Grace shrugged at Tom's comment as she
"This is an international resort. Not many places in Europe with this climate, anyway." She stretched her arms out, as if to catch more rays of sun.
"It's probably nothing. In fact, almost definitely nothing. I read over the security procedures that this place has. It's rather in-depth. A lot of identity confirmation and official paperwork required, and they do background checks as well to make sure you are who you say you are. Plus plenty of security on the island. The only way that any villain could possibly be here is if they knew somebody on the inside," Grace explained as she lifted her arm, slicing downward with her fingertip. A shimmering portal opened in front of her.
"I left the brochure in the room; we can head there quickly," she said with a wink, and with that, she hopped through the portal.
She landed back in the room softly, before turning back towards Tom as he entered the hut again via the portal.
"C'mere, gwiyeoun," she said bashfully, before wrapping her arms tightly around Tom and very nearly pouncing on him. Her lips collided with Tom's as her form pressed against his. She pulled back, her eyes sparkling with joy, her locks of damp violet hair falling messily in her face, her cheeks gently tinged with a faint shade of red blush.
"Oh, Tom, jagi" she said lovingly as her hands roamed across his back, pressing her nose to his. She took a deep breath.
"I've wanted to say this for a while..." she started diffidently, looking away for a moment, before her eyes focused in on his again.
"But I really lo-"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.A loud sound, like that of a drill, loudly shrieked out from deep beneath the hut, and the foundations of the building gently shook. It was not enough shaking to concern Grace of the possibility of imminent natural disaster, but it was enough shaking to break the mood for sure. Grace released Tom from her grips, her face rapidly becoming annoyed as she looked at the ground.
"Geuliseudoleul wihaeseo!" she hissed, sounding annoyed.
"What is this? Maintenance or something? We paid specifically to get away from this type of nonsense-"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.Grace's face turned red again, but this time not out of prudeness, but out of pure irritation.
"I am going to figure this out this instant. This is unacceptable for a vacation. This is frankly disgraceful on behalf of the resort. How can I reasonably be expected to enjoy quality time with my boyfriend with this cacophony going on? I am going to find whoever is doing this and give them a piece of my mind," she ranted to Tom, as if he was a resort employee that was causing the noise and shaking in the first place.
"We are going to go. Right. Now," Grace demanded as she lifted her palm. An orb of purple energy, the same energy that created her portals, formed in her palm. She pointed it downwards and sent the orb into the ground. The orb, like it was water, splashed outwards and formed a portal as it cut into the ground of the hut. The projectile of energy continued to travel through the earth until it reached the other end, forming a matching portal there. Grace frowned as she tapped her foot.
"That took longer than I thought it would take..." she muttered
Grace sat down on the bed, putting on a pair of expensive, sporty sneakers that had probably never seen physical activity since they were removed from the display case.
"You don't mind going on a quick excursion, right, Tommy? Sorry about all this..." Grace sighed as the drilling noise commenced again.
"But I swear I'm going to lose it if I hear that noise again." Grace stood, walking over to the portal. She dipped her toe in, like she was testing the waters of a pool, before hopping into the portal.
Grace landed inside what appeared to be a maintenance office. There were thick metal walls on three of the sides of the room, with a metal grate floor and a large window of glass on one side. Against one of the metal walls was a security station, with a number of monitors depicting a variety of security camera footage. The man at the computer was wearing a red and black uniform with a matching face mask, but thankfully, he was currently asleep. Grace crept over to the window, her eyes widening as she took in what she was. Inside there was a massive open space inside what appeared to be a cavern. Several layers of metal walkways ran around the sides of the room. In the center of the chamber was a massive black pillar with glowing red tubes wrapping around the device. At the top of the pillar was what appeared to be some sort of cryptic MRI machine, albeit one that was jet black and covered in similar red tubes that were pulsing with energy. Patrolling the walkways were a number of guards in matching red/black uniforms.
"This is insane," Grace whispered, turning to Tom with a sense of great urgency on her face.
"What is this place? What's going on here? I-" She was cut off by the sounds of footprints coming from nearby, growing louder and louder, coming from behind a nearby steel door. The sounds of jovial chatting between colleagues also grew louder. A disk of purple energy formed in Grace's palm.
"This is bad," she whispered to Tom, looking up urgently at him, as the doors opened. Two uniformed guards looked at each other, before quickly lifting their weapons. "Err, freeze, you! You can't be here!"
Meanwhile, well above the mysterious fortress of death, a figure approached the ongoing beach volleyball game. He was an imposing figure, standing at more than 6 feet tall. He had dark skin and was impressively muscled, though most notably, he had what appeared to be tattoos of chalk traced around his body in elaborate artwork. He had dark black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and shimmering olive eyes. He was wearing a pair of light blue board shorts. There was something a bit ominous about him, but first and foremost, the man was certainly a stud.
As the volleyball moved over the net, right before it could hit the sand, the man blasted into action. Moving at breakneck speeds, he was suddenly on the court, and grabbed the volleyball before it hit the ground. He lifted the ball into the air, holding it in his palm.
"I believe you aren't supposed to let this hit the ground," he said coyly as he smiled.
"I'll give you a pass, though. Sorry for interrupting your game. My name is Yousef." He nodded at the group, his smile having a certain charm to it.
"I'm a hero from Egypt...ah, but no need to introduce yourselves. I'm, of course, very familiar with your work." He squinted at Joseph and Chad.
"Well, most of you, at any rate. I look forward to getting to know some of you, but I'm also happy to be in the presence of such hero legends. Starbright! We've heard of you around the globe now...oh, and you must be Ms. Jamie Stewart. Quake." He smiled warmly as he approached Jamie. He smelled of expensive cologne.
"I've read about you in the papers, but you seem even lovelier in person," he said flritatiously.
"I'd love to get to know you better. After this game, perhaps?" He reached into his pocket and removed a folded piece of paper.
"It's always good to spend some...quality time on vacations. Well, I best not interrupt your game any longer." He tossed the ball to Joseph.
"Enjoy your game."
patti just bcuz u cant handle ur booze doesnt mean the rest of us cant ok stfuBlake sent another text to the group chat as he absorbed the information that had been divined. He knew that he had seen that mystery girl before, and now he had remembered her from the Gugliano mansion. His interaction had been limited to only a few moments, but in those few moments, the girl had killed the one man that the rest of them combined couldn't keep pinned down. She was certainly dangerous. Blake texted again,
alright b careful...looks like something is ab to happen. Blake had sent this because one of the men, a middle-aged balding man with a Dali mustache, had tapped his fork against his cocktail glass repeatedly. Once the room quieted down, the man coughed into his fist before speaking. "Greetings, greetings. As you know, my name is Jim Rockferry, and I'm the president of the Castleburg North Club. I've organized this event today to help rethink how Castleburg conducts organized crime. I'd like to welcome a man that we've all known and hired before. Please welcome our friend, the Black Baron!"
Nearly the entire room cheered, and Blake joined in, clapping his hands together as he focused his eyes on the figure emerging from the crowd. He was an old man. A very old man. He had wrinkled skin and only puffs of white hair remaining, and in his hand was a diamond-studded cane. HE looked sagely around the room before speaking. "Good afternoon, my friends. As you know, I've spent many years of my life working to help bring down heroes. Many, many years. Now, though, my hourglass is running out of sand. My die is cast. Luckily, though, I've found a perfect somebody to help succeed me in this enterprise. Hopefully, she will be the one that helps bring long-lost unity to the different criminal enterprises of Castleburg. She's already proven to me that she deserves the title this past week. Please welcome my successor, the Black Baroness!"
Blake's eyes nearly rocketed out from his sockets as Malady stepped forwards, giving a curtsy, before standing next to the Black Baron, who put a hand on her shoulder. The crowd immediately began to converge onto the teenage girl, and Blake grabbed his phone and sent a text.
wtf wtf wtf what do we dooooooooooooooHe then took a deep breath, grabbed his martini, and downed it all in one sip. He needed it.
Powers nodded, impressed.
”Excellently done," he said as he stepped through the now-melted door. Inside was a long corridor of metal, illuminated with red lighting. Powers folded his arms as he walked down the hallway, mostly unimpeded. There were two guards that were standing in the corridor, but they were no match for the speed and prowess of Powers. In a split second, Powers had grabbed the two guards' heads before they could even realize what was happening, and promptly slammed them together, Three Stooges style. He dropped them to the ground and stepped over their bodies, continuing to make his way through the corridor, which eventually led to another door, protected by some sort of badge reader. Powers did not even need Pandora for this one- he simply wound up and slammed his shoulder directly into the doorway. The door was blasted off its hinges and crushed the unfortunate guards standing behind it to the wall.
Powers entered the room. The room was large and noticeably very cold. Steel floors and steel walls were lined with tons of computer servers. Computer towers full of blinking lights shimmer down on the duo as they entered. Powers crackled his knuckles.
”If I'm not mistaken, back in your day, they didn't quite have this type of tech. I will work on disabling it. If you could deal with the guards that will be arriving any moment now." As Powers made his way over to one of the server towers, as if on cue, three armed guards stormed the room, barking orders at each other. They then raised their weapons, scanning the large server room for any signs of life, as more reinforcements stormed towards the infiltrated room.
