all the money, anything!" He cried the words as his bladder relieved itself. His heart rate increased, and immediately he was sweating profusely.

"Miniature Fusion Reactor." The voice that came from the horror was... course. As if it was pained to speak out loud. It moved its free hand behind its back, and pulled out a small cylinder, though rusted and worn. It had a very faint orange glow to it, though it seemed as though it was dying, that much the shop-keep could tell. "This. New."

"I-I sold it! Couple days ago! M-man left the city right afte-!" The man's pleading voice was cut short as a small and sharp blade cleanly sliced his throat, sending a spurt of blood on both the assassin and the counter. As the assassin took a step back, the man fell backwards, letting out one final gurgle of sound escape before expiring.

"..." The assassin wiped off what little blood was on its small wristblade, then retracted it back into its wrist, before re-acquiring the reactor it had pulled from its back, re-inserting it, and changing the sign on the door to say 'closed' instead of 'open', leaving the shutters closed. Guess It had to find another way of getting a Fusion Reactor... The assassin wasn't the happiest at the moment, and ignored the civilians who recoiled at the sight of fresh blood on the suit. A couple even ran off to call for authorities... as if that would do anything. With a hiss of servos, the suit turned and walked off back towards the main food hall, since that was close to the next location that may or may not sell a Fusion Reactor.

---

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Walt loved crowded places, the opening of a new mall was one such occasion that brought out all of the wealthy and eager to come and blow too much money on things they don't need, but something he had learned was that often times, people were far more careless with the way they carried their money when they anticipate pulling it out a lot. Within the first hour of opening, he had already swiped two hundred and fifty in cash and some gift cards he had found in wallets, he didn't need the money too bad but he hated to see an opportunity pass him by. The real goal of the day was a lovely jewelry shop, couples looking at engagement rings and diamond earrings, but all Walt knew was that diamonds were expensive and he had a guy that would buy them.

"Excuse me sir is there something I can help you with?" A posh looking salesman said with obvious disdain, Walt was just dressed in dark clothes, a thin leather jacket over a white hoodie.

Walt took off his sunglasses, now indoors and out of the sun. "Actually I could use a hand, My wife is not doing well, I thought I might surprise her with some new jewelry." The salesman was skeptical but led him to the counter anyway, but not before a small stone fell from Walt's pocket, enchanted with a horrid odor.

The salesman did his best to try and help Walt even as the stench became over whelming and the other customers had already left, soon the salesman excused himself to make a call, only long enough for Walt to swipe a few rings and earrings before ducking out himself. Walt made his way out of the area of the jewelry store, score in hand, slowly enchanting each small piece to be invisible. How many times had he done this now? If most people didn't just think all Drow were criminals anyway, it may have been easier to find which one did the crime.... though, to be fair whichever one you grabbed probably did something.

Maggy walked into the bathroom gritting her teeth, the nerve of that guy. Didn't matter, he was gone now, and she could finally change into her new dress. She went into a spare cubical and removed all her soiled clothes, she let out a great sigh of relief as she didn't have to deal with the clothes clinging to her skin. She tossed the dirty dress to the side and turned off her disguise, she needed to see her wings properly. Horns and wings extend the time it takes to put clothes one considerably, after eventually donning her new garments she reapplied her disguise and walked out of her cubical. She was satisfied with the dress "Who knew I could rock purple so well?" She joked to herself, but she didn't find it funny.

When she got out of the bathroom she was greeted by a pile of clothes and the tiny girl from the store. It was almost comical seeing her tiny legs behind the clothing she carried, but Maggy was not in the mood to laugh. "Who bought these and told you to give them to me?" Maggy's first thoughts were that someone must be following her, or it was the jerkoff from before. Neither option pleased her. "You know what it doesn't matter. You go tell whoever got these for me, to stop following me." Maggy was mad and she let it get into her tone. The girl would've been slightly intimidated by the tall woman growling at her, not to mention the dimly glowing red eye. Maggy let out a sigh, the poor girl didn't deserve that. Probably. "Sorry, I let my anger get the better of me for a moment. Could you please return these dresses back to the shelves, if I am going to get a gift, I would like to know who the source is. I don't like strangers, or stalkers..."

The girl nodded furiously quickly taking the clothes and headed back towards the store, despite Maggy's efforts she'd still spooked the poor girl. Maggy cursed under her breath, but then she thought for a moment, yes that was it. She would follow the girl back to this charitable stranger. Then she'd have a word...