[IC] TENEBRAE: The Rebellion of Shadows (Ladies Only)

[Lady Seraphina]

Phantasm

Cloud Gate
Loop, Tenebrae
Time: Late Morning
@Estylwen

Myriad tapped her fingers on her chin, looking at Gloria appraisingly. “Ah, so they really did cancel that class.”

She skipped down the steps of the Gate, Gloria following after. Their strange costumes garnered more than a few stares from people walking by but no one said anything, no doubt assuming it was for some kind of street performance.

Myriad turned back to Gloria, looking up at her from three stairs below. "You're my friend, I know that. As for us and the Valkyries, there's old history." She turned back, shrugging. "But I wasn't a Knight then. Nowadays, it's doubtful the two interact much. You may well be the first interaction we’ve had in, um.” Myriad counted the number out individually on her fingers till she had a full hand before saying. “Wow, in five years.”

Gloria took a step back, up one stair. She didn't really have 'friends'. She had people who watched her back and she watched there's. Even that hadn't come easy to her. It had been a long time since she'd been able to just stroll up to someone and say 'you seem nice, let's be friends'. To have Myriad do it so casually when they'd spent less than a day together surprised her.

She didn't know how to deal with that so she pushed it away, focusing on what Myriad had said about the Shadow Knights and the Valkyries. "I don't suppose you know what happened to the old queen, the one Lady Hel had an agreement with. Arc just said she was 'no longer fit for duty'."

There was a very long and uncomfortable pause as Myriad's eyes shifted away from Gloria. "She uh, fell into a coma." She forced a smile, trying to laugh it off. "But I mean, it's better to talk about people's good times, not their bad, right? It's what she would've wanted."

Gloria nodded. Myriad clearly didn't like dwelling on bad things. Meanwhile it felt like that's all Gloria ever did.

"Thanks." She wasn't sure how much that helped her but it was something.

She walked past Myriad and when she was a few step down she turned around. She lowered her hood, unclipped her mask and pulled out the hair tie holding her braid in place. Her blonde hair fell down around her shoulders in a frizzy mass that she knew was going to be a pain to run a brush through later.

She looked up at Myriad so they could see each other's eyes. "My friends call me Katey. I'll see you around."

"Katey," she mumbled, eyes turning up thoughtfully.

With a small pull, she tugged her own mask to the side, revealing large eyes and a slender nose, but what grabbed Gloria's attention where Myriad's eyes. They were... four dimensional was the only way that Gloria could describe it. A tesseract shape that twisted in on itself over and over and over again even as she knew that it wasn't moving in the slightest. Gloria looked at them more closely trying to get a beat on exactly what they were.

As she continued to stare, Myriad scrunched her eyes shut, a smile on her face.

"Sure, Katey. Friendship names are cool. Tell you mine after your mission, 'kay?" she said.

She slid the mask back over her eyes, clipping it into place under the wreath of flaming hair.

"Alright," Gloria said "Till then."

"Good luck, my friend."

Lady Hel

Love Street
Lincoln Park, Tenebrae
Time: Late Morning
@Blizz

Oshus smiled. "Yeah. Homesickness. You could say that. Old town’s a piece of work, but she’s our piece of work. Well, yours, I guess. You get it, anyway, I’m getting old. People retire when they’re old, dunno how much I got left in me. Being out there so long and not here very long, it’ll make you realize where you went ain’t much far from where y’came from."

Hel nodded. That's what she'd wanted to hear. That he'd returned out of a fondness for his roots, not to stir up trouble. She'd keep an eye on him just to make sure he wasn't feeding what she wanted but trust came a little easier to her with him than it did with almost anyone else. "Long as that's all you're looking for then the city's here for you. This place is a lot safer for us than it was back in the day but that saftey's still fragile. Stay as long you like, just don't make waves."

He smiled. "Guess I couldn’t stay away from the place’s charm for another twenty..." As he ignored the subtle threat in her final words. He knocked back his drink and turned his stool to face her. "Say, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about Fade, would you?"

It was Hel's turn to smile. "I wish I did. Her skill set is unmatched. She'd make a fearsome Valkyrie. But true to her name, she faded away after what happened to Fenrix."

They talked for nearly an hour, recalling old memories, shared victories, shared failures, but mostly shared misery. It had been a very long time since Hel had had a real conversation with someone on equal footing to her. She did appreciate the comfort of it, even if she would never admit as much out loud.

”Well Sweetness. It’s been a pleasure talkin’ with ya, funny enough, but I’ve got other reunions worth seeing to.” He slipped a twenty into his empty glass and got up to leave. He was talking Sunrider. Though Hel supposed she called herself Ellie these days. Hel had approached her once or twice about joining the Valkyries but she refused. She was ashamed of what they'd had to do when they were younger and she thought punching jewellery store robbers and car jackers in the face would somehow atone for it. She was playing at being a superhero. It was a shame, her talents could be used for so much more.

”Grab me sometime, I’ll be in town a while. We can catch up some more anytime." Oshus said as he was walking towards the door. Then as though a sudden thought hit him he turned back towards her. "While you’re not busy, might wanna put those Shade Knights on a leash. Shade Knights... Shadow Knights, the guys in the dopey lookin’ hoods. The kook with the scar thought he was gonna spook me. I guess you know who I’m talking about, if you don’t, I don’t.” Hel's eyes widened every so slightly but her expression remained neutral. When she didn't respond he shrugged. ”Tell your girls I said hey."

Hel nodded and watched him walk away.

Shadow Knights... They were a band of tech thieves with some very unsavoury connections to metahuman hunter and trafficker groups. She'd driven them out of the city years ago. Not that she was foolish enough to think she'd disbanded their entire operation, but she'd gone to war with them and in the end they'd reached an armistice. Tenebrae belonged to Hel, the knights weren't welcome in this city. If they'd returned... well, that would be the end of their uneasy truce. She would need to deal with that.

Hel stood up, and placed a crisp hundred dollar bill on the bar. "That's for you darling." she said before strolling out the door.

When she returned to her car one of her entourage said. "My lady, you were dropped a line while you were inside. Siobhan wants to talk to you. She's..." Hel cut the woman off.

"One of Phantasm's playmates. I know. I'll take the call in back."

The woman nodded. "Very good Miss."

[Estylwen]

Cloud Gate
Loop, Tenebrae
Time: Late Morning
@Lady Seraphina

As Phantasm let her hair loose, Myriad couldn't help but stare. It was like staring in the mirror—the two women seemed so similar now. Their hair was the same, wild and free, wreathing and beautiful.

"Katey," she mumbled, eyes turning up thoughtfully.

She was finally seeing the real Phantasm. With a small pull, she tugged her own mask to the side, revealing large eyes and a slender nose, and tesseract irises. She knew they were difficult to look at.

DIfficult too, to stare too long at the intensity of deep, hurricane eyes. Myriad scrunched her eyes shut, for both of them, and smiled.

"Sure, Katey. Friendship names are cool. Tell me mine after your mission, 'kay?" she said.

She slid the mask back over her eyes, clipping it into place under the wreath of flaming hair.

"Good luck, my friend."

—

"She's not our friend, Myriad," Arc said.

He stood over her, arms folded while she fidgeted in the last folding chair. The streamers and decorations were gone, along with the cake.

"You were listening in, weren't you?" her lips pouted.

"I got clearance from Control, yes."

"Jealous?" she teased.

"What could I possibly be jealous of? You're going to be the one jealous when we're all fine and you're a crying mess when our operation is complete."

Myriad huffed, rolling to her feet. "I haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about."

A hand pressed on her shoulder, and she fell back into the chair. There was a dark look on Arc's face.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. She's on the list. It's only a matter of time."

Myriad stared up, the denial stubbornly plastered to her face.

"She's a good person. She can help us better like this."

"You know why we can't do that."

Her voice shook. "But she can, she—"

"Boss needs her for Operation Suzy, Myriad. And you will help me when the time comes."

"But she"—sharp inhale—"she'll be—"

A hand on both of their shoulders. As if he had been there all along, Chronos had his eyes locked hard on Arc, with the definite 'shut up' attitude in his demeanour.

Arc narrowed his eyes at Chronos, then turned away from both of them. Over his shoulder, he said softly. "You're not making this any easier for her, Chronos."

Chronos simply stared back at him, slowly patting Myriad's shoulder.

"Mr. Chronos?" Myriad asked.

He studied her expression, seeing a brave face mask the guilt.

"Do you, uh," She smiled despite the tight voice. "Do you have any more of that cake?"

---

Love Street
Lincoln Park, Tenebrae
Time: Late Morning
@Lady Seraphina, @Blizz

"That's for you darling."

"Thank you, ma'am." A shocked voice.

Two twenties and a crisp one hundred dollar note, more in tips than she had made in two weeks. It was enough to make a girl cry, and as Rainsinger and Lady Hel left separately, Serena excused herself to the back room where she wiped away watery eyes threatening to burst.

Tonight, it would be homemade lamb chops and herb garlic cream, with a plentiful helping of the expensive drink she'd stored for the past year. Tonight, it would be a beautiful night.

---

Gray Dragons HQ
Unknown, Tenebrae
Time: Evening
@Blizz

Adrenaline shot through his veins like ice through a cooler as he watched his own folly. An old tin cup rolled into the clearing, the one his foot clumsily knocked over as he clamoured closer from behind the creates. Ellie's eyes whipped over.

"Takeda?"

The doctor's eyes widened. He was caught red-handed. But this was his chance to warn her. Frantically, he gestured with his hands, mouthing silently to run.

No amount of silver-tongued words could undo the fearful picture Ellie painted in Akihiro's mind, with black stormy skies and ocean waves cutting away the land. There was a reason they—no, he labelled certain meta's as 'alpha's'. The protocols he wrote surrounding them could fill an entire encyclopedia. And then another.

Then, cold blue eyes turned his way, and Akihiro shrank behind the crate. Rainsinger had spotted him.

Akihiro panicked. He had no idea what this meta would do to a spy. He had to get out of here. Maybe with Rainsinger's eyes fixed on him, Ellie would get the hint and make a break for it as well.

His ankle twisted the dirt as he coiled to sprint, but just as he was about to run, an alarm rang on his phone.

Pale as a ghost, the doctor checked his phone. Sure enough, a red dot glowed on a grid map near Tenebrae's water edge. This meant one thing, and one thing alone—Ellie, Dream and the doctor were officially out of time.

"M-mister Rain, uh, singer?" the doctor edged out from behind the crate. "Please, you need to, uh, I mean, it would be, uh, nice? If you l-let Ellie go. Before the h-hear—I mean, uh, my microchip—is gone."

The Shadow Knights' team was on their way to the lab. That meant the Knights had a critical head start. Akihiro fidgeted nervously, eyes shifting from Rainsinger to Ellie. If Ellie and Dream didn't make it to the lab in time, the possibility of a lab-wide lockdown from the Knight's intruders would make reaching the lab's entrance impossible.

---

Oakstreet
Near Northside, Tenebrae
Time: Evening
@Shu

The dripping of rain from an overhead pipe came into focus first. Then, the faint scent of gasoline caused the Triad's eyes to flutter. He lifted his face from a greasy back-alley puddle, spitting violently and groaning. He rolled to his side, feeling the bruise forming on the side of his head, and cursed.

Dragging himself to a sitting position, he pulled a phone from his pocket, tapping the screen and pressing it to his ear.

"So?" said a sharp voice on the other end.

"Jiǎo tà shí dì. She did exactly as you said, and we're now able to proceed with Shan Chu's wishes." the Triad said.

"Good. And what about you, Pak Tsz Sin?"

"I'm fine, sir."

"Of course you're not. I can tell in your voice."

He hung his head. "She will be in danger now, Fu Shan Chu."

"From who, us? You volunteered for this meeting knowing it would go in this way. Grow some backbone."

An unsteady pause, the Triad's eyes shifting away. "Sir, has the team left yet?"

"You still think you can save her. That will kill you if the master finds out."

The Triad dutifully nodded. "Thank you, sir. I will be careful."

He heard a disbelieving huff on the other end. "Whatever. Get a move on if you want to be with Hung Kwan and the rest."

"Yes sir."

He slumped his chin on a raised knee as he pulled the phone away. Fu Shan Chu always saw through him. Over the years, his knack for reading his gang members had only increased, but it was sharp as ever back when their original master died, along with the majority of the Red Lotus Triad. He was there that night. He remembered when he fled the building, and his eyes met hers before a group of Triads attacked Kara, distracting her from pursuing him, and killing him.

By all intents and purposes, he should be dead by her hand. And when that knife pulled across his skin, he thought for sure she would finish the job. But instead, he was left in the gutter, dried blood on his neck. And his sweetheart? She was long gone.

That's why Fu Shan Chu held the new master's hand back when the remaining members re-organized themselves. The master's only interest was in putting the souls of the Red Lotus Triad to rest by killing Kara. But when the master voiced his wish for blood atonement, the deputy also raised his voice in Kara's favour. And there was only one man alive who survived Kara that night. Why else would a de-moted, run-away, barely-saved-from-a-Triad's-death-by-swords paper fan be sent to reason with the Triad's grief?

The Triad sighed, pulling his limbs in closer. He knew what was at stake, especially if the master caught wind of his personal wish. But he also knew the prize when he saw that terrifying whirlwind of blades and blood tear through his gang members. No one on the planet had the talents she possessed, never mind the superpower behind it. And no one possessed the despairing fire he saw in those eyes when her stare trapped him that fateful night.

Anyone who wanted her dead was a fool. But he remained silent. Only the deputy, Fu Shan Chu, had an idea, and if anyone else caught on, he was a dead man. And if that happened, he wouldn't be there to delay the Triad from throwing every hitman in the world at Kara.

"Quán lì yǐ fù." he muttered as he rolled to his feet, and limped deeper into the darkness of the alley.

---

Rooftops
Unknown, Tenebrae
Time: Evening
@Shu

Circling the fading Tenebrae skies, a single crow spotted her mark and glided onto the shoulder of a hooded ninja.

"My dear, it's been a while." Madame Fauxpaw said in a high, croaking voice. "Did you enjoy your time at the jade palace?"

She clicked her beak. "I was caught up earlier; I wanted to talk about your mission tonight."

Her lower lid curled up in a smile. "Of course I know, dear. I also know your competition. But don't worry, this classified information is at the request of Master Shen—you won't be charged for it."

"Your competition consists of two women, both vigilantes. The first has adaptable strength and speed in her body."

"And the other specializes in non-direct combat."

A black beak preened the feathers on her wing. "But alas, information is best coupled with thorough recon. Continue your work, my dear. You always did things thoroughly."

She leaned in to whisper in Scarlet Shadow's ear. "Be careful, and take the heart quickly."

With a flap of her wings, Madame Fauxpaw flew into the darkening skies and was gone.

---

Sewers
Near Northside, Tenebrae
Time: Evening

Dream

Dream lay crushed against the wall of the sewer, costume hanging off her in shreds and a hand pressed over her ribs. The two cyborg Hunters stood over her, weapons ready.

"Why," She said, her breath ragged. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because we enjoy it," said the giant, punk-vested cyborg to the left. His smaller partner nodded.

"Oh yes. The extra little kick"—her shock bracer knuckles pounded together—"from a meta's powers lets them experience emotions, and pain, sharper than the average human being."

She stooped down to squeeze Dream's cheeks with a hand, talking to her as if Dream was some kind of pet. "Making you that much sweeter to toy with."

Dream jerked her head away. "Don't touch me."

The giant cyborg's voice was mocking. "What, you thought we did this for some noble cause?"

Dream coughed, glaring up. "My entire life is ruined because of you."

"Ah-ha, I see. This isn't actually about noble causes, is it?" A devilish grin contorted his face.

"You wanted a logical explanation, not for the countless metas hunted under your nose," his grin twisted. "But why you were singled out. Is that right?"

The look on Dream's face only made him laugh.

"Kid, hunting you down was nothing personal. You were just the next lead we fished out, like a pool of hacked credit cards."

He shrugged, disinterested. "You're just an unlucky card."

Dream shifted, wincing in pain. "Great. So what now?"

The giant cyborg chuckled as he bound Dream's hands and slung her over his prosthetic shoulder. "We're taking you home, of course. After teaching you some manners, you'll be sold, and we'll be rich."

"Manners?"

He mused, bouncing her on his shoulder. "An immediate surrender would have been better for you. Now? You get to see what we do to ungrateful toys."

The other Hunter spoke up. “The torture chamber?”

“Perhaps. She hasn't struggled in the past five minutes. So as a reward, I say if she begs us to stop, maybe we’ll make it a little easier. Just a little.”

Dream glowered. "You're monsters. The lot of you."

They laughed. "Not the first time we've been called that, and it won't be the last."

Her limp posture on the cyborg's shoulder could barely contain the rage boiling within her. From the corner of squinted eyes, she could see the Hunters' gaze on the tunnel in front of them, not on her. And as they walked, she saw a broken gate, and beyond it, a waterfall.

Dream's tied hands shook as they balled into fists. And, timed in the off-balance between their next step, light exploded from her palms as she shoved off the cyborg. The force was enough to throw him forward, and send her sailing through the air toward the gate.

"Stop right there, kid," came a threatening growl behind her. She looked to see the two Hunters with their weapons at the ready.

"Save your torture for someone else," Dream said. And with a single wave, she fell back, following the waterfall into darkness.

—

She woke up spitting salty water as her body came to rest in the shallows. It was pitch black; she couldn't see the hand in front of her face. She could, however, hear the rushing of water behind her and feel the current pressing her against a slope.

Coughing and clutching her chest, Dream crawled out of the water, feeling the floor until she came across a curved wall with a rusted texture.

Another pained cough, holding up a weak hand. Her surroundings lit up as her fingers ignited. Behind her appeared to be a docking bay, and in front of her, a huge, rusted vault door.

She must have fallen quite a ways. This wasn't in any sewer system she knew. Checking her phone for guidance, she found, to her dismay, it was waterlogged. She reluctantly slid it back into a wet pocket.

The gate wasn't locked, and after a few minutes of cranking the rusted wheel, Dream pulled the 10-foot door open and stepped into a decaying metal corridor, cobwebs lining the edges. Her hand brushed against a tube on the side of the wall, clearing the dust away.

Laboratory of Microreactor Technology, Section E-49, Conveyor Chute

This was the place. The depths of it, at least. Tearing open the zip tie around her wrists with a broken wall pipe, Dream stumbled deeper into the abandoned section of the laboratory and searched for a way deeper into the lab.

---

Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Late Evening
@Lady Seraphina, @Shu, @Blizz

A light flickered from a computer within the depths of the lab. A system detection. There was no longer any external security system, thanks to King Astra's interference.

So, a new automated system was dispatched in its place. A robotic, razor-sharp, quick swimming security system.

Satisfied, the internal system deactivated the alert and went back to sleep.

---

Location: Unknown
Tenebrae
Time: Late Evening

Astra

"Corva, we need to talk."

Astra's figure filled the doorframe, arms crossed. She turned to face him, seated at the head of the Knight's Control tower. From the anxious glances around her, she gave a wave of her hand.

"Give us a moment." She told her assistants, and they pulled off their headsets to sneak around past Astra. He watched them go and pulled the door shut.

"You didn't acknowledge Phase II's completion. The beacons are set up in all twenty locations, each one is online and configured." He said. "You watched the entire thing from my retina cam, but didn't say a word over the comms."

His head cocked to the side inquisitively. "That never happens."

She huffed, tossing jet-black hair back in a disinterested manner. "How can one complete Phase II when Phase I isn't even started?"

He studied her for a moment, "Ah, so that's what it is."

"For Heaven's sake, I can hear everything rattling around in that skull of yours."

"My apologies, Corva." He said, taking a step toward her. She was seated in a business-like fashion in her leather chair, sleeveless black garb and bikini-styled bottoms clothing her pale, glasglow body. A full-body cloak hung from her shoulders, a large hood shadowing her eyes. A mask was absent from her face, as it had been for the past five years.

"You know everything in this brain of mine, but I can only hope to figure out your secrets," he said, stretching a hand out to her. "Tell me what's on your mind, my rose."

Her eyes simply narrowed at him. "You're hopeless."

"Please?" he kept his hand out, a sad smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes, taking his hand and standing. Together, they faced the mega computer that spanned the entire wall of the control tower.

"I stare at this screen day in, day out," she said softly.

Astra kept his silence, eyes on the slender-framed woman.

"I've lived here, behind the front lines, for three years, four months and six days. It's enough to almost make me forget what happened five years ago," she said.

"And?" Astra asked.

"I'm not getting any better sitting here in a soft, sickly sweet chair."

"So you're leaving?"

A pause.

"Corva?"

She turned her head. "Operation Phantasm."

Astra took a step back, pulling his hand away. "No."

He could see the full-bodied Knights emblem cascading down her back as her gaze followed him over her shoulder. Her dark lipstick pressed as she stared darkly.

"I'm serious."

"But why?"

"The day we discovered the Valkyries froze all police investigations on Cassandra Latham's file, I had a feeling this would happen."

Astra watched the brows furrow on Corva's pale face, and he inclined his head. "Are you saying this because she's on the list?"

"It's because she's not ready to be on the list."

Realization dawned on his face, and he smirked. "Sentimental, are we?"

"Don't ridicule me, King Astra." she gave him a cool glance. "If we play our cards right, she will have a shot at a normal life."

"All for one meta?"

"It's more complicated than that."

"It always is."

She turned away. "We can discuss this in further detail later. You have a mission to prepare for."

Astra searched her face, then sighed. "If that's what you wish. But I haven't approved this. Not until you really tell me what's going on."

A cold tug at her dark lips. "Very well. Until then."

---

GAME POINTS

@Lady Seraphina, @Shu, @Blizz

Congratulations! Juicy points have been earned by our protagonists.

Ellie confronted her fears and met Rainsinger.

+1 will point earned.

Scarlet Shadow refused to work with the Triad.

+1 will point earned.

Phantasm caught a private investigator's eye at Cloud Gate.

+10 notoriety points earned.

Dream fought off the Hunters.

+1 will point earned.

These points have been applied to your stats.

Notoriety points affect the world around you, how people view you, and your infamy. It leads to buffs, conditions, and permanent perks.

Will points are critical for the final boss.

Keep taking action to discover other types of points!

~ * ~

Chapter Two - Struggle Underneath

TIME SKIP: 12:00 AM

@Lady Seraphina, @Shu, @Blizz

The skies faded to darkness, and a cloudy, black uncertainty blocked out the starlight as the clock struck twelve.

---

City Hall
The Loop, Tenebrae
Time: Midnight

Astra tapped his comms. "Chronos, Myriad, are you in position?"

"Yes, we're just searching for any late-night employees." Myriad buzzed in his ear.

He nodded. "Wonderful. Keep me updated."

"Yes sir. Over and out."

He stepped forward and looked over the sea of police cars. The choppers overhead turned, and three spotlights snapped to his position, illuminating the dark Knight. He could hear frantic shouting and the sound of guns being unholstered.

Astra, cloak flapping in the midnight wind, simply cocked his head forward.

"Well, let's get this show started."

From his shadow, black ooze spilled out, forming 8 foot long tentacles. The black ooze speared the rudder of the choppers, causing flight failure. Pilots made their emergency ejections as the choppers fell, one of them setting fire to the sea of cop cars.

The officers began their assault, lighting up the night in a cacophony of bullets. Astra dodged to the side and a black wave rolled forward, pushing the majority of officers, cars and flaming choppers to the other side. They looked at him with terrified faces as the ooze suffocated them against metal and concrete.

As the wave released, one of them pointed his gun. "S-stay where you are, terrorist!"

Astra smiled, silver mask glinting in the firelight. "Oh, I'm flattered you recognize me."

Another step forward, python-like tentacles whipping out. "Now, if you could all do me a favour and head home"-the officers' knees buckled as tentacles constricted and squeezed-"before I break something?"

With cries of fright, the police officers struggled against the tentacles, kicking enough to break free and scramble away.

"Get back here, fight for your city!" The leading officer called out. He and a handful of officers held their ground despite the vice-like grip of black ooze threatening to snap their legs in two.

"C-call the military," was all the run-aways said before they disappeared down the opposite street.

The leading officer heaved in surprise as the black tentacles shifted, suspending him by the ankles. The officer tried to aim at the ooze with his gun, but another tentacle wrapped around his trigger finger, keeping it in place.

"Now, now, officer," Astra said darkly, putting enough pressure on the finger to almost dislocate the joint, and the officer yelped. "Don't make my job any more difficult."

"Go to Hell." The leading officer spat out, half-delirious with the blood rushing to his head.

Astra just laughed, tossing the officer back, watching him roll haphazardly in ooze and concrete.

"That's my home," he said.

His eyes shifted to the remaining police force, seeing the pale expressions on their faces. He released the tentacles from their feet, gesturing with his hand.

"Leave." He said. Their reluctance caused his eyes to roll.

"So noble. Listen, I can give you another demonstration,"—the tentacles swirled irritatedly around them—"or you can follow your companions and leave City Hall."

They stared at him, jaws set.

He sighed. "Alright, then."

Black tentacles constricted around the officers, throwing them against the front of City Hall. The large pool of darkness around Astra's feet grew, more tentacles with razor-sharp tips rising, poised and ready to strike.

"Another demonstration it is."

---

Section C-13, Residential Deck, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Midnight
@Blizz

What looked similar to a five-story hospital complex, the front of it jutting out of the cliff face was the underwater research facility Takeda had fretted about.

Circling the facility, with metallic teeth and red eyes, swam 12-foot long robot sharks, reacting to every moment in the waters with bloodthirsty intent. Their numbers, easily visible, were five in total. They would pose a problem if Ellie and Rainsinger were to get inside through the easiest point of entry.

Section C's observation deck was the entry point Doctor Takeda recommended. From the front of the visible five-story lab, it was near the bottom on the side. One could see a circular dome jutting out of the cliff, and one could gain entry through the open hatch and wet deck at the bottom.

Section C went deep into the cliff face for 100 metres. Doctor Takeda said it was a residential area and recommended dowsing every room in sleeping gas before entering. However, when Ellie began moving through the rooms and corridors, she found it covered in a thick layer of dust, and water dripping from the ceiling. Parts of the section were partially submerged in water. The Residential Deck must have been abandoned years ago.

Ellie would want to make her way to the opposite end of the section where a room labelled 'Section C-127' held an elevator. Along the way, she would find abandoned lab coats, decayed toothbrushes, and old ID badges. The elevator would take her to Section B-127, the Research and Recreation Deck.

—

Section B-127, the Research and Recreation Deck
@Blizz

As the elevator doors opened, Ellie and Rainsinger saw a long, dark corridor filled with aquatic test subjects in low-lit tubes. At the end of the corridor, they saw a barred doorway filled with crisscrossed, high-voltage red lasers. And between them and the doorway, a handful of scientists and bodyguards that, when the elevator opened, immediately looked her way.

One of the scientists dropped their clipboard in fright, shrieking. The four other scientists shrank behind the three bodyguards, who quickly surrounded Ellie and Rainsinger with hands on their holsters.

"Who are you? Where's your ID badge?" they demanded.

One unbuttoned their holster, suspicion in his eyes. "Hands where I can see them. No fast movements."

—

Akihiro chewed his nails, eyes on the glass screen in his cramped, dark apartment room. He had a GPS signal on Ellie but knew the cell service was lost deep below sea level. Once Ellie was below the water, all he could do was wait.

A part of his screen was lit up in blue and red as his system attempted hacking the research facility, but as it wasn't his field of expertise, it was taking a while. Not to mention he was going toe-to-toe with one of the highest security labs in the world. The system buffered at 51% completion, searching for a way to decrypt the next access port.

He mumbled anxiously and went to put on a pot of coffee, rubbing the sweaty curls off his forehead. This was going to be a long night.

---

Section B-13, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Midnight
@Shu

Scarlet Shadow, fully loaded with necessary mission gear, comms, and dressed from head to toe in an exo-aqua suit, boarded the submarine with her pilot. They quickly dove into the depths of Tenebrae's waters and headed for the lab 500 meters out.

It stood out against the dark waters. Five stories of steel and reinforced glass, lights within the hallways, people in white coats walking here and there.

The pilot killed the sub's lights and came in slow, however, the sub was detected by the automated security system. From behind, massive, sharp teeth tore into the hull of the submarine. Water gushed in through the widening holes.

"Get out of here! I'll blast the gates open." the pilot said to Scarlet Shadow, pushing her into the escape hatches.

The shark bit down on one of the loaded bombs, causing the sub to explode, but not before two warheads fired off. Scarlet Shadow used her super-speed to narrowly miss the worst of the shock waves as she swam out of harm's reach. Watching the crumpled remains of the submarine and shark sink into the cliff's chasm, she made her way to the loading bay door. She swam through the bent, broken panel, reaching the wet dock of an empty loading bay. Removing the aqua suit inside, she hid it in an old crate and slipped into the air ducts.

Time passed as she navigated the air ducts, avoiding the automated security system until one of the systems, a robotic wasp, caught her by surprise. Even after crushing the bot, more homed in on her location, until she was forced to make an emergency exit.

However, when she landed in what should have been a dusty storage closet, she instead found herself in the centre of a huge, occupied lunch room. Slack-jawed, spat juice, and dropped forks were the initial reactions as scientists and security guards alike rushed to their feet.

"Intruder!"

"Alert control!"

Scientists fled through the left sliding steel door, heading to the control room to alert the rest of the lab.

The security guards, totaling eight, pulled out their handguns and tasers, moving quickly to surround the intruder.

"Put your hands up!" they shouted.

If Scarlet Shadow didn't move fast, the lab would be alerted and her eight guards would quickly turn into 100, and an impossible lock-down would encompass the entire lab, barring anyone from reaching the heart.

---

Section B-54, Restricted Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal waters, Tenebrae
Time: Midnight

Dream

"Miss? Excuse me, miss?"

Dream looked up from her mop and bucket. Her costume was switched for a gray, large-fitting custodian jumpsuit with a hat over her black bonnet.

The security guard stared her down. "No one's allowed in this corridor, miss. It leads to a hazardous chemical spill."

She scratched her head. "Chemical spill? I don't remember anything like that." Coming up through Section E, she only came across half-finished projects, garbage, and piles of dust.

The guard gave her a disapproving look. "It's in everyone's policy booklet, didn't you read it?"

She mentally slapped herself.

"Oh. Well, uh," her mind scrambled. "I'm the newest member on the team."

He shook his head. "Recruit or not, there are no exceptions. I'll have to talk with your manager. Let me see your ID."

The jumpsuit she scavaged from Section E lacked an ID card. If she wanted to play the recruit right, she'd have to lie. Her eyes shifted to the side. "That? I lost it."

The guard narrowed his eyes. "You lost it...?"

"Yes. Thankfully someone else let me through the door so I could start my work."

The guard took a step back, eyes studying her. "Right. And it's a beautiful day under the sea for hard work, right?"

Dream kept her silence. His stance, and the specifically asked question, made her feel like he was saying something in code. Had he caught on?

"Miss?"

She abruptly turned away. "I'm busy, and I will report you if you interfere with my work."

He stepped forward, pressure in his voice. "Answer my question."

Silence again.

He made an irritated noise, hands on his hips. "You really have no idea how things work down here, do you? 'Lost' ID, you're in a restricted area, and a blatant refusal to answer the security question that's in a real employee's handbook."

Dream sweatdropped. "Now, I can explain—"

He simply raised a hand to stop her and pulled a pair of handcuffs off his belt. "Ma'am, I'm putting you under arrest for suspicion of espionage, fraud and theft of property. You have the right to remain silent, and to request the presence of a lawyer."

As he grabbed her wrist, she reflexively swiped with her other hand, a streak of light morphing to smash him across the jaw. He fell to the floor, and she began dragging him into the abandoned corridors of Section E.

A few minutes later, she emerged dressed in a loose-fitting security guard uniform, bulletproof vest, walkie and handgun strapped to her utility belt. She moved swiftly down the hall into the main part of Section B. If they were watching the cameras in the restricted area, she only had a few minutes before a security team was dispatched to her location.

She had to find the heart. Or else, tonight would turn out ugly, fast.

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

Scarlet Shadow had to act fast, she couldn’t afford to let the scientists sound the alarm. Even with her abilities she had no desire to face dozens of heavily armed guards in a facility on high alert. Ignoring the shouted warnings of the approaching guards the master thief sprang to action. In the blink of an eye her blade was from it’s sheath and in mere seconds it was buried in the gut of the nearest guard, a shocked cry coming from his mouth as his eyes widened.

In a flash Scarlet Shadow made for the next two guards, punching them hard in the throat simultaneously. Both fell to the floor with heavy thuds, gasping for air as they thrashed about. The other guards opened fire, Scarlet Shadow sprinting off to the left, her super speed allowing her to avoid the rounds fired. With a flick of her wrist she tossed a smoke grenade and crossed the room with another burst dodging more bullets. The grenade exploded and dispersed a thick cloud of smoke that blinded and choked the remaining five guards, two of whom fired wildly around the room in hopes of hitting their assailant. As bullets plinked and ricocheted against the metal walls, Scarlet Shadow made her way over to the first guard who lay curled up on the floor sobbing slightly as blood pooled around him. With a grimacing expression she yanked the sword still buried his his gullet free ignoring his sharp cry of agony.

It was simplicity dealing with the remaining five guards, Scarlet Shadow dancing about through the cloud of smoke and killing them with single brisk strokes of her blade, even taking off the head of the final man. Her feeling of victory was short-lived as red lights lit up the walls around her followed by the wailing drone of alarms from all around. She had taken too long dispatching the men now lying about her and allowed the scientists to sound the alarm. As the smoke cleared she looked about, the floor “painted” a deep crimson red. Scarlet Shadow preferred not to kill but this time she had no choice, wrinkling her nose at the strong metallic scent of fresh blood.

She wiped her blade on the sleeve of a nearby corpse and - after sheathing it - decided to make her way into the next room. With any luck she could take to the vents again and maneuver through the facility even on high alert. If nothing else - while not liking the idea - she would carve her way through the entire place if she had to.

[Blizz]

As the elevator doors opened, Ellie and Rainsinger saw a long, dark corridor filled with aquatic test subjects in low-lit tubes. At the end of the corridor, they saw a barred doorway filled with crisscrossed, high-voltage red lasers. And between them and the doorway, a handful of scientists and bodyguards that, when the elevator opened, immediately looked her way

One of the scientists dropped their clipboard in fright, shrieking. The four other scientists shrank behind the three bodyguards, who quickly surrounded Ellie and Rainsinger with hands on their holsters.

"Who are you? Where's your ID badge?" they demanded.

One unbuttoned their holster, suspicion in his eyes. "Hands where I can see them. No fast movements."

Ellie’s body tensed as she was flanked at all point by the guards, drawing guns on her in an instant. ”Alright, take it easy…I’m going to raise my hands.” She said slow and deliberately, meanwhile, Linus simply stood unphased behind her, eyeing the guards coolly.

"Mind telling us what you both were doing, coming from the restricted C Section?" the guard said, fingers tensely wrapped around the grip of his holstered gun.

Ellie remained quiet, she turned her head to look at Linus, and darted her eyes down to her legs for a second. Linus noted that with one with a small nod, as something shifted in his coat’s side pocket. She could already feel her boots warming up as she turned around to speak to the guards. ”Listen. We’re just trying to-“

WHOOSH

Ellie’s foot lit up like a lightbulb as she slammed it down onto the floor, causing the whole room to tremble with a burst of Meta Sunlight. It was essentially a golden flash bang. Linus was familiar with this tactic, so he had no trouble loosing the contents of the large metal water bottle he always carried, which whipped around the heads of the stunned guards like pressurized arms, slamming each of them with enough force to incapacitate. In a swift and coordinated motion, all the surrounding guards lay on the floor, out like lights.

”Still got it.”

The scientists, eyes slowly opening from the flashbang, stared in horror at the pile of unconscious bodies at Ellie and Rainsinger's feet. An unsettling hush fell on the room, the scientists exchanging petrified glances. Then, a clatter of shoes as the five scientists scrambled for the door. They stumbled and shoved each other out of the way in a race to reach the door. One scientist was shoved too hard, spilling hard on the grated floor. He moaned and rolled to his side, putting pressure on a twisted ankle.

[Estylwen]

Waterfront Warehouse
Near Northside, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Lady Seraphina, @Shu

After pacing along uneven cement, staring at the clock for the twentieth time, Arc snatched out his phone.

"King?" He pressed it to his ear, turning his head.

"Hm?"

A stressed hand ran through black hair, hugging the nape of his neck. "Phantasm isn't here. I've tried her phone, text, her tracker is offline. Nothing's working."

"Hm. And Scarlet is off?"

Arc gave an irritated grumble. "Yeah, she's off. But this is suppose to be done by her and Phantasm, now she's a no-show. And you know who she works for."

He could hear a light chuckle on the other end. "No need to be so tense, Arc. I'll look into it."

"I'm not"--an irritated huff--"I'm not tense."

A pause. "She's fine. Don't jump to conclusions without my say so."

Arc shook his head. "I was so sure she would come. Will Scarlet be fine on her own?"

"More than fine. The boss chose her. Just like he chose you."

Arc glanced at the clock again. "Right, right. Then I'll get started."

"Yes, the sooner, the better."

---

Valkyrie HQ
Unknown, Tenebrae
Time: Daytime
@Lady Seraphina

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Phantasm entered Lady Hel's office. Behind the desk, emaculate as ever, sat Lady Hel.

Lady Hel gestured to the small seat across from her. "Do you know why I've called you in?"

Phantasm only eyed the chair, refusing to sit. "No, ma'am."

Lady Hel paused, giving Phantasm a hard look. She let the seconds draw out between them, giving Phantasm a chance to change her answer. When Phantasm remained silent, Lady Hel pulled out a tape recorder, pressed play, and held it up for Phantasm to hear.

Ginny's voice was on the recorder. "--going for another meeting, and I think it's something big. I'm... Ma'am, I'm worried about Katey. She's working outside of the Valkyries and--"

Lady Hel paused the tape, watching the horror etch itself on Phantasm's face. The matriarch leaned back in her chair. "I gave you a chance to come clean on your own. Shame I had to find out my best girl was going behind my back."

Phantasm kept her face as neutral as possible. She could only guess what Lady Hel would do to her.

Lady Hel examined the black lacquer of her nails before locking stares with Phantasm. "As of this moment, you're grounded. Consider your mission regarding this heart forfeit. And if I catch you working outside like this again, there will be severe consequences. Am I understood?"

"Ma'am, please consi--"

Before she could continue, bulging, lethal red eyes blinked open in Lady Hel's dark shadow.

"Am I understood?" Lady Hel said.

Phantasm held her tongue. A part of her wanted to defy Lady Hel and find another way to complete her mission that night. She had made a promise, after all. But she knew her boss. For now, it was best to appear compliant.

Lady Hel gestured to the door as the room lightened, red eyes disappearing. "Out."

---

Section B Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Shu

Scarlet Shadow found herself in a long hallway, flashing red lights overhead on  each side. The ear-shattering alarm echoed off the cement, causing enough distress itself. But beyond that, it was strangely quiet. A slight wind stirred through the hall, completely void of people.

"Control to Code Red, I'm detecting a large amount of hostiles coming your way from the left." Said a cool, feminine voice through Scarlet Shadow's comms.

A quick skittering of nails on a keyboard. "To avoid wasting time, you'll want to go right down the long way around to the door.

"I've checked the vents as an alternative, but the security system is on high alert. Your best option is to run to the security door via the corridor. It's a loop, so both ways will take you there. However..." She trailed off.

"I'm also detecting other intruders on the right."

Coming from the left, Scarlet Shadow could hear the approach of running boots echoing off the cement walls. In twenty seconds, a batallion of fifteen armed guards would rush around the corner. That would put her within gunfire range without cover.

And on the right, down the hallway and turning the corner twice, Scarlet Shadow would find the two people Madame Fauxpaw warned her about.

"Which way will you take?"

---

Section B-127 & Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
Collab: @Blizz and @Estylwen

At the door, one scientist reached for his ID, slamming it against the card reader. The red lasers disengaged as the scientists piled through, and re-activated once they were all on the other side.

"Hey! Don't leave me here!" said the one scientist holding his ankle.

While the other scientists fled down the corridor, one hung back, staring at Ellie, Rainsinger, and the hurt scientist through the laser beams.

"Stay put until security gets here. They'll know what to do with you," he said.

"Seriously, what about me?" said the hurt scientist, wincing.

"Shut up, Chad. We all know you've been holding the research team back anyway."

"You can't leave me here with them." the hurt scientist's eyes flashed to Ellie, horror in his face.

The other scientist was already halfway down the hall. "Just stay put, Chad."

The hurt scientist's face turned a shade paler as he appraised Ellie and Rainsinger, mouth dry. With shaky hands, he pulled off the ID badge on his coat, holding it out to them.

"J-just don't hurt me, please."

”Sure. Drop the coat, shortstack.” Linus ordered smoothly, snatching the ID out of the poor bastard’s hand. ”Drop it on the ground, and get lost.”

The scientist paused before reluctantly peeling off his coat. "But I paid good money for this."

”Tough.”

As he tossed it in Rainsinger's direction, he winced, disturbing his ankle. "Ah, ow. Nope. I think I broke something."

"I don't know why you two are here," he said, eyeing the door nervously. "But I wouldn't uh, recommend staying here longer than a few minutes."

"Unless you're here for my research," he said, laughing nervously. "Which I hope you're not. It's not very interesting, just microchip interfacing with the local marine life."

”Yeah yeah. Get lost.”

Both of them made their way to the door as Linus dropped the lasers with the stolen ID. He more or less blended in, given the scuffed up coat. If anyone asked, he’d say he lost his ID during a predicament. 

”Okay, kid. Now what?”

”First, we gotta figure out where everything else is. Then we grab the tech.”

They did blend in to the bustle of scientists flowing through the large, looping corridor of metal and glass. At their feet were lines of paint, blue, green and red. They were faded from the traffic and seemed to indicate a type of map. But without a legend, the most they could do is randomly pick a line and follow it.

As they moved through the long corridor, they saw a group of security guards. And, standing at a shorter height in the middle, held by the arm, was Dream. She looked a bit ragged, bullet proof vest and weapons removed from her stolen security uniform. And it was unclear whether she was leading them, or if they were leading her.

Dream's mouth parted in shock at recognizing Ellie, but she firmly clamped it shut and moved her gaze away.

The guard holding her noticed. "Huh? Are these the ones?" He said sharply, gesturing to Ellie and Linus.

"No," Dream said, looking directly at them. "I've never seen them before in my life."

"Alright, keep moving." He said, pulling Dream gruffly across the hall.

As they passed by Ellie and Linus, Dream eyed them again. She seemed to be in a tight bind, but if these guards were focused on her, maybe reaching the heart would be easier for them. Of course, she had no idea how she was getting out of this one.

--

That was, of course, until the alarm rang, plunging everything into red lights and chaos.

--

The guards surrounding Dream Joe's into action, some racing down the hall, other taking defensive positions around the group. The one holding Dream pressed an arm into her back.

"Up against the wall, come on." He said, wrapping one wrist in a thick shackle.

Dream craned her neck back. "Stop. You're making a mistake."

He gave a sour grin, tightening the shackle on her other wrist and pulling her off the wall. "That's where your wrong. Your 'friends' you were gonna show us have been found. And now we're taking you and them in."

Dream glared, testing the steel binds that kept her hands behind her back.

The guard snickered. "What, you don't like that? Thought your little plan to buy time would work?"

Another guard laid a hand on his colleague's shoulder. "Hey, knock it off."

He gestured to Dream. "Put her with the rest of the scientists in case we gotta evacuate."

By that point, the hallway was clear of all personnel. Except for Ellie and Linus, of course.

One of the guards looked over, waving his hand down the other end of the corridor. "Hey, get to your muster point before they lock the place down."

Dream's eyes widened. The direction the guy was waving was the exact opposite to where the heart.

When Ellie and Linus didn't automatically start running, the guard rolled his eyes.

"Someone go escort them." He said.

Two of the guards nodded to each other and broke off from the main group, approaching Ellie and Linus.

Dream had enough. She raised her foot up a few inches, where a ball of light formed, and slammed it onto the metal floor. Light shot out in a shockwave, distracting the guards as it boomeranged back, forming an arc that started a few feet in front of Ellie, and formed a light bridge over the guards.

"Go! Straight down the hall and to the right. The big metal gate!"

Shocked faces snapped to Ellie and Linus. If they jumped onto the bridge, it would mean they were Dream's friends after all.

But if Ellie and Linus let themselves get escorted away, they'd be on a one-way ticket out of a heart.

--

@Shu, @Blizz

Elevator to Section A:
Unauthorized Access Strictly Prohibited

A metal panel screwed overhead on the south side of Section B, sitting over a large, metal, high-security gate.

The door itself, at a height of eight feet, slick metal and studded edges, was unmanned. All of the scientists and guards within had fled, leaving the door in a deactivated, locked state. It didn't have a handle or knob, but instead had a console pad to the side of it that seemed to have a flimsy cover.

Only special ID cards would work with this door, ones with VIP access. Unfortunately, there were no VIP personnel in Section B. Guards had an override code if two or three worked together, but this was usually used in emergencies only as it was a time-consuming process.

The door itself bound the entrance shut with small little pins all along the left edge of the door, like a standard bolt lock. If a strong enough force hit the left side enough times, it may cause the pins to bend and break off, opening the door.

Alternatively, pulling the cover off the console pad, a number of wires poorly put together could be easily re-wired, short-circuiting the door and causing it to open.

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

"Which way will you take?"

The thief took a moment to consider her options. If she went left she would have to face more armed guards, if she went right she would be forced to deal with whoever these other intruders are. And of course the vents were still an option. Scarlet Shadow could easily make short work of the incoming security, a flashbang or smoke grenade would be enough to disorient them for her to then slice them up one by one. But in truth she preferred not to, while not opposed to killing Scarlet Shadow was a thief and leaving a trail of blood and corpses in her wake was amateurish and messily out of character.

The other two intruders were an X factor, Scarlet Shadow would not allow them to beat her to the heart. She had no interest in wasting time crossing them and in truth there was no guarantee she could best them. Not to mention time spent dealing with other infiltrators was time for the facility to be secured and the heart moved or even destroyed. Without further hesitation the thief made for a nearby vent, sliding her blade under the narrow space of the bottom right edge and prying the vent cover loose with a snap followed by the sound of screws bouncing across the hard floor. She pulled the cover free and then laid it over inside the vent. With any luck the guards in their rush would either make for the opposite door or veer off to their right heading back the way Scarlet Shadow had came.

If I’m lucky they’ll run right into those other two and at the very least stall them for me to grab the heart and be gone. With a grin Scarlet Shadow crawled up and inward through the narrow ventilation shaft. Even if they don’t I’m confident I can still retrieve it. With my speed after all…

[Blizz]

Ellie and Rainsinger

"This way, if we keep following the arrows on this floor then we'll be just fine."

They weren't just fine.

Ellie and Linus weaved through packs of rattled scientists being escorted by security, who thankfully ignored them thanks to the coat they nicked off that one guy they ran into. They found themselves in an open room that seemed to act like a junction point for other locations. It was flocked with personnel trying to get clear from whatever was going on. Was somebody else here?

"Those guy didn't have time to get a hold of anyone 'fore we got here. Didn't hear the alarm start up either."

"Yeah, it wasn't us. It had to be someone else. If what Takeda said was true, it's probably someone else trying to steal it." Ellie said, watching where everyone went.

"So we're racing people?"

"I guess, we just need to get to it before th-"

Ellie saw Dream, who made eye contact with her. She got caught, and was being taken somewhere by a guard, who looked noticeably pleased by his little catch. She didn't rat them out.

"Someone go escort them."

They were being waved to go in the opposite direction, and now someone was about to expose them.

That was before Dream took the "Full Send" option.

A flash of light

A bridge

And a whole lot of guards.

Dream was trying to score them a way out. If they took the play, then the whole facility would know that all three of them were in kahoots, but if they didn't they could keep a semblance of cover, maybe even solidify it more with that option. If they did that though, they'd be rerouted further away from their objective, and they'd have wasted their time trying to get this far. In the time it took them to get back to here, someone else might steal the heart, or it may already be taken out of the lab and into the city. That was Linus' thinking. If they could rush forward off that bridge, they might have just enough time to get to cover. Even if they did, everyone would be on maximum alert. It was all or nothing.

"Go!" Ellie shouted as she raised her rapidly brightening hands, Linus vaulted upwards and was now making a mad dash for the gate that the girl mentioned. Ellie's hand began glowing enough to warrant shielding one's eyes. Next, she slammed them together in what the old dogs back in the day would've called a Solarclap. It was similar to the maneuver she did a few minutes ago, only a lot more disorienting. A huge, golden flash of light following by the entire room being shook like it owed someone money. Meanwhile, a sliver of the sunlight was transferred to Ellie's legs, as she darted forward to slam her boot into the chest of the guard at Dream's side. She then grabbed Dream by the arm to bring her with them. Once Dream was in her grasp, the light that was still slowly building in her boots helped her leap forward enough to make up some distance. The rumble of the room ceased just a hair's breath before Ellie managed to start running.

"Keep running!" She called out behind her to Dream as they rounded a corner. However, as they all went down the right side, like Dream, said, they were met with a great big metal gate.

"Okay- great rescue, but now what?"

They both darted their gazes back and forth between the long hallway full of rapidly recovering guards, and the dead end where they were. A swirling stream of water snaked out of Linus' coat and curled into a sphere of water a little larger than a basketball. He prepared to slam them if they came around the corner. Ellie looked the gate up and down, it looked like it went somewhere, but this place was on lockdown, pushing it open, much to her disappointment, did nothing.

The gate wasn't gonna open easily. Alright, fine.

"Get back-"

Ellie squared her legs up as her right foot seemed to glow more intensely, like a rod of steel coming out of a forge, she then brought it into the air, and dropped all of her weight into the motion as she slammed her boot into the gate with a very loud and solid crashing noise. The kind that cars make when they smash together.

Whether that worked or not, determined whether or not they would get hounded by the guards.

[Estylwen]

Vents, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Shu

"Dammit." Corva cursed as she watched Scarlet's signal slip into the vents.

Her hair whipped in cascade as she raised her hand toward one of her assistants.

"Get me access to the vent system." She commanded.

"But ma'am, that's a level four encryption. It'll take hours to—"

"We don't have hours. Use the meta skills we have to get in there and take over those wasps."

The assistant gulped. "You mean... Me?"

Corva nodded gravely, turning her eyes to the screen. "It's her best chance."

—

As Scarlet Shadow made her way through the vents, the security system detected her faster this time. A whirring sound, like a mosquito, reverberated off the metal as she shimmied forward, and she saw the little lights of the lab's robotic wasp diving toward her. It took a little effort to squash it, but that was only the start.

More lights began filling the vents as the wasps began to pick up her trail, causing Scarlet to clamour through the vents. The air became thick with wasps, trapping Scarlet in a long stretch of closed venting. But before Scarlet could use the ace up her sleeve, the wasps froze.

For a split second, the vent was eerily quiet as the wasps stopped all function. No wings, no lights, no movement. Then, as one, they convulsed as they fell to the ground, dead.

"The vents are now safe to traverse." Said a voice in Scarlet's comm.

There was shuffling and the roll of metal wheels. "Get him to ER."

As the sound of squeaky wheels left the control tower, the voice focused again on Scarlet.

"Two lefts and a right will take you to the shaft. From there, it's just an elevator ride to the next floor. Be prepared—that's where the heart is. I'm detecting a high level of activity."

As Scarlet moved over dead wasp bodies, she eventually found the exit. And as she kicked out the vent grate, watching it fall into a bubbling, oozing liquid far, far below, the first thing she noticed was the heat.

She looked out into a shaft full of vents and steel ribbing on the walls and the ceiling. Below her, a single, narrow metal platform went from one end of the shaft to the other, suspended by unknown means. One end, on the right, showed a closed security door with a console. On the other end, behind a layer of lasers, was the elevator to Section A.

All she could hear was the bubbling of the liquid below her, until the door to the rest right blasted open.

---

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Blizz

It worked.

A high-powered kick to the door came with a cascade of snapping pins, and the door rocked open on its hinges.

Beyond the door was a long platform of grates hovering in a narrow, large column. Despite the safety rails, the sheer drop could make anyone with a shred of vertigo nauseous. If one looked over the edge, they could see a glowing, bubbling liquid shining down at the bottom of the shaft, sending up waves of uncomfortable heat. Overhead by 50 feet, they could see vents and steel ribs. And on the sides of the walls were a number of large vents, some with numbers, other closed and covered in dust and neglect.

If they looked carefully, they could see one vent on the left completely open.

"The elevator is just up ahead." Dream said, nodding toward the other side of the platform. She appeared okay, grateful, even, despite the cuffs on her wrists.

But before Ellie, Linus and Dream could take a step forward, something happened.

—
@Shu, @Blizz

Cracks began forming in the ceiling. The faint sound of drilling fell ominous on straining ears. The platform began to creak and sway as the shaft shook, growing as chunks of ceiling broke away.

And then, Ellie, Linus, Scarlet Shadow, and Dream saw it fall from the ceiling.

Twinkling in its glass canister, suspended in between the sealed metal ends and spinning loosely, seductively. A small, intricate cube, easy to fit in a child's hand, hovering within its protective case as it fell neatly in the middle of the platform.

The heart.

"You idiot!" Came a voice from the hole in the ceiling. "When I said 'extract it' I didn't mean 'drop it'!"

Feverish apologies, then leads of rope dropped down from the ceiling.

They'd have company, fast.

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

Scarlet Shadow had been warned about other intruders though she had assumed that the guards would have delayed them, needless was it to be said that she was surprised when she arrived in the grand chamber containing the heart only to be met immediately after with the sound of a nearby door being blasted. The explosion had caught her off balance and left a ringing in her right ear though the master thief hadn’t been completely disoriented. By the time the door had hit the floor Scarlet Shadow had taken to the walls, using the intricate metal structuring to shimmy along and grab hold of as she had cleared away from the vent where she had emerged from.

The intruders were a group of three individuals none of them recognizable to the thief. Scarlet Shadow watched as they stepped out on the platform, keeping still and compressed against a tubular pipe she was wrapped around. Even if they looked over the chamber she doubted they would see her, and if they did she doubted she would have any problem filching the heart from the grasp. Her super speed alone surely would be able to befuddle them and if not a well thrown flashbang would be enough to disable them.

The thief was considered her actions when her attention was drawn to a sound above, a loud crackling followed by a louder crumbling. Scarlet Shadow’s eyes widened as she saw the first chunk of ceiling break loose and come hurtling downward, missing her by quite a few feet. The rumbling of the elongated platform below and the collapsing ceiling paired with the shrieking of metal pained her ears. And then she saw it - the heart. It fell down onto the middle of the platform, the thief hearing angry shouts from above even over the destructive noises above and before her.

Jumping was not an option. She wouldn’t make it and would fall to her death. Going back was also out of the question. She had come this far and was literal meters away from the prize. There’s only one option…
Hanging onto the pipe with one arm Scarlet Shadow slipped two smoke grenades from her belt. She reached around the pipe and used her index finger of the hand she used to hang onto the pipe to pop loose the pins. Shifting around and using all her strength she awkwardly hurled the grenades towards the platform. One landed right next to the heart with a bounce, an immediate blast of smoke expelled outward and enshrouding the center of the platform. The other fell short and spiraled down toward the ooze below.

Scarlet Shadow grimaced and reached out toward a nearby shaft and lifted herself away from the pipe with a sharp grunt. Her only chance was to move as fast as she could around the wall and drop down onto the platform. If she had to she could throw more grenades as cover as she made her way to the heart. Even so she doubted she would beat the other intruders and was already mentally preparing herself for potentially forfeiting the prize. Everything or nothing. Scarlet Shadow - her only advantage her maneuverability and the short window of time the smoke screen was buying her - scrambled as fast as she could around the length of the wall towards the platform, opposite of the new arrivals.

[Blizz]

Ellie and Rainsinger

The gate came crashing down like a stack of boxes.

Pieces of metal flew off in various directions as the warm glow of Ellie’s foot faded, the gates flew open with the loudest sound since a dead man’s rampage. As it echoed all throughout the halls, they all marched forward. They found themselves above a pit of choking heat. Rainsinger stared down into the earth, Ellie searched around them.

”That’s what’s powering this place. Geothermal.”

”Feel like I’m being boiled in here.”

”Yeah- no kidding.” Said Rainsinger, the one not wearing a leather jacket underground. ”They put down a gate that big for this? That don't square.”

”Yeah, well, we gotta move. They’re behind us, and we’re at a dead end. I think we can jump on those, and find a way at the-.”

”Shh!” Linus craned his head towards, he could hear the sound of whirring, as bits of concrete fell from the ceiling. It was quiet in comparison, but it was noticeable. Eventually, they could all hear a loud thump as the grand prize itself just fell before them all by sheer luck. A glittering cube, a matrix of unprecedented metaphysical ability, said to have the ability to store meta powers within like a battery. The one, the myth, the legend. The heart.

It was housed in a glass canister, at least it looked to be glass. Something falling that far and hard couldn’t be housed in just ordinary glass. ”Is that…?”

”It’s gotta be. Grab it an-“ They weren’t alone. Ropes began to drop, they were about to be confronted. That was before the smoke bomb fell next to it. Ellie’s eyes darted to it, and Rainsinger leaped for the heart. The smoke bomb exploded in his face, as he started coughing profusely.

”Shit…here!” Linus managed between hacking as he shoved the heart across the floor before picking himself up and stumbling out. It landed by the gate, between Ellie and Dream. ”We’re pinned.” He finished as he composed himself, dropping his knees slightly into a more defensive and ready stance.

Ellie picked up the heart, on its own, it was small, but the contained made it noticeably larger. It fit under her arm well enough, but the hard part was getting out. ”This isn’t good. Where do we go now?”

”I’m thinking’ we’ll have to bust a way out.”

Ellie backpedaled and glared down the hall they just came from. Nobody had ran this way just yet. Not one of them had noticed the ninja who tossed the smoke down at them. They didn't have long before they would be completely surrounded at all points, the only possible way out was through. A long corridor of hallways they came through, or a vertical shaft that leads to an unknown part of the facility. Rainsinger stared up the shaft through which the heart fell. The sound of drills getting louder and louder. If they were trying to drill a hole in the ceiling, did the shaft go to nowhere? Could they go up the way the enemy was coming down? Ellie could always stun the guards again, but they'd surely expect that move twice, and Linus didn't have enough water to make a platform. What would they have done if they were still here...

Ellie's face perked up after a moment as she turned back to the others, specifically Linus.

"Shinerun?"

Linus looked at her in total silence for a solid three seconds, he didn't expect that.

"Shinerush." He said confidently, as he brushed past Ellie outside the gate.

From the metal water bottles in his pocket, every drop flew out and formed a vertical wheel in front of him. The shape changed as the center of the wheel stretched forward. Ellie got right behind him as she spoke to Dream. "We're going to run out of here, if you see someone behind us, try to make a barrier out of your powers, kind of like the one he's doing. They won't be able to hit us as long as we stay in front of them." The wheel of water that Linus formed was now a hollow, foot long cone that seemed to vibrate profusely. Enough to distort what was being seen through it, but not enough to obscure their vision. Ellie reached forward as a clump of sunlight formed in her own hand. She reached into the water as it began to shimmer like the sun over the ocean. There was damn near nothing that would get to them now, as long as they stayed in front of anyone who tried to fire on them. "It's ready, let's go if we're goin'.

The water began to spin like a whirlpool, causing light to refract off the walls like rocks.

"Stay behind me, let's go!" She told Dream as she clutched the heart under her arms.

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

Gāisǐ!

Scarlet Shadow was nearing the edge of the platform when she had taken notice of what the three who had broken through the nearby door were doing. She watched as a bizarre swirling shape of what looked to be water formed up, though from where she hung she wasn’t sure how. A powerful light suddenly struck the thief in the eyes causing her to curse and raise one hand impulsively to cover her eyes. Her other hand gripping furiously onto a small groove that protruded from the wall between two thin pieces of pipe.

The light seemed to grow brighter as Scarlet Shadow could hear the sound of rushing water from the center of the platform. "Stay behind me, let's go!" Scarlet Shadow felt a surge through her stomach and chest as she realized the group of three had the heart. The thief was still too far to simply vault onto the platform without falling and she couldn’t risk trying to charge through a cyclone of water with her super speed. Not to mention the blinding light.

“I guess I shouldn’t have taken the vents…”

Were the master thief not in such a precarious position she probably would’ve broken into a rage. So close… she seethed in her mind as she dropped her hand from her face, squinting her eyes tightly. There was nothing to be done at this point. She couldn’t even hope to get back through the vents and meet the trio at the intersection, and she certainly doubted she would get back outside the facility fast enough to chase down the group. Venom in her mind Scarlet Shadow began to shimmy back across the wall toward the vent from where she had come, beginning her exfiltration.

[Estylwen]

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight

Dream

"Stay behind me, let's go!"

Shiny, steel-toed leather boots stampeded the platform as Ellie spoke, blocking the way behind them. As Linus and Ellie finished making the water shield, Dream gritted her teeth, pulling frantically on the steel binds on her wrists. If she couldn't use her hands, she wouldn't be able to protect them.

The smell of gunpowder mixed with the hot air as guards fired off a warning shot over them.

"On the ground, on the ground now!"

Dream tried rubbing the sweat from her brow with the edge of her shoulder. Whether it was from the heat or nerves, she couldn't tell. There was something off here. She stood beside two metas, both strong. The security detail were suicidal if they thought a few bullets could stop three seasoned metas. Sure, Dream was stuck in handcuffs, but Ellie and Linus could hold their own easily.

What was the source of the guards' confidence?

A laser light caught her eye, and she turned.

The lobbed smoke grenade from the vents cast a veil, suffused with the updraft from below, lit up with snaking, lethal red beams. She could see them play over the shield, Linus, Ellie. They traced figures over the heart before lining up with vital points on all three of them from both sides of the platform.

Security had extra detail in the walls. Men hidden in the numerous vents. If she squinted, she could see the cold glint of rifle barrels sticking out of the grates.

Dream's heart dropped. These people were just waiting for an excuse to open fire. Did they care about the legalities of harming metas?

Probably not.

Staring at the pointed guns and padded vests in front of her, the haze of smoke disfigured the details just enough, and panicked images flashed in front of her eyes.

~*~

The smell of fire and sweat, eyes straining as she staggered away from the unconscious man on the cement in front of her. Weak flames curled off his limbs, slowly extinguishing, leaving no marks. A pyro meta, a criminal by trade, finally defeated in the wet streets of Tenebrae's Japanese village.

"Don't move!"

Her panting breath caught as blinding lights took over. She blocked it with her hands, watching silhouettes come into focus. Vests, badges, automatic rifles. She couldn't count how many surrounded her.

And, slowly, she raised her hands.

~*~

Light dripped from her hands, angrily curling, useless behind her back.

"They got snipers in the vents. They haven't shot us yet, but we're running out of time."

---

Section A, the Hole Above the Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Shu

In the sabotaged remains of one of the world's most secretive lab, the Triad men crouched around the hole that once held the heart, checking their ropes.

A gunshot rang out, and screaming. The toy soldiers had found their targets.

A man surveyed the hole behind the others, dressed in dragon tatoos and bullets.

"Let's go, men."

"Yes sir!"

As men leapt down, he turned to see one of the smaller, less dressed men behind him, feet shuffling toward the hole.

He held up a hand, "Stop right there, Pak Tsz Sin."

The younger one looked up, bandage hiding the gash on his neck. The one Scarlet had spoken with in the alley. "Sir?"

"You're staying here."

"But sir, if Scarlet Shadow is in the vicinity--"

"The heart's extraction is our top priority."

"She is a priority as well, sir. I have to sway her to our side, Hung Kwan."

The Hung Kwan rolled his eyes, "She's as good as dead, Pak Tsz Sin. The sooner you realize that, the better."

"Sir, this is the one job I have. I want to make Shan Chu proud." He said, jutting out his chin.

The Hung Kwan paused, then sighed. "No."

He pushed the younger one to the side, "Go watch our escape route. If I need you, I will call you."

The Pak Tsz Sin watched grimly as the Hung Kwan followed his men down the hole, and he turned away sharply, kicking the metal floor with a jarring clang.

--

@Shu, @Blizz

In the center of the platform, meters in front of Linus' glowing shield, a dozen men with heavy boots, QBZ-95 automatic rifles, and bare arms covered in tattoos landed from the ceiling. They lobbed canisters high over Ellie, Linus, and Dream's heads, landing in the security guards ranks. The canisters bursted, and white clouds covered the guards.

The frantic gasping for air and coughing on hands and knees made it clear these were tear gas canisters. They thickly coated the doorway and far part of the platform, threatening to inch closer to Ellie and Dream.

The tattooed men turned their guns on Linus' shield, others pulling grenades off their belts. The Hung Kwan held up a hand, studying the metas in front of him.

"Friends, not sure where you're trying to go, but I think we might be able to help each other."

His hand gestured to the heart in Ellie's hands. "Hand over the heart, and I can grant you safe passage."

The smoke grenade previously launched was almost finished, leaving a thin film of smoke in the air. Ellie, Linus, and Dream could see red beams realining like a morbid rave show, highlighting the chests and faces of the tattooed men.

The Hung Kwan clicked his teeth, pulling off the velcro of his front chest pouch. A charge, safety cap knocked to the side and red button lightly depressed by his thumb, was pushed into the air.

"And if you all zhū tóu think you're safe in those vents, you know better than me what happens when the reactor matter below is lit by something like this. Don't push me."

One of the men beside the Hung Kwan passed what looked like night vision binoculars, pointing to the wall. The Hung Kwan scanned the wall, and a smile tugged at his lips.

"Well, I'd be damned if that wasn't our master ninja come to join the party."

He passed back the binoculars and pulled out a crossbolt in his other hand, lining up a shot. A metal bolt smashed into the wall beside her, creating an anchor. Rope spilled out as he fired off a second shot on the opposite wall, making a tightrope perpendicular to the platform.

"Why don't you come join us?" He said. "A certain low-life friend of mine wants to talk to you, so I won't shoot you. Yet."

The crossbolt was back in his free hand, other hand gripping the charge. "Trust me, the closer you are to him, the better."

On the other side of the platform, behind Ellie and Linus, Dream staggered back, eyes tearing up from wayward vapours. She squinted, seeing the guards spluttering and choking on the ground. It gave her, Ellie, and her friend precious minutes to make a plan, and if the draft stayed back, her and Ellie wouldn't have the same suffocating problem.

Dream leaned to speak low to Ellie, eyes shifting from the charge in the tattooed man's hand, to the shadowy blob on the wall. "If the heart falls, it'll be destroyed. If you push that, they might back off and we can figure a way out of here."

---

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: After Midnight
@Shu

A buzz in Scarlet Shadow's ear. "Code Red, what's your status?"

Scarlet could hear tapping of a keyboard. "There's no cameras in this part of the lab, so I'm blind. Have you located the heart yet? I have an escape route available, but it involves leaving the vents. There's a lab above this reactor shaft with direct access to open water. We can have a getaway device on standby for you."

A pause. "There's another way that involves the vents, but it's a much lengthier process. What do you think?"

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

It was fair to say that the situation had turned for the worst. Scarlet Shadow was just a short distance from the vent, further still from the platform. She was positioned rather awkwardly, her right hand gripping onto a small vertical pipe, her right foot pressed against it. Her left foot was hanging loosely while with her left hand she gripped hold of a small rung on the side of a larger pipe over her head. She was effectively trapped as she wouldn’t be able to leap or rely on her speed. Throwing anything was also out of the question.

Aside from the precarious situation the master thief hung in, she was further bothered when she heard the man tossing about Mandarin. Looking over her shoulder she could see writhing tattoos spanning the arms of the group of men who had blasted in from above. Triad? Scarlet Shadow thought back to when she encountered the thug in the alleyway, the one who had given her the items. Now here amid the heist for the heart more of his ilk it seems had turned up. Not to mention this small group of unknowns who had beaten her to the prize. I knew this reeked from the beginning…

Scarlet Shadow’s mind raced as she looked to the crossbow bolts on either side of her then back to the lead man whom had called out to her. She eyed the explosive device he dangled in the air, threatening to drop it down below and trigger a massive explosion. It’s a bluff. He wouldn’t incinerate himself and his own men. Still, I’m in no move for speedy extraction. They might just shoot me in the back, I don’t know...

Her eyes returned to the other arrivals. Likewise it was fair to say they wouldn’t allow themselves to be absconded by these new arrivals. At least that’s what she thought. They were an X factor in their own, but like her they had broken in and taken the heart, and frankly - bruised as her pride was - Scarlet Shadow was inclined to let them have it. This was long out of control by now and she just wanted to escape. It’s a gamble… but…

The master thief did nothing, she did not move, nor speak or yell. She simply hung where she was, watching the platform ignoring the rope nearby. She hated the idea of relying on escape by chance of others, but she had no other option it seemed. And she was not going to go with these men. Hearing the the com piece in her ear, she merely ignored it and maintained her silence.

[Blizz]

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______________________________________	Ellie _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

Not good…

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

This was bad to say the least.

Everything fell on them all at once, the ceiling caved in, as armed attackers flooded the area. The hallway was filled with the same men, and to make matters worse, red lasers flicked on them. They were pinned. Ellie’s nerves were on edge, her eyes darted around them, trying to process everything at once. Whoever launched the smoke bombs was either hiding or in the crowd. Out of instinct, her hands lit up enough to throw a few punches, but she stayed crouch down to keep a semblance of cover being Linus’ shield. The attackers outnumbered them at least 20 to 3, there was no observable way they could get out.

"Friends, not sure where you're trying to go, but I think we might be able to help each other."

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

"Hand over the heart, and I can grant you safe passage."

That confirmed what had to be on everyone’s mind, these men weren’t high level security, they had the same goal.

Ellie’s voice dropped to a near whisper as she concealed herself somewhat behind Linus. ”Distract him.”

Linus set to work on striking a conversation with the man who emerged from all the smoke in front of the gunners behind him. He held a remote in his hand, and that needed no thought.

Meanwhile, Ellie turned her attention elsewhere.

”Dream, slowly- slowly move your hands out forward like you’re gonna surrender. When I broke those cuffs, we’re making a beeline for the nearest door we can find.”

"If the heart falls, it'll be destroyed. If you push that, they might back off and we can figure a way out of here."

”There’s no chance they’ll let us out. Look at the guns they brought. You draw, you shoot. Just get ready, when it happens, we aren’t slowing down.”

The entire time, light passively was collecting in her hands.

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______________________________________	Rainsinger _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

Make the play.

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

”Distract him.”

When the kid had a plan, trust her, he thought.

The man with the ink, who stood tall like he ran the place was in the middle of explaining how the reactor could be blown up when Rainsinger stopped him mid-sentence. ”Nice speech, did you write that down?” You blow that thing, you’re dead, you didn’t swoop in to steal dust. If I knew goons like you were packing, I’d have retired already. Look, you want this little toy we picked up, and we wanna get home.

But the way you’re carrying those guns, big as they are, It don’t look like you want witnesses. It’s smart, really. But you know how you get witnesses taken care of? Risk. Let me ask you something, whoever you are, what’re you getting paid for the box?” He stared the man dead in the face, no less apathetic and collected than the say the King tried to put a leash on him. His voice was raised, and carried a tone that commanded respect and demanded to be listened to.

He was well aware of the gas creeping in them, his shield wouldn’t brush it away, it would just collect it.

”I dunno if you and all these guys are big in Tenebrae, I’ve been out in the world. What’s this heart mean to you? What’s a No-Witness card gonna run you, and what’re you gonna risk for it? Then again, I don’t think you’d have all those toys if your boys weren’t disciplined.”

They raided this lab easier than him and his companions, they meant business. Anyone could see that. His words were unlikely to do anything, but it had to just be enough so Ellie could spin up. ”Do you want to make this ugly? In a lab full of security? The longer we stand here, the longer those guards’ll have to wake back up.”

And so came forth the Hail Mary.

”You went all in when you don’t know your opponent’s hand, and you want to blow up a reactor you’re standing in.

I think you’re scared this ain’t gonna work.”

If this bluff works out, the drinks are on him.

[Estylwen]

Unknown Location
Tenebrae
Time: Far After Midnight

"This is spiraling out of control."

He stared at the harsh blue light of the screen, hands hanging by his sides. His eyes were wide, silver mask reflecting the chaos he saw. A thermal-sight drone reading the lab displayed its data across the screen in a splatter of red. Pain points in the walls, on the platform, all enemies. Only two signatures stood out, one haloed against the wall, labeled as 'Code Red', and at the center, far away from their contact, was a luminescent sphere, the heart. Astra's hands gripped the empty air as if he were trying to will the heart closer to Scarlet, to success.

Corva stood beside him, her eyes carefully passive. "I disagree."

Astra growled, gesturing harshly at the screen. "Yeah? And tell me how the heart, our contact, the armed detail, and that unknown group, give any reassurance that everything is fine?"

She stared back cooly, sweeping a curtain of black hair over her shoulder dismissively. "Your mission is complete, my king." She turned away, "Now leave and let me do mine."

He folded his arms, tilting his head back in an arrogant huff. "You should have intervened ten minutes ago. What? You so badly wanted to get out into the field; this is your perfect chance."

She shot him a cold look. "I decide when and where I—"

His eyes leveled with her. "Corva. What I'm seeing here is a heart, our heart, in the wrong hands, people about to die, and a bomb ready to set the whole place off."

"You talked about wanting to get out with Operation Phantasm," He nodded at the screen, "What about this? Look me in the eye and tell me that you'll fix this."

A chill entered the room as Corva tried to square her shoulders. "I..."

Astra stepped aside, a circular void opening behind him. He gestured to the hole with an arm. "Then let's go."

She didn't move.

"That's what I thought." Astra stepped toward Corva, the hole closing behind him. "If I didn't know what happened to bring you down to this level, I'd feel some shred of indignation toward you."

His face softened. "Corva, you know something must be done," his voice tightened, "You know what he's going to do if we don't give him that heart."

---

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Far After Midnight
@Shu, @Blizz

"I think you’re scared this ain’t gonna work.”

The Triad leader sighed, the stress lines hallowing his face. "Meta. I can see you've done this before. So, out of respect for what you once were, I'll be honest with you, one veteran to another."

He gestured to the Triad men around him. "Look at them. Do you see them?"

His face went dark, as though a heavy shadow took over his thoughts. "Each of my men came with a death sentence hanging around their neck. Nothing peaceful, mind you," he tucked away the cross-bolt, instead holding up a tiny dagger.

He jabbed the air over his bare, wet arm. "This, a hundred times over, until we die, is what's waiting for my men and I if we return home without the heart."

"So you can understand, friend," in his other hand his thumb pressed the charge's button, causing it to light as a count down started, "if I'm prepared to go all chips in. If your friend hands over the heart in 30 seconds, I will get you out. Or we can wait and watch how reactor material reacts with a bit of fire."

His head turned to the side, scanning the wall until he saw the faint outline of Scarlet Shadow, unmoving and unyielding. "Men, go get her. Quickly."

Two tattooed Triad men nimbly hopped on the tightrope, edging past gusts of heat as they snaked their way to Scarlet. Hands reached out for her, polite enough to let her reach out to them first. The tightrope attached to the wall at waist-level beside Scarlet, meaning they had to dangerously bend to even touch her. Their straining ankles showed their unstable equilibrium, a sliver of weakness that a master thief could use to her advantage.

---

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Far After Midnight

Dream

"Just get ready, when it happens, we aren’t slowing down.”

Dream nodded her head, watching the light growing around Ellie's hands. Mild, sweaty relief flashed across her face, and for a moment, the horde of guns pointed their way, the lasers, the active bomb—they all seemed to blow away like leaves in the breeze. Not from Ellie's light—though it did make her feel a kinship of sorts—but from the way she spoke. The light pooled, growing in brightness like the calm settling over Dream's face.

Then, a hand yanked on Dream's shoulder from behind.

A few of the elite guards behind them strapped masks to their faces, shaking off the gas. One, standing at 6'1 and towering with eyes like cold flint, dragged Dream back into a chokehold. She squirmed, gasping for air, hands fighting the steel binds.

Her breath caught when she felt the cold metal of a pistol against her temple.

"Put the heart down, and back the hell up if you want your friend to live," the guard said to Ellie in a rumbling baritone, digging the gun into Dream's head.

Dream squinted at Ellie, vision blurred as she tried to breathe. The heart, glinting in Ellie's hands.

The doctor, his face turning white every time she asked what would happen if they failed. Above all else, he said, they had to keep the heart safe. They had to, even if it meant...

She snarled, her boot stamping down on the guard's foot, a burst of light bruising the bone. He yelped, losing his grip. That's all she needed, and she tore away. But in her haste, she saw his free arm reaching for her, and she slipped on panicked feet as he pushed her off the railing.

She held back a scream, staring straight down into the boiling pit below. The guard wrapped a tight hand around her ankle, and Ellie could see Dream's other foot flailing; she restrained herself poorly from kicking the guard, desperately hoping she wouldn't die.

As her captor supported himself against the railing, his pistol pointed at Ellie.

"I'll drop her, I swear I'll drop her!"

[Shu]

SCARLET SHADOW
红色阴影

This is probably the stupidest gamble I’ve taken in… some time.

Scarlet Shadow had no intention of leaving with these tattooed men and their leader. The heart at this point was lost to her and while beyond displeased she knew when it was time to bail. Even as the goons made their way across the rope to her she glanced back to the man holding the device. It’s a bluff. All the big talk is to just try and cement his position. The rope could be cut easily and the two goons sent hurtling down below, but even then there was the risk that the master thief would just take a bullet or crossbow bolt to the back while scrambling back toward the vent.

Gāisǐ…

Scarlet Shadow turned, twisting about as if to take the hand of the lead man on the rope. But she did not. The master thief put all her force into a hard vault and instead sailed back over the two men, twisting midair as she came down. There was a glint of metal followed by the snap of the rope. A blade in her left hand Scarlet Shadow gripped onto the tightrope with the other, swinging downward just above the inferno and then arcing up, the two goons meanwhile hurtling down toward their death. After jumping she had swiftly cut the rope between her and the two men while grabbing hold of the end that stretched across the chasm.

The rope made an upward swing on the opposite side, the hard descent and rise having enough force to give Scarlet Shadow the room to let free and summersault down toward the platform. No sooner had her feet hit the platform floor than the thief “disappeared” in a streak, the detonator yanked free from the hand of it’s owner a second later.

[Blizz]

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______________________________________	Ellie _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

3…2…

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

That didn’t work.

And to make matters worse, now their plan was derailed, and one of the intruders was dangling Dream over the lava. Ellie’s heart was racing, stress was being put on them to give the heart up. They had to do something, fast. Ellie’s mind was running through through ideas. The heart wasn’t worth Dream’s life. Ellie definitely wasn’t about to sacrifice her to secure this objective. The man was pretty large, a head taller than her, and had to have a lot of strength if he could hold an adult woman over the ledge like that. Linus was behind her, face checking the man with a detonator and obviously failing. Whatever he was saying was being tuned out by Ellie, who was hyper-fixated on getting Dream out of that situation.

”Do it.” Linus said.

Ellie’s head swung back to him in surprise.

”Trust me, just give it to him.”

The tone in his voice was all she needed to hear, for all the animosity Ellie had been harboring over Linus’s return, she couldn’t deny the way they fit together in these kind of scenarios. She held the heart up to her chest in her arms, which were glowing a brilliant gold. Not enough to blind someone, but enough to warrant keeping your distance. Like glowing steel pulled from a forge. She steadily walked up to the man holding Dream from death. The casing of the heart was starting to feel a little warm to the touch.

”Pull her up.” Ellie said in a low energy, demanding voice. ”Pull her up and let her go, and I’ll give it to you.” She glared at him dead in the face, trying to conceal the stinging pain she started feeling in her arms. She was channeling sunlight, ready to flood either him or the heart with it, and it felt like she was about to start burning. That wouldn’t be good, especially underground with seemingly no easy way out. She didn’t have to tell Linus what might happen if she burned up, or even burned out in a time like this. So, she maintained a tense facade, ready for a blast-off like the days of old.

Whenever the man would pull Dream onto her feet, and, god willing, let her walk away, Ellie would slowly hold the heart out, keeping her gaze on the man in case he pulled a gun on either of them. Surely he wouldn’t expect one last trick up here sleeves in a spot like this. Once Dream was out of the way, Ellie made her move. It was as if the sun had fallen into her hands, and threw the three of them a lifeline. Everything came down to this very moment.

As the man reached for the heart, the brilliant glow encasing Ellie’s arms was slammed into the heart as violently and roughly as Ellie could handle, and the resulting strain sent out a very brief flash of light. Like a solar flare, or a bolt of lightning. In that instant, the heart had become engulfed in the glow, all of the energy built up in Ellie’s body over the last several minutes was being compressed and bottled up in the device. Ellie’s intentions were to overload it beyond it’s capacity, hoping with all her being that it would burn up. If there were ever a time for her understanding of meta sunlight to fail, this would be the worst.

And then, she did exactly what they wanted, she gave the man the heart, very profoundly. Raised it over her head and hurled it at him, with all her might, square in his chest with a bright burst of light. Her arms were starting to feel fuzzy, like a hot flash. Most, if not all of the sunlight compressed in the heart would shoot on contact, similar to thermal energy being transferred when you touch cold metal, and into the man’s body. A very, very unpleasant feeling, to be sure. She turned around and shouted directly at Rainsinger, who was about to pull off the best damn clutch of his life.

”NOW!”

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______________________________________	Rainsinger _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

…1, Hail Mary.

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

”NOW!”

”Tough break, fella.”

The spiraling shield that he’d put up had changed. It was no longer a shield, but a barricade. Linus stretched it out so that it was no more than two and a half feet tall, touching end-to-end with the wall. He then sent it forward, the water barricade slammed forward into the legs and bodies of every Triad member in front of them with the force of a ram. Including the man with the detonator. Anyone standing upright would have their legs swung out from under them and blistered from the sheer impact. Anyone possibly knelt down would have the impact directed more at their bodies, and the feeling would be like being body-slammed by a car. This would not be enough to kill anyone, none of them would break a rib badly enough to puncture a lung for example.

It would, however, knock the wind out of everyone in the hallway that stood in the way of it, as well as knocking them on their faces. Once everyone was flattened, he dove onto the Triad with the detonator, he wanted to tear it out of his hands and hit the deactivation switch. After all, surely these guys at least preferred walking away alive as opposed to nuclear detonation. He never worked on a nuclear sub, but Linus knew water, and it sucked up radiation better than anything on earth. Tenebrae would die of dehydration, radiation sickness, or both. Come to think of it, whoever they were working for would be likely be affected by that as well

Unfortunately, it just disappeared. None of them saw the blinding streak that whipped past them. Whatever it was, it was faster than a shadow, and too blurred for the naked eye to catch.

Did he call the bluff after all? It didn’t matter, it was time to make like a sack of bricks and get the fuck out of here.”Grab that thing and let’s move!” He called to Dream and Ellie, and once one of them picked the heart back up, they stormed their way out, after Ellie stole a handgun off of one of the winded men before they started moving around. The three of them rushed through the halls and corridors of the lab as fast as they could. Water swirled around Rainsinger’s shoulders as it occasionally shot out to bludgeon someone who stood in their path, lab security, Triad gunmen, and so on. If someone got to close, Ellie leapt forward and slugged them across the chin with constant ebbs and flows of golden light through her hands and feet.

”If we can get to that elevator we can get out the way we came in.”

”I’d bet they got the place locked down tighter than that.”

”Everyone down here’s evacuating, they’ve gotta be going somewhere.”

”Sure as hell hope you’re right, kid!”

Just like old times.

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

What Dream witnessed with these two in front of her as they made their escape was unlike anything her impression of Rainsinger could have been when Ellie rushed out of her apartment earlier that day. Ellie made him out to be a menace to Tenebrae in the way she described him, and yet, here the two were, working in tandem in ways most people struggle to. They flowed back and forth around each other like the sun’s rays along the waves of the ocean. Rainsinger and Ellie spoke no words to each other in their mad dash to the exit. No matter how many continued to plague their advance, they simply weaved and danced around their adversaries with skill that commanded respect. Whenever someone would make an advance on Dream, one of them covered her backside so she could make a move safely.

Either Ellie sideswiped a baton-shaking guard, or a barrier of water would emerge in a snap to divide Dream from bullets. It was as if all fear, all tension and anxiousness had been detached from the two. They did not hesitate, they did not flinch. They simply raged against everything that dared to slow them down in their attempt to carry the heart to safety. Linus was not the type for big introductions, and they hadn’t had time to get properly acquainted before now, but Dream had ample evidence in front of her stating these two went back a long, long way.

In another time, circumstances such as these would be met not only with water and light, but with fire and gravity as well. This was not entirely out of Ellie’s comfort zone, she remembers a time when this was commonplace for her, when this teamwork got her companions through another day. Linus, too, never bat an eye at the forces that came to slow them down. In the old days, he and a good friend made places like this look easy. There were few things that stood in the way of people like them, back when Tenebrae knew the names Rainsinger and Sunrider. The old man would’ve been proud.

And so they ran.

And ran.

And ran.

Eventually they finally found a place where they could escape…an elevator, where everyone was evacuating by the dozens.

They caught the door and kept their heads down.

Home free.

[Estylwen]

Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Far After Midnight
@Shu, @Blizz

A booming voice crackled to life over the intercom, declaring throughout the Laboratory of Microreactor Technology.

"Critical breach detected, repeat, critical breach detected.

"Descruction sequence initiated.

"Facility will self-destruct in T-minus 10...
"9...
"8..."

--
@Shu

The Triad veteran stared furiously at his men that fell helplessly into the boiling pit, and then at his empty hand where his charge once was. That damn whirlwind was doing it all over again to them. The same thing she did with his brethren, the same thing that weakling Pak Tsz Sin witnessed with his own eyes.

"Scarlet!" he yelled, cocking a gun in his hands, "Come here and face me!"

But Scarlet Shadow had no intention of doing as such. As Ellie, Linus and Dream fought their way through guards and Triad to the hallway exit, she was a blur of speed to the elevator exit on the opposite side.

As she reached it, a portal opened up, blocking her way. She saw two figures in black step out, one with red, wild, and flaming hair and exotic mask, and the other with short blond hair, black hair tattoos, and a black mask. Chronos.

The moment Scarlet spotted Chronos, his body fizzled in and out of reality, like a blip. At that moment, it was as if an unseen explosion hit the platform, and every single guard and Triad man was launched off the railing, spinning down into the boiling darkness below.

Their screams were cut off by the computer's droning voice.

"7...
"6...
"5..."

Myriad took another step out of the portal, eyes glancing curiously at the master thief. "Scarlet Shadow? I've heard so much about you. We have tea ready for you. Do you wanna head out?"

She offered her hand, smiling. "I'm Myriad, by the way."

Scarlet Shadow could see, within the portal, a large, complex machine. The central piece was missing, but above it, sitting in a glass container was a sparkling clear liquid, lights interlinked like neurons of a brain. Below the central piece were several small canisters attached with tubes, filled with what looked like captured sunlight. Some of the attaching tubes were missing their canisters. Four, to be exact.

A scientist stood beside it, the one she met on the rooftops during the rain. Instead of bodyguards, this time he was accompanied by a man in a black mask with silvery lights in his eyes, the one she recognized from the waterfront warehouse.

It looked like Eos and Arc were expecting her.

--

Eerie stillness settled over the shaft, upset only by the seconds counting down and the faint scent of burning hair. Wisps of heated sparks flew through the air, stirring the emptiness in the shaft.

Scarlet stared at the portal in front of her, the slight tug of dislike pulling at her lips, hidden behind her mask. She should feel relieved that she wouldn't have to scramble like everyone else to evacuate the lab, but the escape so easily placed before her felt... Off. As if she was cornered all over again.

Not only that, but something happened to all the remaining enemies in the shaft. She had a feeling Chronos was involved somehow, but she didn't have any concrete evidence, and the master thief prefered to have all the evidence and data she needed for an effective strategy.

Her only reprieve was when she saw, past the complex machinery, familiar and unfamiliar faces, the only person who maintained the professional qualities she prefered when she was working on contract. Eos was looking expectaly at her, in the calm, unhurried manner that strikingly contrasted with the panic filled moments this shaft experienced mere minutes before.

But she didn't have the heart.

They never discussed what would happen if she came back empty-handed. She assumed that she would simply not get paid, but with these unknowns, it was hard to be certain.

But with the way Eos interacted with her previously, she had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

With explosions echoing behind her, she glanced at Chronos, then Myriad, and took the hand extended out to her.

"Let's get this over with."

And the portal closed behind them.

--
@Blizz

Lines of submarines fled the underwater laboratory, filled with panicked scientists and guards. Almost the entire lab was evacuated. The last remaining people were the ones piled in with Ellie, Linus, and Dream in the elevator. They could hear the computer's countdown in the elevator, many scientists holding back their terror through sheer will.

"4...
"3...
"2..."

"There's still time, we can make it!" Dream called out. "When that door opens, everyone run in an orderly fashion. We're gonna be okay."

"1..."

The doors opened as an explosion shook the elevator, causing it to sink two feet as the cable slipped off its rail. As the first scientists clamored frantically over the gap into the hallway, a violet wave of black pushed them, throwing everyone in the elevator back against the wall.

As the darkness dissipated, a figure stepped toward them from the hallway, black ooze pulling away from him in layers until he became recognizable.

Astra, the king of the Shadow Knights.

Strings of black mist wrapped around his finger, and he pulled gently. Scientists shrieked as the elevator jumped on its cable, sinking another foot.

Astra chuckled, slowly loosening his hold on the string, the elevator sinking further and further down into the shaft, until, he let it go. And at that moment, Dream's heart pressed into the top of her throat as they plummeted down into the dark elevator shaft, sparks scattering off the metal door as they fell deeper into darkness.

--

DING!

As suddenly as they were falling, they stopped.

The elevator door creaked open, letting in the fresh rays of a new dawn.

They were outside, and they were alive.

Dream stepped out of the elevator, hobbling over moaning scientists. Steel ringed her wrists, the metal binding them sliced apart with Ellie's help during their escape.

"Hey, Ellie...?"

Dream looked back at Ellie and Linus. "We're back in Tenebrae, but uh... Hope no one has a fear of heights here."

Their elevator sat in the middle of a cement rooftop, appearing very much out of the norm with the absence of any cables or an elevator shaft. Dream stared at the city skyline, studying the buildings before turning back to Ellie and Linus. SHe was about to say something when her eyes darted down to Ellie's empty hands.

"Ellie... where's the heart?"

Her eyes quickly scanned over the scientists wearily standing up and filing out of the elevator, and to her growing horror, she could see all of their hands were empty. No one here had the heart in their possession.

"That son of a... I gotta call the doc." Dream said, pestering the scientists for a phone until she managed to pry one off of them, typing in a number with frantic hands and listening to a dead dial tone. She tried again. The doctor wasn't picking up.

"He's expecting us... something's wrong. Something's wrong, Ellie. He might be in trouble."

Dream passed the phone back to its owner and stood in front of Ellie and Linus. She crossed her arms, eyes ringed in worry.

"Listen, I gotta check on him, tell him what's... what's happened. Ellie, you and your friend can come with you if you want. We need all the help we can get, especially if we have to hunt down the heart again.

"If not, I have your number and I'll update you on what the doc thinks our next move should be."

[Blizz]

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______________________________________	Ellie _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

What in the Goddamn?

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

Everything was fine, they battered everything that stepped to them, and landed in an elevator with a clump of scared-witless scientists. Ellie pressed against the wall with the heart in her hands. She took the time to catch her breath while the Elevator went up. They did it. They got the heart, and they made it to an elevator. That should be the worst of their troubles, right? Right?

Wrong.

Suddenly, everything started shaking, and the elevator stopped moving. Ellie all but lost her footing at the sudden falling sensation they all were no doubt feeling. It was like some angry god had been playing tricks on them, because the next floor was right there. If it were safe, someone could just crawl up through. Hell, the though crossed Ellie’s mind to charge up and just strong-arm the whole damn box long enough that everyone could get out in time. That notion was dashed the second the elevators start moving again, but not before everything went black.

All around her, everything stood still. Like cold, dead air when a wolf is staring at you from behind. Black smoke covered up everything beyond the door of the elevator, and what wasn’t being covered was occupied by someone. No doubt a meta. He wore black, and had a covered face. Was it someone Dream knew? Ellie didn’t have the time to react when her vision blackened as well. A feeling of cold hollowness washed over her. There was no pain, no harm, just quiet absence. It filled the elevator until nothing could be seen. But the light of the floor they plummeted away from.

They fell.

And fell.

And fell.

And then they were free again.

The elevator crashed, yet Ellie only felt like she tripped and hit the sidewalk. The doors were swung wide open, damaged and battered from some sort of impact. She stood up wearily, looking through the doors to see…the sky. Ellie stepped out and saw she was on a rooftop of all places. The sunrise peered in ever so slightly over the horizon. Day was breaking, and they were out of the lab, in the middle of the city, in a busted up elevator. They made it after all, but Ellie was confused.

”What in the…”

”Ellie, where’s the heart?”

Fuck.

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______________________________________	Rainsinger _____________________________________________________________________________________ Tenebrae City The lab ______________________________________________________________________________________

Kader.

^{______________________________________________________________________________________}

Everything was all fine and dandy up until the very moment Rainsinger laid eyes on a silver mask and a black cloak.

As they stood on the rooftop, he searched around for the heart Ellie lost. When that didn’t work, he stood there, staring out at the ocean he came from to think. That mask, the smoke. That wasn’t the first time he saw it, or the second time it ran through his mind…

"I'll admit, I'm nervous that you're here. So, I wanted to approach you directly, and ask you to not get involved in anything that'll 'sink the city', so to speak. Or I'm going to have to deal with it, and I won't want to."

"To put this in a better way, you've come at a critical time. I am days away from completing a certain project that will change the face of the world. There will be a struggle to get there. At present, I can contain it, knowing which metas will be in play."

"You though, are what is known as an alpha-class meta. Something I was not expecting, which is half the reason for our unexpected encounter."

So, it seems that guy wasn’t saving face after all.

”Kader.” He said out loud, in earshot of the other two.

”What?

”You get a good look at that guy before we got murked?”

”Yeah…Black cape, white mask-“

”Smokey scar, curls, and a bootlicking grin underneath.”

”Do you know him?”

”Not quiet, few days ago when I got here, he found me at the boardwalk. Started badgering me about what I was doing here, told me not to get involved in whatever the hell he was planning. Said he’d “deal with it” and such. I laughed him off. Guess he wasn’t fooling around.” Linus stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked over the ledge of the building they were on.

”Said his name was Soliman Kader. He runs some gang called the Shadow Knights.”

Ellie paused for a moment to think. Shadow Knights. Knights… Why did that sound familiar?

”I feel like I should know that one.”

”Yeah- me too. Ain’t the first time I’ve heard that name. Maybe Sparky said somethin’ about it once…”

At the mention of the term Sparky, Ellie’s eyes locked onto him.

”Nah, that’s not it. Damn, where do I know that from?” He started muttering to himself, that was gonna drive him nuts later.

”Well, we’re not gonna figure it out standing here all morning.” Ellie’s boots started to glow faintly as she approached the ledge of the building, not far from Dream. ”Plus, it isn’t like him to not catch up with us. Unless he just couldn’t under there.”

”I’m gonna drop by Hel’s place and see if she knows anything, I sure as hell hope you fried that thing before you lost it.”

”As much light as I shoved in it, if that didn’t work, nothing will.”

They needed to do something about all this. While the confused scientists scrabbled about behind them, they planned ahead.

And to make matters worse, Dream said Takeda wasn’t responding. That didn’t feel good, he had a habit of checking in on them, especially with Dream.”Okay, Dream, follow me, and when we find him we can take it easy at my place later. Linus, you said you’re going to the Valkyries? I’m up in the north side apartments. Ask at the desk.”

”Sure.”

”We might want to lay low once we find out where Takeda went. His phone better just be dead or someone’s getting their ass beat.”

A haze of light was left behind by Ellie, as she dropped from the rooftop with a solid thud. Anyone who looked down would see she landed on her feet, and was making her way up the streets. ”Let’s find him.” She said to Dream as she would’ve made her way down with her. ”Where would he be right now?”

Rainsinger, on the other hand, just vanished.

Later…

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometime later into the day, maybe half an hour later at least, a certain dead man slipped through the front doors to the Love Street Haven, where Hel caught up with him days ago. Being that Hel came around her in broad daylight, this had to be her territory, she always was fond of that type of mindset. Watching turf like a black widow watches corners of a house. The bar probably hadn’t even been open a whole hour when he arrived.

He went up to the counter and asked the person working behind it. He recognized the girl there, she must’ve worked often. You know where I can find Hel around here? Gotta get ahold of her for somethin’.” A woman of Hel’s status no doubt had little time for this sort of thing, but Rainsinger and Lady Hel went back decades. Something the bartender no doubt noticed the night he talked to her with his tone. To that end, he took a seat and looked around.

”I can wait.”

---

Meanwhile, someone living somewhere half a mile or so from the heart of Valkyrie territory woke up. An old fashioned iPhone alarm shook him from his sleep. Minutes pass, and the shadows of the early morning started dancing around him as he prepared for the days head of him. A pair of shoes floated through the air in the hands of what could only be described as pitch black, three dimensional darkness. The young man’s phone floated over his head in another shadowy hand, as a wall charger was being folded around it. These black, ethereal arms of seemingly nothingness originated from the natural shadow of Jack, who was rummaging through a closet for something to wear. When he pulled a shirt out of there, all of the shadows around him bent inwards to hand him everything they held. Meanwhile, the shadow beneath a desk chair lifted up a darkly colored jacket across the room, which rested itself around him once it made its way over.

Shadows swirled around the room in methodical ways like this for several minutes, grabbing this, that, and anything else relevant. To anyone who might’ve been watching, this light look like a dramatic way for a superhero to suit up with armor, ready to fight a bad guy.

In reality, it was just someone getting ready for school.

[Estylwen]

Above the Surface
Coastal Waters, Tenebrae
Time: Dawn
@Shu, @Blizz

The waters of Tenebrae's shores shuddered, a stream of bubbles rising from the waters at the lighthouse. Causing a crashing of waves and spray of disturbed water, the wind howled, and then died as the explosions deep below the surface subsided. Calm set into the new morning, the majority of Tenebrae's residents blissfully unaware.

The Laboratory of Microreactor Technology, prepared for any situation, created their self-destruction mechanism to be completely self-contained. No one would know a lab was there for years to come. And by that time, their vital resources would have been siphoned off and repurposed in another place somewhere far away.

A catastrophe perfectly evaded, and with every underwater adventurer accounted for, a new chapter could begin. There was little time to mourn for the heart as sunlight grew stronger, ushering a change that would take all their newfound courage and push it to the limit.

An ominous chill crept into the stirring wind.

---

BREAKING NEWS
Location: All media outlets, Tenebrae
Time: 6:00AM

Terrorist attack on City Hall! Last night, City Hall suffered a devastating attack from terrorist metas.

City Hall is closed while preparations to restore the building take place, estimating a 5-year project from the city's leading architectures.

Reports state that there are five severely injured police officers in the hospital.

The police have refused to comment further at this time.

---

GAME POINTS

@Shu, @Blizz

Congratulations! Points have been earned by our protagonists.

Ellie kept possession of the heart while in the Laboratory corridor against Triad, snipers, and armed guards.

+2 will points earned.

Scarlet Shadow refused to give in to the Triad, despite not having the heart.

+1 will point earned.

+10 noteriety points earned.

+1 experience point earned.

Dream didn't stop fighting despite being subject to several captures and one hostage situation.

+1 will point earned.

These points have been applied to your stats.

Notoriety points affect the world around you, how [different groups of] people view you, and your infamy. It leads to buffs, conditions, and permanent perks.

Will points are critical for the final boss.

Experience is gained when a character feels or experiences some type of loss (usually associated with battles or quests). The more experience a character gains, the better the reward.

Keep taking action to discover other types of points!

~ * ~

Chapter Three - A Stalking Chill

Takeda's Apartment
Lincoln Park, Tenebrae
Time: 6:10AM
@Blizz

His door wasn't opening.

Despite furiously banging on the wood for the past five minutes, Takeda wasn't responding. Every minute that passed caused Dream's stomach to tighten more.

Maybe she should have realized sooner. The entire mission below ground, they saw no trace of the doctor's presence, no submersible drone to assist them in the depths of their underwater hell.

"Take a step back, I'm blasting it open," she said to Ellie.

Light slipped from her fingers, darting under through the seams of the door, and, in a wide arc through the suite, pounded back on the steel bolt latch on the other side with a jarring thud. Holding her breath, Dream tried the handle, and the door freely swung open.

That was their first mistake.

A continuous, high-pitched alarm whined in Takeda's apartment, neglected, emanating from the living room. They crept through the kitchen, Dream's foot skittering broken glass on the floor. There were signs of a struggle.

Her heart painfully thumped. "...Doc?"

There, slumped against the foot of his computer, sat the motionless doctor. The screens above him blazed red with a striking 'X' across corrupted data.

Dream edged forward, kneeling beside the doctor with wide, disbelieving eyes. "D-doc?"

She reached for the man's hand, feeling the wrist. Softly keening, she pressed her head into his chest, holding her breath, listening.

Her eyes searched Ellie, "He's gone."

Dream gazed at the doctor helplessly, "Doc... Doc's gone."

The hand she held made a sound like shuffling paper, and she looked to see the crumpled note that had fallen from his limp grasp. Opening it, she saw it in the doc's hurried cursive.

It's not safe. They have started the hunt to finish the machine. Get out of Tenebrae as soon as you read this. If they take your powers, they will destroy this world. Don't let them. Please. For Suzy's sake.

I'm sorry.

Dream read the note wordlessly, then passed it to Ellie. With a distant look in her eyes, she went to the bedroom. There was a sound of shifting cloth, and she came back with a white bedsheet draped on her arm. Solemnly, she pulled the linen over the doctor, hiding the face that smiled at them only hours before, the hands that fed them, the care they felt before they left him for the last time.

Dream held the silence for a few minutes, her face shaped as if it were a glass that had been violently shattered.

"Ellie," she softly whispered, "What are we gonna do?"

"Doc wasn't safe. Despite being a genius, he couldn't save himself from whoever- whatever did this. He only had time to leave a vague note. It's not enough to go off of. Who's after us, what are we up against, where will we run?"

Her head tilted back, eyes swimming in the growing odds. "...Will running even work?"

---

Boardroom 21, Titan Division
The Loop (Underground), Tenebrae
Time: Morning
@Shu

150 feet below Tenebrae's construction signs and yellow tape marking off crumpled vehicles and mangled choppers, far below the rebuilding of City Hall, lay an underground government division, absent from any legal ledger or public knowledge. Polished steel and clean-cut corners lined with ethereal tubes of light dressed the hallways. Shadows of government administration, officials, and agents flickered along the walls, crossing a doorway marked "Boardroom 21".

In Boardroom 21, all lights were off except for a holographic projector illuminating the 12-seat table. Light constructs rose from the table, displaying the coastal edge near the city's Navy Pier.

At the press of a button, a red marker illuminated a spot 200 meters out from the port.

"They're making their escape as we speak," said a crisp, feminine voice.

A woman holding the remote leaned over the map, tapping the red marker, long tresses of dark purple and sea green strands curling at her elbow.

"Our intel suggests they're headed to Italy to make arrangements for a multi-chain trade. If they reach their destination, we will never recover that prototype until it's too late."

The map expanded, showing the layout of the enemy's yacht, and pinpoints of where the syndicate's men would be positioned.

"We've counted between six to ten men on the deck, and four bosses below deck accompanied with an additional ten guards, each heavily armed with automatic weapons." She said.

Her face flicked up, revealing thin cheeks, sharp chin, and a small mask of dark gray, covering eyes with an illuminated sheen of light.

"We need this syndicate dealt with quickly and quietly with no witnesses, and their cargo recovered before they enter international waters. I'm giving you the option to take a team out with you, or solo this. You'll have your gear ready in the armory room down the hall, and a designated boat waiting at the dock."

She paused briefly. "And as per last night, all division exits are being redirected east using the hidden elevator on North State Street."

The director stood straight, adjusting her business attire before clasping her hands behind her back.

"Do you have any questions, Titan?"