Yankee

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Word Count: 532 (+1 expx2)
Level: 11 - Total EXP: 227/110
Location: Inside the Qliphoth, The Dead Zone
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●

Primrose had dismounted the wolfos as soon as it brought he close to the Guardian. The creature returned to Midna, and the dancer followed up their combination attack with individual spells of her own. Darkness was most familiar to her, and she relied on that even as sparks of flame burst against the Gravemind with every spell she cast. She joined in with lighting it up, pumping magic into her finger tips and conjuring swirling shadows, and glittering moons.

The Gravemind's response was one that Primrose would describe as throwing a tantrum. Still, that suited a monster whose fate was death just fine. As it sloughed more creatures from its body, and changed its shape to repel its attackers, Primrose backed off. She had to be smart about her mana reserves if she was going to be fighting for the long haul.

Daringly, she chanced another performance of Sealticge's Seduction. The Guardian saw through her before she was even half way done, raising a tentacle and cracking it down like a whip towards her. Primrose's eyes widened - she quickly began to cast a spell even as she abandoned the dance and attempted to get out of the way. She avoided a direct hit, and was spared from a more substantial sideswipe due to her Baldur Shell. The tentacle had smashed through it though, shattering the last protective ward she had. She could no longer rely on its protection for the remainder of the foreseeable future.

Undaunted Primrose completed casting her hasty spell, unleashing a multitude of magic moons that erupted in flashes of light and fire against the horde and their master.

Alright then, she thought to herself. Even if her Seduction was too elaborate to perform while the Gravemind was wise to it, she still had other dances up her proverbial sleeve.

Primrose wove her dances in between casts of her wide range Night Ode, encircling the minions the Gravemind summoned in volatile darkness. For her fellow dancer Grimm, the Peacock Strut, making his own magic even stronger. For her regular dance partner Zenkichi, the Panther Dance, speeding the man up so that his continued destruction of the Flood was even swifter. For her most recent partner Midna, the Mole Dance, to help the reckless woman take less damage than she dealt.

After the most recent round of masking her dances within her spellcasting, Primrose paused to catch her breath. She was burning through mana quickly like this, and opening herself up to stray monsters she or Zenkichi weren't able to put down fast enough, but so long as it worked.

When one of the Consuls managed to bring down Sectonia, Primrose turned her glare on O's floating eyes. She'd seen the cats and heard the Ace Cadet's call out, so at the very least the queen bee was still alive, but that news did nothing to quell the frustration she was beginning to feel. She took it out on the Gravemind, knowing that was where she could contribute the most. Energy encircled her body, her aura flaring white as she Boosted her next spell. She empowered her Moonlight Waltz, a pillar of purest darkness crashing into the Guardian from below.

Word Count: 857 (+2 exp x2)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 293/90
Location: Inside the Qliphoth, The Dead Zone

With his hunter art Devouring Demon active, the Cadet's attack power was much increased from his already high baseline. Each cut he made with his sword was wide, deep, and expertly delivered. Though massive, the Gravemind's body was soft and fleshy compared to the hard scaled monsters Ace's technique was used for, and so he cleaved into it fairly easily when he had his openings.

The trade off for the power boost was that his vitality was constantly draining. He could regain it so long as he kept his combos up, but it was getting harder to as the Gravemind flailed and spawned more horrors, and his allies' magic ramped up. Every time its body morphed and spit at him, clawed at him, bit at him, or struck out at him it undid the health he restored, meaning that he was headed for a net loss. The hunter knew his limits though, and he kept track of how his body was holding up as he continued to fight.

After splitting into groups the Seekers were holding their own well all things considered, but each of their opponents was powerful and deadly; eventually something had to give.

When the first of the Seekers fell and a pair of furry felynes burrowed their way up from beneath the hollow, throwing the queen of Floralia onto a makeshift cart and hurrying her away from danger before disappearing, Ace knew better than any of them what that meant.

"That's one! We get three!" He shouted out, making sure that the group's morale wouldn't suffer if they thought that Sectonia had been kidnapped, or that she'd died if they hadn't seen the palicos. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use all three of those carts, but the longer things dragged on the more intense they would get.

The Cadet focused most of his offense on assisting with the severing of the Guardian's remaining arms. Cutting through them would take work and coordination for those of them that didn't have a big finisher to pull out, and with the less arms it had or more time it took to regenerate them, the better off they'd all be. While the Gravemind's body burned, Grimm struck out at the monster's head, and Zenkichi and Primrose kept most of the floodfested away, Ace fought beside Edelgard and -when she wasn't airborne- Midna, sucking up his discomfort with their spells so that they had the best chance to cut through the tentacles together.

Though he wasn't near the group doing battle with A, his ears picked up the all too familiar yowling of more palicos as they scooped up another fallen friend. That's two.

One of the Gravemind's tentacles came slamming down towards him, sending Ace backward as he back-stepped with a wide flick of his blade across the Gravemind's skin. When the arm hit the ground he held his own, bracing himself through the shock wave and driving forward with a thrust. He connected, and he prepared for a jumping strike as the tentacle rose back up to keep up the pressure, but to his surprise it didn't lift.

The Guardian was not a mindless beast. It shifted and rolled its arm, slamming into Ace laterally. It kept moving its limb until the hunter was trapped, pressed hard between it and the Gravemind's trunk. Only barely managing not to have the wind knocked out of him, Ace grit his teeth and attempted to maneuver his sword in front of him to cut himself free. It was much easier said than done, especially when the master of the Flood's body shifted, and suddenly he was surrounded on all sides by mouths with hooked fangs.

As the teeth bit into him, piercing and crushing both, Ace let his hunter art go with a harsh exhale. Like the flick of a switch in his head he dropped out of the Devouring Demon state. He'd put good damage in with it, but he hadn't been able to keep up with healing himself - and now he was being eaten alive. The canon's on Ace's rigging began to fire where they were stuck, and he forced the metal extensions to shift so that their blades would cut. He pressed one arm against the Gravemind's tentacle and with pure force made a small gap, enough to get his sword in a better position. He ripped himself free from the predicament with a fast spiral slash from the longsword and his bladed rigging, literally, as teeth were torn out of the Gravemind's body as their sharp parts were still embedded in the hunter's armor.

Ace grabbed at the fangs that were attached to him and yanked them out with small sprays of blood. Ah, yeah, he did seem to be bleeding a lot now. He could have healed himself, taken the time to pause and drink a potion or throw another lifepowder, but outside sources of healing began to filter in as people abandoned the battle with O. If he entrusted his health to his teammates, he could finish the job and get another tentacle separated from the Guardian's body.

And he did trust them.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Final Hollow - vs Moebius A

Goldlewis, Therion, Edward
Word Count: 3461 (+4x2)

Edward grasped his chest as the darkness wrapped around them, and the unnatural stress built further. He groaned, but rather complain, he steeled himself and continued what he had been doing while the others had been wailing on the copies, which was, of all things, donning a Sousaphone he’d retrieved from the armory.

It had been something of a gamble to retrieve it, but A pushing all the melee fighters back opened up a perfect firing line for Edward to make use of the instrument he had received from the spirit of a false angel. Still, it never hurt to improve the odds, and so the Dreadnaught Designated target on this new form of A, marking it and briefly increasing its variability, before placing his lips to the mouthpiece of the bass instrument and blowing.

Rather than music, a beam of faux heavenly light lanced out of the instrument, blazing brilliant and bright in the darkness, and continued to blaze until the weapon was spent and it was reduced to being a mere implement of music making.

As for the man's comrades around him, Therion had not even tried stepping into those rings. It didn't matter if they were actually harmless and just looked dark and ominous, he wasn't going to test it. Instead he was glad to swap back to fighting at range. Even though the battle seemed to be going decently well for the Seekers, there was a persistent dread that made his heart beat harder and his brain pulse, and though the stress didn't diminish whatsoever even with some distance between himself and the Consul, it still had to be safer than being right up close. Therion lit his darts up in silver for a little extra power and threw them at A, along with a pair of magic knives that formed in the air and flew directly forward.

Just as leery of the distorted space as his allies, Goldlewis opted to keep his distance as well. He opened with another thundering salvo from his Skyfish minigun, then passed the baton to his most heavily-armed striker. After manifesting, Marduk hefted the Rage Serpent, then bombarded A with concussive blasts. As his Security Level refilled, Goldlewis considered which weapon to use next, and ultimately settled on Yowie. If sound energy, knives, and bullets could get through those strange zones, it couldn’t hurt to try this. With ease his burly arms lifted the ship-mounted harpoon gun into firing position. “Get a load of this!”

Much like the Junicorn’s horn did earlier, the harpoon pierced A’s body clean through. Thanks to its barbed tip, however, it caught on the Consul’s eldritch flesh as Goldlewis reeled it in, and to his surprise he managed to drag A into the Absolute Nothingness around him. When he moved into one of the dark rings, it switched to the area he’d been in before. Unfortunately the harpoon dislodged after hauling A just one ring from the center, but already Goldlewis had a plan. “Keep ‘im busy, folks! I’ll reel ‘im fast as I can!” It would take a few seconds for his Security Level to refill between each shot, but it wouldn’t be long before Goldlewis dragged the aberrant overlord into melee range.

A would not stand idly by, however. Still quite healthy thanks to the Seekers’ damage debuff, he stirred vile magicks into being. ”Witness the wondrous fury of the stars!” He held out one hand with two curled fingers raised. Then he turned his hand as he might a key, and the blood in his challengers’ bodies burst from them in crimson spikes. Ganondorf and Falcon, being the closest, got the worst of it, left bleeding and stressed. Specters crawled at the edges of their vision, and for a moment a five-pointed crown of shadows seemed to adorn them.

Edward stumbled in the middle of trying to remove the spent Sousaphone as his blood impaled outwards from his body, preventing him from switching weapons fast enough to play a part in the distraction tactics.

Still, that was what minions were for.

With its incredibly short cooldown, Edward’s Pyrobat was resummoned only a few seconds after it had last been used. This time, rather than swooping forth, it flew up, and then began to spew a beam of fire down at the ground, charging up its attack before sweeping the beam forwards, slicing it up and across A’s enlarged form.

His Bronze Golems meanwhile, lacking blood to burst forth from them, marched forwards into position next to Goldlewis, such that they could stab their long spears into either side of A once he was dragged close enough, and to then assist in reeling him in by backing up and pulling him between them. If they should ignite and armor sunder him in the process before the heavy hitters got to lay the smack down, then all the better for it.

Therion didn't know how they could 'keep 'im busy' when the Consul had no need to turn his focus onto any one of his adversaries, able to do harm to all of them at once with only a wave of his hand. Regardless, the thief kept up what pressure he could put on A. Within a moment he called on his wraith blade, reaver bolts fired from the weapon's tip joining everything else he could throw at the Consul. And when the retaliation he expected came he grit his teeth and fought through it.

He called on one of his strikers to mitigate the area's lack of healer somewhat. A warmly dressed girl appeared, and she seemed to pray for a moment before a ring of her own spread out from her summoning point, overlapping with A's Absolute Nothingness and encompassing all five men fighting him within a spirit water well. Though the spirit infused waters would slow A down, Therion had summoned Nayan for her healing ability. So long as the Seekers were standing within the zone of her Calling Spirits their wounds would begin to repair themselves over time. It would heal their bodies just fine, but could do nothing about the stress that continued to compound.

The soothing spirit water elicited a sigh of relief from Goldlewis as it worked to counteract the blood loss inflicted by Consul A. With how dangerous the battles in the Qliphoth had been, those with restorative abilities of any kind were very much in demand. If this was going to be a battle of attrition, and his Security Level needed to be saved for Yawie rather than spent on his other longer-range options, he figured he had better shore up the team’s defenses. Since A’s visceral eldritch magic seemed to ravage them indiscriminately, he opted for a simple Shield Burst rather than a single-target Shield Charge. Once he slammed his coffin on the ground, a pulse of energy expanded to cover his team, shrouding them in bright blue hexes. These barriers wouldn’t hold for long, but between them and what healing this motley crew did have, hopefully they’d be in it for the long haul.

A wasted no time in testing the new shields’ mettle. He thrust his hand forward in another arcane sign. It blew through the barrier and into the Seekers’ bodies, with Falcon, Ganondorf, Edward most affected. Their flesh seemed to shrink away from his touch, peeling back from their bones to expose the skeletons beneath. The golems seemed to soak up the rest of the spell, and even their metallic shells were stripped away. For a split second there was nothing but exquisite pain, and then it was gone. The heroes’ bodies were back to normal, the damage of A’s curse mitigated by the veteran’s barrier, but blood seeped from inexplicable seams. The bleeding was now stronger than the regeneration from Calling Spirits, and the knowledge of the Seekers’ own mortality loomed over them like a dark cloud.

Goldlewis groaned, his head spinning. His nerves were on fire from the brief but terrible sensation he’d experienced. He didn’t know how much more damage his mind could take, but he did know that he had to act, while the 20% damage boost from Hypereutectoid was active. He could see that the feedback damage from hammering the Seekers’ shields all at once had A reeling, a perfect target for Yawie’s harpoon. “Pucker up!” He fired, pierced the Consul’s body, and dragged him into the Absolute Nothingness one step closer. One more ring to go.

The flesh ripping spell struck just after Edward had managed to toss the Sousaphone from his shoulders, causing him to double over from the pain.

His golems didn’t react as graphically, but they certainly were struck hard by the magic against which they had limited resistance, metal forms warping and buckling, the energy holding them together periodically flickering. It could have been worse, however, as unable to hit A as they were, they had locked themselves into defence mode, letting them endure the spell just that little bit better.

Their creator recovered a moment later, pushing himself up as the healing aura somewhat dulled the pain of the damage, even if it wasn’t enough to revert it faster than he was bleeding out.

Gritting his teeth and sticking to the plan of keeping A busy, he re-marked the Consul with a cast of designated target, and then quickly hip firing his pistol at the foe, relying on that make (and the foe’s prodigious size) to see the shot land true. The time he could have spent aiming better he instead used accessing the armory and retrieving the Charr Pirate Musket stored within.

There were probably better firearms to use available, but without time to analyze them, he had gone for what was familiar. With practiced efficiency he raised the musket, sighting down the barrel, and aiming for the Consul’s center of mass as a precaution that turned out to be well considered, as the smooth bore rifle’s shot went wide of where he was aiming, enough that had he aimed at the head he would have missed entirely.

Then, holding the rifle by the barrel, he quick-drew his maglock pistol again (the magical firearm having reloaded itself in the time he had spent fetching and using the rifle) and fired off a third slug at their foe’s center of mass, aiming for debuff applying rate of fire over his own damage in anticipation of the final reel in.

With every one of A's attack, Therion's breath came heavier and his muscles tightened. His heart beat harder, which really didn't help the bleeding either. He was really starting to question whether they could take this guy down before their bodies just gave out. Once the spectral shredding A was dishing out hurt them more than Nayan could heal them, there wasn't anything else Therion could do to help keep his allies healthy - that was the only group healing he had access to. The others were on their own for now until some of their strikers regenerated. For his own well being Therion reached into his bag to squeeze the Constrained Heart, giving himself a little more healing and defense once Goldlewis' shields went down.

Then it was back to trying to deal as much damage to A as possible. He didn't have an inexhaustible supply of throwing knives, and though the ones he could summon from his glyph wouldn't eat too much of his mana to cast, he couldn't swap completely over to them if he wanted to save his supply of magic for his own debuffs, or for donation to an actual mage that may need more energy to cast. He still had the reaver bolts at the very least, but it would hardly do much on their own.

The hand that wasn't holding his wraith blade ghosted over the items he had access to, searching for something helpful. The dwindling supply of blades and darts, a couple of potions he'd held onto, his thieves tools and-

Ah, right. He'd almost completely forgotten about the power he'd gotten from one of those spirits from the big top. Instant body and ability changes on top of the chaotic violence they regularly faced could make it easy to lose track of what even one's self could do.

"I got it from here," Therion said, tapping Goldlewis to let the man know to prepare for melee early. With his grappling hook in hand the tool flashed briefly as he prepared to use it for his Chain Hook. And what the hell, he spent a Battle Boost to ensure this would actually work.

With his aura flaring from the Boost, Therion let the Chain Hook fly. It wrapped around A, the sharp edges of the empowered hook's head digging into him. The thief yanked it back hard as soon as it was attached. Now matter how large, heavy, or dug in the Consul was, he would move.

When Edward’s barrage came to a close, Goldlewis was ready to pull the Yawie from his coffin for the third (and hopefully, the last) time, but he paused when Therion stepped in to take over. Though he couldn’t imagine what the little man had up his sleeve that could replace his harpoon gun when it came to reeling the Consul in, he wasn’t about to second-guess or underestimate his comrade. He watched, nerves and muscles tense, as Therion unleashed his Chain Hook. It flew through the black-and-crimson haze of Absolute Nothingness to ensnare and embed into A’s body, leaving him stricken and susceptible to the thief’s strength. A single, impressive tug dragged A through the final protective ring and to the forefront of his makeshift formation, where the melee fighters could reach him at last.

Goldlewis had been waiting for this moment, and he was ready. Given a moment to prepare by Therion’s efforts, he stepped in and crouched down to unleash Piston Gun Assault with his shotgauntlets, which acted as a Heat Engager that left him powered up. As A reeled from the blast, he bulled forward to unleash a withering combo that incorporated both immense coffin slams and destructive shotgun punches. Seconds later it came to an end with his Heat Smash, Meteor Raid, a grounding wallop followed by a divebomb from the veteran’s Mothman railcannon, powered up to max by Security Level 3.

At either side of goldlewis, the Bronze golems also struck, and though they lacked flair, the now larger A was exactly the size of target they were built to take down. With all the grace of mechanical pistons, the halberds were thrust forwards, drawn back, and then thrust again, all four spear tips striking at the same moment.

Knowing that A was about to be piled on by all their fighters who wanted to lay the smack down, Edward didn’t bother preparing more shots. Instead he rushed in as well, briefly igniting in flames, before skidding to a halt parallel to the building brawl. There, he waited for the right moment, and then when they were aligned, summoned his Feather Staff striker once more, who cast a healing spell on all of the fighters in the front ranks which would, at that point, be everyone.

And all the while as the others went to town in order to lay A low, Therion kept a tight hold on his chain. He used his Armor Corrosive again as soon as A was close enough, counteracting their own damage debuff with a defensive one on the Consul and making sure that everything his allies were throwing at A did as much damage as possible.

In the midst of the Seekers’ assault, the wounded and irate Consul unleashed Embrace Futility once more. His dark arts’ arcane force shuffled the Seekers’ positions, hauling Goldlewis, Therion, and Falcon to the front while sending Ganondorf and several golems to the back, while Edward moved up just a little. Having gotten lucky with Therion, A used the extra slack to retreat behind one ring of Absolute Nothingness. His challengers all suffered a reduction in strength and speed, but worse was the sensation of dreadful hopelessness, pushing the Seekers ever closer to the brink.

For Edward, though, this extra mental duress pushed him past the precipice and into the dark beyond. Overcome by all the stress, he suffered a meltdown, his mind screaming and his body seizing. ”The human mind–fragile, like a robin’s egg,” A observed dispassionately, raising his hand. ”And now the true test: hold fast, or expire?”

When he brought down his hand, the Gravemind tore its attention from the fight before it to respond in kind. An unsevered tentacle descended, massive and mighty, to fall upon the squad of Seekers fighting A. It moved just slowly enough that most could save themselves with a timely dodge, but Edward was not among them. Goldlewis recognized the Consul’s finishing blow for what it was and threw himself at the strategist in a bid to save him with a tackle, but the deplorable limb was simply too vast. It slammed down on both of them hard enough to shake the floor, yet when it withdrew for use against the Gravemind’s own attackers, neither of the men were gone. Though bruised and broken, Goldlewis could still fight, and against all odds Edward endured, albeit on his last legs amidst the shattered parts of his golems.

A narrowed his eyes. ”A trifling victory, but a victory nonetheless. Still…” The next moment, Edward’s unabated bleeding dealt him the deferred deathblow, and palicos appeared from the ether to whisk him away to safety. ”Great is the weapon that cuts on its own!”

When Therion came up from where he'd dove to avoid the wayward tentacle, it was just in time to see it crush two of his allies. He cursed, heart beating with uncertainty, and it didn't slow down any even when it was revealed neither man had turned into a pile of ashes. Especially when their dreadnought succumbed to his wounds not a moment later.

The thief cursed again, darting forward to retake to the fight. He passed the inexplicable cat cart before they disappeared with their charge, not bothering to try and puzzle that one out but understanding that it clearly meant the man was out of the fight.

He had dropped the Chain Hook to avoid the Gravemind's arm but now he threw it again, catching the Consul once more and forcefully dragging him back into range. With the toll this fight was taking on their minds and bodies, especially in the wake of Edward's defeat, none of them could last much longer. But hopefully the same was true for A. With that in mind Therion burned through his BP instead of saving it for his divine skill, the aura around him flaring bright gold with two Boosts as A was hauled closer. This time, with his own power heightened, Therion let the chain go once A was in striking distance. In its place his wraith blade reappeared instantly, and just as quickly the spectral weapon sunk into the distorted Consul's flesh. Therion tore through him as much as he could, his bladework rough but quicker and deadlier than ever.

Feeling in his gut that this was a pivotal moment, Goldlewis gritted his teeth and mustered up the strength to follow Therion’s example. Just after the thief carved through the Consul’s armor to rip open his torso, the veteran airdashed with a tremendous Behemoth Typhoon, his coffin’s spiked end planted directly in the squirming wound. “RAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” he roared, his great strength amplified even further by his lust for revenge. He twisted in the air, spending his Security Levels, to pummel A with two more brutal Behemoth Typhoons before Goldlewis finally hit the ground.

On impact he sank to his knees, his mind and muscles afire, his chest heaving from exertion and his breath ragged in his throat, but through his weary eyes he could see that A had been brought to his knees once more. The warped space around him was gone, and even the Consul was breathing heavily. ”As the fiend falls, a faint hope blossoms…” he muttered, as if narrating the battle from the Seekers’ point of view. A attempted to rise, then sank back down, and snorted in derision. ”A moment of respite, then. Steel yourselves…against the coming horrors.”

Goldlewis glowered as he fought to catch his breath. Just as he thought–this wasn’t over yet.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Love that beautiful purple~

*taps microphone*

Welcome to RPG! If you have any questions about the forum format or just in general, feel free to ask!

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

And are there any more collabs being written?

@Estylwen

I'm all set now, thanks so much for being patient!

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

ERode: kindly puts all their collabs into one post under hiders

Me: quadruple post

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Night in Waterfront Vale

_{Mentions: Literally everyone || Interactions: Matthias (in collaboration with @ERode)}

---

He left Silverside.

He wasn't thinking clearly. He knew that. He had to calm down, get himself under control, but even in the bright white lights of Silverside he kept seeing shadows.

He'd spent years building that place up, ivory towers and golden gates and cameras and guns and men and information and money and people too self-important to let anything from lesser districts even dare to think about touching it. He'd spent so much of himself crafting safety there and right now he didn't even feel it.

He didn't know where to go. But his feet had taken him to one of the great gates that kept them all caged in.

The edge of Waterfront Vale was even more heavily guarded than usual. Armed men in masks, goggles, and helmets secured the exit, enforcing an even wider perimeter. That wasn't a shock, considering what had happened yesterday. Adel didn't even chance getting closer than he already was, blocks away from the white line in the shade of some corner store. Night had already fallen and it was likely the soldiers were more antsy in the dark. Normally, looking at the exit gate from the skyscrapers of Silverside was like gazing at a makeshift vision board. Right now it wasn't doing jack shit. Fuck, if only he had the courage to just go for it, even if it meant leaving people behind.

Adel let his head fall back against the side of the building with a heavy thump. He'd forgotten his coat, but the November chill didn't bother him so much as the fact he couldn't smoke. No wallet either. Maybe he'd go inside and steal a pack like the old days. He didn't really feel like bumming one off of some random person.

There weren't many people around anyway. Besides the soldiers in the distance, the only other guy that was out late in this section of the Vale was across the street outside of a humble 24-hour clinic.

Goosebumps formed on Adel's skin as recognition surprisingly came to him. Wasn't that the guy that had attended Matthias yesterday? The man with the pretty eyes in the tailored Loro Piana. It was dark, but enough warm fluorescent light spilled out from the clinic to illuminate him. Adel was fairly sure he was right. Was it a coincidence or was the Lodestar actually here, now, of all places and times?

“Why the surprise, Canary?”

The man’s voice travelled well, a timbre as rich as petroleum. He seemed darker than before, backlit by the bright glow that shone through the clinic’s windows, only his eyes burning still with that strange light. A shadow of a man, with but two sparks of life. As Adel made himself more present, a finger would lift up from his clasped hands, the smallest sign of a wave.

“Waterfront Vale is the Order’s territory, and the Lodestar leads an adventurous life.”

Adel considered walking away without so much as a response, but ultimately he stayed rooted to the spot for the moment. His thoughts had been swirling wildly in his head, but when faced with his client -or his client's man, as it were- ingrained habits and procedures began pushing their way to the forefront of his brain. His business first mantra was surprisingly effective in grounding him, and though it took him a few moments to close off the storm of what if it was all a lie from the start, what if he's part of it, what if- he eventually managed.

By the time he'd crossed the road his countenance was the same old Silver Canary as ever, save for the slightly haunted look in his eyes. He kept a wide space between himself and Elijah, just not quite so wide as an entire street anymore.

"Didn't expect him to get involved in another adventure this quick," he said. The guy had to be a masochist, because if wasn't tucked away in Riverbend then it probably wasn't prior wounds he was being treated for. "Probably should have."

He didn't fidget, just stood, not quite casually but not stiff. Since the golden eyed man was not, technically, some random person after a moment Adel gave in and asked, "don't happen to smoke, do you?"

“I keep a pack to be courteous.” Elijah slipped a gloved hand into the inner pocket of his suit, drawing out a pack of Viceroys. He tapped a finger against the bottom until one cigarette slid out, then offered it to Adel. “Suppose you’ve had your share of surprises as well?”

A flick of the wrist, and there was a lighter in his hand. A silver case, embossed with the impression of a dragon; it snapped open to ignite a warmer flame than the clinic.

There was still some hesitation before Adel closed the rest of the distance, noting the brand, accepting the cigarette and leaning toward the little flame with it in his mouth. As soon as it was lit he shuffled away, inhaled deeply, and held everything in his mouth and lungs until he could neither breathe nor taste, and then let the smoke trail out of his nose. He studied Elijah as he did, part habit and part paranoia.

"Every day's a fresh horror waiting to be found," he finally said by way of agreement.

“The city’s gotta maintain its charm.”

Behind the two, the clinic’s door swivelled open, the creaking of wheels sounding as the Lodestar, as finely dressed as ever, rolled out into the darkness. A slight shift in his shoulders indicated that he had turned his ‘head’ towards Adel, but as always, there were no sudden movements, no show of surprise or alarm.

A new bandage was wrapped around one hand.

“Mr. Dawson.” Elijah stepped back as Matthias spoke, a single movement to remove himself from the conversation entirely. “Your timing is…well, I suppose Waterfront Vale can only be so large.”

Adel's eyes traveled from Matthias' twisting 'face' to the bandage, though he didn't feel any satisfaction at being right.

"I didn't mean to catch you unawares," he said. He hadn't actually intended to run into Matthias at all, he'd just needed to be somewhere else for a while. "I..."

He swallowed whatever he had been about to say quickly, thinking better of it. Or not thinking, as it were, and having to stop himself from saying it. He brought his eyes back up to the vague shape of Matthias' head. If he looked at things objectively, it made no sense for the man to be part of the conspiracy that had taken root in his mind. So, then, where did that leave him?

"...do you want to go somewhere?"

“Not necessarily. But it seems like you do.”

Was it force of will or the divorcing of mind and body? Matthias gripped the wheels, indicating to Adel to lead the way, whether it be a location or a conversation.

Adel wasn't kind enough to offer to spare Matthias' hand and push his chair, but at least they didn't go far. The brunette gave Elijah a departing nod in thanks for the smoke, even though the man would probably tail them anyway.

There were plenty of public parks in Waterfront Vale. It was a fairly nice district; grass and trees, playgrounds, a close knit community. A little darker when night fell on account of being on Nocturnia's southwestern side, away from the more highly developed areas. No less noisy though. Sound carried far. It was one of these parks that the two men ended up in, only a little more private than the pavement outside of the clinic given that a pair of teenage lovebirds was present, but once they spotted the company they scrammed soon enough.

In usual Silver Canary fashion he didn't speak for a few moments, even after he'd stopped walking. He stood turned away from Matthias at an angle, seemingly lost in thought but still not completely willing to show his whole back to the man. He savored his nicotine for a little while longer as that question tumbled around in his skull. Where did that leave the Lodestar?

When he did speak next, his voice was not quite as neutral as he'd wanted it to be.

"Why did you lie to me about sugarcrush."

If he knew, he knew. No point in feigning ignorance now.

“Figured you’d charge more, if you knew that the Order’s own research into Sugarcrush had turned up nothing conclusive yet.” No need to explain why the money was needed. “How did you figure out what it did?”

"Direct experimentation." No matter how it turned out, the results spoke for themselves. "Why did your Order never try and take Pennystakes?"

“Hm?”

Adel hesitated for a moment before he explained. "With all of the expanding you're doing. You picked Del Guarde and the Thorned Roses to go after instead of the far easier target next door."

“The Order isn’t a mafia, Mr. Dawson.” Matthias shrugged. “I won’t say that I wasn’t tempted to, considering how fragmented Eastern Nocturnia is. But Omakase does good work. Unless you’re saying otherwise?”

The Canary's jaw tightened. Stress showed through the tension in his figure. He didn't answer Matthias, instead stepping over to a cold metal bench and dropping himself into it. As he was seated he let the tension go, and disguised what remained by pulling one of his feet up onto the bench. He draped an arm over his knee and let his dwindling cigarette hang loosely in his grasp as he pressed his forehead to his arm.

"Your life is in danger. Not in an abstract Nocturnia way. Like, imminently."

“Like a Vincent, Ezra, Antonio, and two other guys who are equally evil by association kinda way?”’

There was a weak puff of breath from where Adel was curled up. "Yeah."

He already knew that Vincent and Ezra were after Matthias, along with the Commissioner of course, but now he had three other guys on his ass too? He might be an even unluckier bastard than Adel himself.

"Antonio Litwin?" he asked, the well worn cogs in his brain spinning faster. That was the old man in Brewery. He must be the man Khor had told him about, the one bucking her authority. Fuck. "One of them why you ended up with another clinic visit?"

“Considering I walked into a room with all of them, I came out alright.”

There was a brief pause, and then Matthias produced the notebook that Nep had given him. He handed it over to Adel.

“How much supernatural bullshit involving Gyfts can you stomach, Mr. Dawson?”

Realistically, not a lot. He'd puked into the river half an hour ago when his nerves had finally overcome his will. But he opened the journal anyway, attempting to digest it while the thing about all of them being in a room together circulated around his head.

If Ezra was colluding with Antonio then he couldn't keep Khor out of his issues. She had to know as soon as possible. If Ezra was colluding with Vincent then Adel was fucked. He couldn't avoid Vincent, for more than one reason. Tonight was just getting worse and worse, but at least he knew ahead of time now, for what good that did. The haunted look had come back full force, Adel's brown eyes so dark with dread that they might as well have been black pits. He flipped towards the journal's end -all disturbing shit, a man driven to madness with Antonio in the center of it- before going back to the first page with Khor's name on it.

"This is bleak," he said. He assumed Matthias had more to say about this, but the notebook already detailed that the old man had been manipulating people for years before this.

“Yeah. It’s actually worse though.” Matthias folded his hands over his lap. “The Jolly Jalopy is a front for some underground monster, and drinking whatever Antonio brews connects you to it. It also exists separate from him, so it definitely isn’t dependent on his own Gyft. Or, maybe, his own Gyft is just his connection to it. And this monster is what drew all the fucked up folks of Nocturnia there.”

There was an audible click of a tongue, an incomprehensible sound for someone with neither tongue or teeth to make.

“If I had known, it’d have been the perfect party to crash with a couple grenades.”

Adel laughed through his nose, if it could even be called a laugh. More like a few hoarse exhales accompanying the shake of his ribs. He brought a hand up to pinch his temples, obscuring his eyes. "If only. And I thought Ezra Blackheart was the worst thing in Nocturnia. And now we’ve got the eldritch illuminati."

A fucking mind-link monster, really?

He should be more frightened at the prospect, but he was already kind of full up on the feeling of impending doom so there wasn't any more space for it. He tried fitting this huge piece into the city's puzzle as the night air finally started to seep into his skin.

Speaking of Ezra, he had to wonder if the Midnight Man was really willing to work with all of them. Was he hooked up to that monster too, under its control or in control of it? Adel still vividly remembered the first time he'd met the man after hearing the stories, and seeing the kinds of things the Dark Aces did. How insistently he'd tried to recruit Adel, absorb him, possess him - it was scary, and why Adel had gone so far out of his way to try and never meet the man again. It hadn't worked, of course. The thought that Ezra's scheme had been brewing since way back then made Adel's stomach flip again. He leaned back against the metal, hand still covering part of his face.

"Ezra. ’Hired’ me to get close to you."

The funny part was he could probably get Matthias to trust him a lot easier this way, since while Ezra was busy threatening his well being he hadn't forbidden Adel from just telling the guy what was going on. He normally wouldn't have though, if not for finding that fucking door.

"I think you noticed something was strange when you swapped to calling me Dawson instead of Adel. Feel free to stroke my ego and tell me I'm wrong."

“The Silver Canary, charging half what Cyrus does?” Matthias shrugged. “I actually swapped to Mr. Dawson because of a movie I watched though.”

Because Lord knew one needed some form of leisure in this blasted City.

“Only question that remains then, is whether or not you’re still with him or not.” If it was just a matter of safety, after all, it was obvious that the better bet would be with a clusterfuck of shadowy maniacs. But when it came to stability? “Can’t im-“

The Lodestar paused. Tapped a finger against his armest. Envisioned Nocturnia as a map, that ever-shifting tapestry of boundaries and domains.

“Did Antonio take Omakase as well?”

"Ezra did. Or both of them if they're all one monster mind." It hurt to say. "Their districts. The people are alright. But-"

He sucked in a breath, indignation flickering through him now that he was slowly getting back to normal after his earlier revelation. It didn't outweigh the apprehension.

"I'm not with him. I'm never gonna be with that bastard. He needs me for something–"

Adel stopped talking abruptly when the thought made his breath catch in his throat. Somehow he felt if he said it aloud then it would set everything he thought in stone. And despite the impromptu info-dumping with Matthias, he didn't know if he should tell the man. Just because Matthias wasn't involved with Ezra -or the Nocturnian Illuminati- didn't mean he wouldn't do the same thing Ezra was if he found out.

"...I figure they're going to use Pennystakes as a staging ground to come after you. Vincent too. I'm sure he's going to head off any attack you plan to make on White Pine."

It was about what he expected. A war on two fronts, just like the Del Guarde. It’d be comedic, if it wasn’t so fucking dire. And there was something too, about how spooked Adel was. An uncharacteristic burst of emotion. An uncharacteristic everything, really. Alone at night, in territory that wasn’t one’s own?

Nocturnia came to mind once more. His designs with Leo. The disposal of Omakase. Vincent’s Sugarcrush. The attack on Kairo Tower. Emily’s strange acquaintanceship with him. The ticking timer that was the ceasefire with the Commissioner.

His finger tapped a regular beat. Smoke swirled and coalesced, then scattered at the pull of the riverside wind.

“Tell me what you learned of Vincent and White Pine.” Matthias spoke.”Then, let the head of Akula’s Crew know that I have a cure for Antonio’s influence, so long as they’re willing to fight to reclaim their district. Let Poppy know as well, to send me any pertinent information about Penny Stakes and Grey Heights she’s got.”

He had no need for food or drink, sleep or rest. His mind was always clear, too clear to be swayed by emotion. Even machines recognized him as cold. His sermons had never inspired emotion, only calculating self-reflection. And though he lied more naturally than he breathed, the Lodestar shone a way through the night as luminous as the northmost star.

“Help me, Mr. Dawson, and I will dash these serpents against the rocks before the week ends.”

Now wasn't that a nice thought.

Adel didn't raise his head from where it rested against the bench. He had unveiled his eyes at some point, staring up at the leaves of one of the park's trees while he brought the cigarette back to his mouth. It had already burned down to the filter, but he pulled on it anyway.

Tomorrow he'd be in a better place; he'd be fine, calm, rational, put together, and like he hadn't learned several things that could turn the entire city on its head. Tonight he'd work on getting to that place.

"I will," he said. Technically Matthias had promised to pay for the info on Vincent anyway. Adel had planned to accept Accardo's request and keep some of the things he'd learned from Matthias, but now? Fuck that. He could tell the Lodestar all about Poppy's ex-districts himself right now, but he had to wait. For his own sake. He was sure that rumors of Omakase's assimilation by the canaries, embellished with force or otherwise, would crop up before daybreak. He had to wait at least that long. And Khor... he hoped she wasn't already too deep in for him to pull out.

Adel sat up, finally looking back at Matthias. His gaze was a little clearer.

"I need your next moves. Something substantial, but that you'd be alright with them knowing." He'd already divulged that he was spying on Matthias for Ezra. It wasn't a stretch to come to the conclusion that Vincent had made a similar deal with the Canary. So how much trust was Matthias willing to put into Adel? "I can find out for myself. I'd rather save us both the time."

“Nothing changed. I’m advancing upon White Pine, with the primary goal of taking down the creator of Sugarcrush.” If they tried to move it through the blockade that he had asked Leo to set up, all the better. If they moved their facilities up to Heavy Crossguard, it was a bit misfortunate, but he could deal with the Lion afterwards. “I’ll also be organizing a proper alliance with Asterion’s people, now that Ezra has gone out of his way to take…direct action against them.”

Adel could find out most things if he tried hard enough. And Matthias wasn’t a strategic genius when it came down to it. He just had a propensity for acting swifter than most, running a budget that was about as paycheck-to-paycheck as one could expect from someone who generated it mostly off of tithes and donations.

“The rest, I suppose, I’ll leave to you to figure out if it’s worth sharing or not. I’m coordinating the attack on White Pine with Burberry’s Lion, who’ll be striking Heavy Crossguard. I’m in talks with Clash, to organize a…pilgrimage to the eastern districts. My deal with the Commissioner will last maybe a few more days at this rate, but I intend on getting her to remove Ezra off the ‘board’ for a bit, now that he has rooted himself in Omakase’s former territories. And, I suppose, considering the rest...Asterion has been in touch with the Iron Rose.”

She hadn’t been at the Jolly Jalopy, but perhaps she was subservient to them. It would explain her silence, her inactivity…but if her silence came from another reason, perhaps he could use that too. If tomorrow’s attack went well, the territories of the Order would become a bulwark against the combined forces of Ezra and Vincent.

Maybe it’d be worth running a protection racket, on a city-wide level.

“I may connect with her as well, if she hasn’t already decided to be bedfellows with the other Rose.”

The Silver Canary absorbed the information quietly, some things he knew, some he expected, and some pieces were new entirely. He drummed his fingers on the top of his knee, already carefully choosing what he would report back.

Detective Newport was a handful, but she was surprisingly easier to deal with than most. On a business level, at the very least. And Adel already knew that Vincent was after her for some reason, due to the job he'd forced onto Poppy the other day. Her Blue Bloods were swift and brutal, and would certainly be an asset if they chose to fight. She was already crooked for sure, but they could keep her from being taken in by this evil conglomerate with plenty of cash and flattery. With how tight-lipped the Kairo Empire was being after that morning's attack, he wasn't sure how reliable the man would be - but then again, the group's power and influence had already been on public display.

Now only Isabella Dellacroix was an unknown element.

"I can speak to Commissioner Franchesca for you, if I'm still alive after meeting with Vincent tomorrow."

It would probably damage his reputation with her, acting as a liaison for the Order of Enlightenment, but she liked him enough to have once offered him an official position as her consultant. He was sure he could spin it in a way Antonia could understand without being too upset with him.

“If you think it will help, you don’t need to mention me. While things may change soon enough, right now…” Matthias made a gesture, the index finger on his left hand extending out, before being wrapped by the fingers of his right hand. “Jeweled Bank is surrounded almost exclusively by this new alliance.”

Adel was well aware of that, but he nodded anyway. Hell, if Matthias had decided to join up with them then he would be in the same position. If the Order fell he would be in the same position. It still didn't feel great to be completely surrounded either way. Unease crawled over him from time to time about it.

When he replied it was only to let out a juvenile, "This sucks."

What else could be said, really, except…

“Yeah.”

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

The Palazzo, Silverside

_{Mentions: Adel, Khor, 'The Sinners' || Interactions: Swift & Misty (in collaboration with @flux)}

---

The vehicle slid around another corner. Hollering was met with a wave of loose paper flying within the interior of the car. A shriek from the driver soon drowned out by screeching tires. Both occupants' heads bounced forward and back into the headrests as the car finally stood still in the middle of one of Silverside's many intersections. The passenger looked to the driver with a groan collecting the papers without taking her eyes off the focus of her displeasure. Rada threw her hands off the wheel. “Hey don’t blame me because your shit blinded my line. I totally had that!”

Misty rubbed her eyes now her papers were in a tidy stack once again. “If you drove with any sense of preservation I’d be able to catalogue all my data without it flying everywhere. Where the hell did you learn to drive like this anyway?”

Rada started the vehicle while waving off drivers slamming horns and screaming obscenities to get out of the way. Slowly rolling away and proceeding at a legal speed she pouted. “Taught myself. Blood, sweat and a ton of burnt rubber. All courtesy of Khor, bless her soul.”

Misty slapped Rada’s shoulder with the back of her hand. “Names damn you. Don’t use anyone’s goddamn name. Not just for the culture, out of respect. We bled to earn those. Keep that up and you’re just a liability.”

Rada began imitating Misty, mouthing silently in exaggeration. Catching a deadly glare from Misty Rada quickly stopped her parody. Tapping the wheel with her fingers she eventually shot her head to the side to continue the conversation. “Don’t call me a liability dude, shit hurts. Besides, how can I be a liability when I have your back in every way?” She pulled a pistol from the center console. “Pretty neat huh? I’m a real Akula now.”

Misty’s eyes settled on the firearm. “Yeah your right, now you have your own firestick you're a big fish now-” Misty snatched the gun and promptly threw it out the window into the waterway they drove along. “Stick to driving, girl. You don’t want that.”

Rada slammed the breaks again. “Are you serious!? What-. Why?” She seemed to be shouting at no one in particular. “Why can’t I do cool shit with you guys!?”

Misty turned her head to Rada. “It’s not cool shit. It’s work. Hard work.” She pointed ahead. “Drive.”

Rada went back to mouthing off. “ ‘it’s not cool shit, its haaaard work.’ ‘don’t use names, its insensitive.’ ‘eat crayon, tacti-cool doucher speaky’.“

Misty let her go off. The Eel had been kind enough to provide her with Rada as a contact. As a driver? She couldn’t ask for a better pilot and Rada had more than proved herself as an asset. That ambition though. She felt a moment of dread as the thought of Rada getting herself into a gunfight because she looked up to what she did, what they all did. She needed time though, to mature and cool with age. Then maybe they’d take her in. Until then though.

The car jolted to a stop again. Rada left the engine running. “Your chariot arriveth. Have I proved worthy in your eyes, dear madam?”

Misty snorted, then took a breath. “Look. You do good work kid, you're just under done. Give it time.”

Rada laughed once and briefly. “Yeah-hum. If it’s all the same to you get out and go do your gooder work.”

Misty got out of the vehicle with a briefcase and stack of papers. Closing the door and turning to thank Rada she found the wheels already spinning. Taking off in a huff of smoke Misty’s eyes tracked the car until it screeched through another intersection. A sigh escaped her. “That girl is going to get herself killed.”

She blinked away whatever worry she had for Rada and looked back to The Palazzo. There was a mission to complete, although diplomatic, as important as any other. The only part of her that stood out aside from her business suit were the heavy duty boots clomping toward the building. Apart from undercover work she could never lose the boots. They were the most important part of her gear she felt, a good pair able to carry her over any distance whatever the muck or the risk. A last reliable comfort in both the best and worst of times. Gently shouldering through the doors cradling the papers in one arm with the other hand carrying the briefcase she approached the concierge.

Out of respect Misty entered with the cover of being a researcher. A cover reliable enough that it was a half truth backed up by credentials provided by Otto Bondar. Not many would take the time to doubt one of the few established academic entities of Nocturnia, the tricky part here would be to provide enough tells for the Canary’s to clock her.

She stood before the first potential Canary in the building. “Hello. My name is Misty. I’m here in regard to aquatic studies in relation to the birds of Nocturnia. I have some very intriguing data that the proprietor of this building may find useful. Would they be in at this moment? If not, is there someone I could discuss and pass my reports onto?” Placing the briefcase down Misty placed her hands on the bench. Her hand flashed a red and white card from her sleeve, colours split down the diagonal. Long enough to notice if someone was looking for it but short enough to seem like idle fiddling at worst.

The concierge, a woman more than a foot shorter than Misty and who pushed her long blonde hair behind one ear as she looked up at her, regarded Misty coolly.

"The... proprietor, ma'am?"

The woman leaned over slightly, looking around Misty onto the floor of the lobby as though to make sure she hadn't tracked anything in.

"Interested in... aquatic birds?"

Either she wasn't one of the people Misty was looking for, or she was playing dumb. Either way, the concierge drew in a breath before putting on a charmingly fake customer service smile and voice. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean. If you're looking to purchase a suite I would be happy to assist you. If you are looking for someone I can call to see if they're in."

Off to one side, a man sat at a smaller security desk. He looked at the card Misty was flicking for several long moments before his attention shifted to her face, and he reached over to press a gray button on his own system spread out in front of him. A small light blinked as though a phone line had connected.

Misty’s eyes scrunched. Not who she was looking for. Play the cover, move on. “Yes, birds. We’ve been commissioned to test the waterways contamination and we measure that through the excrement of the birds through the fish they eat. Highlights the biological impact of the water on the fish, the birds, and ultimately the occupants of this tower. I take it you weren’t briefed on this?” She waved her hand. “No matter. Sorry to disturb you.” She looked to the man across the floor, not shouting but raising her voice enough to be clearly heard. “Would you know where to find someone I could speak to responsible for the infrastructure of the building? A strata or building council member perhaps? The results are rather important.”

The blonde scoffed under her breath when Misty turned, but the security guard only raised an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe," he said, giving the huge woman a proper once over. For all intents and purposes she looked like a regular business woman, and he didn't see any holster on her concealed or otherwise. That didn't mean she wasn't strapped, but it was a good start. The strange way she was talking implied to him that this researcher was probably looking for a very particular business that she had never actually been to before. He liked to try and guess why these newbies came for information. Did she want some dirt on a rival academic or something? He was definitely gonna ask later.

The man picked up the receiver of his desk phone and spoke three quick words into it. "One for you."

In front of Misty, the concierge drummed her manicured nails against the counter. "Do you need a room or not," she said rather impatiently, and the guard called back to her, "unlock a conference room on the ground level, Cindy."

She turned to the monitors below the counter and the guard got up. He nodded at Misty and gestured for her to head down one of the halls connected to the lobby so he could escort her from behind.

Misty nodded a thank you to Cindy then complied with the guard. With the lights overhead she could regularly track his shadow without looking back. Good. She’d be able to react to any sudden movements if this turned forceful. The guard however seemed to be nothing but helpful, a good start for certain. Right now the hardest part was not to get distracted by the art within, maybe that was the purpose? Maybe the Canary’s were just a cultured bunch. A question for later.

It wasn't a long walk. And at the end was a richly colored wood door with a small mounted plate that only stated Meeting Room 1. It was very plain despite the obvious quality. Everything in The Palazzo, from the mud rugs in the entrance before the lobby to the very real decorative plants to the smallest screws holding the elaborate scones was clearly high quality and expensive as all hell. Most of Silverside was upscale, especially compared to the rest of Nocturnia, but walking into The Palazzo had really been like stepping into a king's personal space.

The meeting room was much the same. Not outwardly extravagant, but its finery in the details. There were small cabinets lining the walls, a large dark oaken table in the center of the room with matching chairs lined with plush leather with no wheels to speak of and an intricate oriental carpet beneath it all. There were no windows, but on one wall three flat-screens were mounted side by side that projected a view of the river as though they were on the top floor rather than the bottom.

Misty stood at the door taking it all in. It felt fit for royalty yet there was a baseline of reserved modesty. Built in such a way that wrapped her in the sense of absolute luxury but remained somehow spartan at the same time. Perfect without becoming indulgent. Her eyes wandered a moment more before letting out a little chuckle. “Sorry. It’s hard not to take it all in, there's a real sense of charm in this place. Usually we only conduct business over the phone and fax documents when required but, I have to say, I’m very glad I decided to push for a real meeting for once.” She let her eyes wander a little more for any sense the room was a cell or that this might be a trap.

Satisfied with her contingencies she looked back to the guard. “You don’t mind if I wait at the door do you? This being our first face to face I’d like to get things off on the right foot. It’d be rather rude of me to get comfortable before greeting my client first.” She hoped the guard wouldn’t leave her alone. If she was lucky she’d be able to strike up some small talk while they waited, potentially revealing something that could help her moving forward.

The man blinked slowly, having apparently not heard that kind of request before. He was unconcerned however, and idly scratched his chin before answering. "I guess so, Miss...?"

Misty offered her hand for a shake. “Misty, Ms Misty.” She lowered her hand slightly with a smirk. “Bit of a mouthful ‘Ms Misty’, try not to laugh.” She raised her hand properly again. “Have to admit, I can’t help but wonder how great it would be to work here, the lab we have is a stuffy dirty place, home enough I guess but still. How do you find it here?”

"Ms. Misty," the man repeated, his mouth curling in amusement. That amusement didn't fade as she continued. Where the hell was she from that she was so taken with the place, Pennystakes?

"Hm, it's fine, I guess. I'm a security guard, it's nothing groundbreaking," he said. Then with a wide, lax smile he added, "Il Palazzo is the swankiest place in town, so I guess I could do a lot worse though."

He leaned back so that he was against the opposite wall in the hallway. "Where's your lab? They got you in a basement level or something while the bigwigs get college offices?"

Misty gave a friendly smile. “Don’t put yourself down, it's honest work, that’s an achievement in this city hun, and you got it in one. That glass cathedral in the Brewery, HocJoc HQ? You’d think we’d get the high rise office perks, you know, a view, air conditioning, security. Nope, thrown into the basement, can’t have the ecologists fouling the elevators with samples, god forbid. So instead we get a little leaky lab, down in the dirt.” She shook her head. “I honestly wonder why I haven’t looked for other work, but now that I’m here, seeing how good things could be…” She trailed off. “Say, you wouldn’t know of any positions here or nearby for an educated woman, would you?”

The guard, who had yet to introduce himself but whose name -assumed or otherwise- Misty already knew by virtue of the name tag on his shirt, chuckled. This professor, or whatever she was, was fun. Not bad looking for her age either, though the extra four inches she had on him in height meant she wasn't his type. Still though.

He was about to answer her when another voice cut them off from the end of the hall.

"That's enough, please."

The slight woman that walked toward them was a full foot shorter than Misty, with brown hair cut to her shoulders and deep blue eyes that stuck out against her light skin. She was dressed professionally in a women's suit with a jacket pulled tight over her. She didn't look happy... but neither did she look upset.

She looked like she felt nothing at all.

The guard turned back to Misty. He gave her a shrug and a smile. "Your appointment, Ms. Misty," he informed her, pushing off the wall and heading back the way he came. He nodded at the new arrival but she didn't nod back.

Swift stood in front of Misty and motioned toward the door. "Go ahead."

Misty’s eyes tracked the woman. Official in appearance to blend in, straight to the point and no questions as to why she was here delivering a report no one asked for. Excellent. Chances were favourable this was exactly the person she needed to make contact with. She offered her hand first to the shorter woman. “Ms Misty ma'am. Apologies but they only title communications with ever so useful mentions of ‘the committee’ or ‘management’, I am speaking to?..”

Swift glanced at the offered hand, then back up at Misty. She didn't quite smile, but her face tightened like she had.

"You can drop your pretense," she said quietly. She gestured again to the door. "Please. We'll speak in private."

Misty let her guard down to offer a genuine smile. Success, at least thus far. She complied, entering to place her briefcase on the table before sitting down, offering a moment of vulnerability to test the woman's trust in her. Now to see the game she wanted to play, or if she was decided on business straight away.

Swift shut the door as she followed Misty in. There was no audible click of a lock, though that by no means meant one wasn't present. She then made her way around the table's opposite side, watching Misty as she did.

The timing of this stranger's arrival was very, very poor. The location she'd chosen to visit was suspect. And the number of possible reasons she was here were... two.

The first: she was a genuine client who had not managed to make it to the office. It wasn't unusual. The office was hidden, naturally, but there were ways to locate it. Clues to follow. Or, people to ask - people that had been there before. So Misty did not have any she could ask. She had not been there before. She spoke with a cover because she thought it was expected, or she genuinely didn't want to involve anyone else. This was the best option.

The second: she was here for a much more sinister reason.

Why else would someone show up now, as the moon rose, here, at The Palazzo where the Silver Canary purportedly lived, unless she meant to do him harm? Unless she knew that he had all but fled his headquarters and thought she might find him here?

Swift took a seat that was not directly across from Misty. She placed her hands on the table and clasped them together tightly. She was not as good at concealing her emotions as her boss was, but it helped that those emotions were dulled in the first place. A lifetime of living in Nocturnia affected everyone differently.

"My name is Swift," she said. She squeezed her hands even tighter. How furious Adel would be to know she would be speaking on his behalf right now.

...but that was all the speaking she did at the moment. Otherwise she quietly held Misty's gaze.

Swift made no effort to conceal her hands, another green flag. Misty rested her elbows on the table, fingers interlocked, relaxed, calm, calculating. She lowered her hands so that her whole face could be seen. Swift had been kind enough to introduce herself, but there was a tension in her shoulders, a slight whitening in her knuckles. She had every right to be concerned of a stranger waltzing in under a false pretense, but that concern could lead to conflict. Swift had decided on a diplomatic game then, Misty would follow suit, hoping to defuse the tension. It would be a game of catch, picking the bomb apart piece by piece between each other.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Swift. I’ve come here with an offer of raw data, something that a certain organisation would benefit largely from.” Misty let her hands fall gently to the table, turning one arm to show an open hand. “I was hoping to speak to someone officially in charge, or at least of large influence within said organisation. If I could hazard a guess you yourself would be the latter?” Misty did her best to look as placid and friendly as possible, but her body was built for fighting, all she could do was try her best to appear meek, however futile that might be.

It fell especially flat for the fact that despite not carrying a weapon on her, Misty was wearing at least one piece of armor. Swift 'saw' it before she'd even laid eyes on the huge woman. Did she expect trouble? And looking for the boss, coming with an offer of information instead of a request for one... it was unusual but not unheard of, people coming to the canaries to try and sell what they knew. But it was just strange enough that instead of lowering Swift's guard, her shoulders tensed minutely.

After considering Misty's words, Swift took her time with a reply. And what she answered with was, "No."

The Silver Canary had no underboss, no capo, no captains or lieutenants or second or thirds in command. The only one with large influence in his organization was himself; he didn't trust anyone else enough. If the meeting with this stranger went poorly, she didn't want the woman to think that she'd be able to threaten the Canary by taking out just one of his flock.

"But I am the person from this certain organization who will be hearing you out. Please," she loosened her clasped hands so that she could gesture with one. "go on. And what... organization, are you representing?"

Misty nodded. That’d do. She slipped the card in her sleeve out slowly before flicking it most the way across the table, the red and white rectangle spinning to a stop. “Friends from across the pond, if those colours mean anything to you.” She leant back, somewhat more relaxed. “We’d like to offer you detailed maps of the underground. An avenue for your operatives to appear wherever they might need or to exfiltrate reliably anywhere, anytime. This is a gift in good faith.”

Misty’s expression turned slightly more serious. “However this is only a fraction of what we have to offer you. To provide further asset’s and assistance however I require not only potentially sensitive information about your organisation, but also your trust to share and discuss that with me so we can integrate said assets for our combined maximal gain.”

Misty’s eyes looked away for a moment, taking a breath, this was the hard part. “Unfortunately, this offer is something that requires resolution tonight, any later and our circumstances might have changed so much that by tomorrow our full attention will be focussed on other matters, leaving us unable to revisit this deal.”

Misty’s eyes scrunched slightly. “For that I genuinely apologize for placing you in this position. I can imagine the loyalty to your organisation demands that you give me nothing and requests I await to talk to your…” She stopped, trying to find the right word but failing. “...leader, though that’s not quite right I suppose. The Canary seems much the same as our’s, a figurehead for those who share the same purpose. On that note, perhaps you're aware of The Eel’s and The Canary’s recent dinner together? For which I apologise for The Eel’s crudeness, they’re nothing if not to the point. Blunt as a brick, even.”

Misty’s expression softened, another opening of vulnerability. “I’m not sure if this makes you feel better, but I’m potentially in a similar position to you. I hold considerable sway with The Eel, but our organisation being as it is doesn’t recognise official rankings, neither am I here on orders. I am here however to capitalize and act on a critical moment in terms of the geo-politics of Nocturnia. I do know The Eel favours The Canary, and I know that the Canary’s overall would treat our people with dignity and respect.”

She let her eyes focus on Swift now so she’d comprehend the weight of the situation. “Dark times are fast approaching Nocturnia. We have no grand plans for it, just to survive the madness that will follow. I believe your organisation looks to achieve the same. I know you don’t have the authority to commit or guarantee anything we plan or propose tonight, but if the framework isn’t established now to be agreed and settled by The Eel and Canary later, it might never be.”

Misty’s steely eyes remained settled on Swift. “War’s are often won in rooms like this, because the right people had the right discussions at the right time, and in this case, winning is surviving. If you’d like I’ll open the briefcase and we can discuss the gift within. After that though, I’ll require your trust to navigate other benefits further.” Misty relaxed finally. “If you have any questions, please, even if it’s just to put yourself at ease. I have all night, but very little time beyond that.”

Swift let the woman speak, absorbing all of the information while she stared at the card on the table between the two of them. Her lips were barely parted as she processed Misty's words and the feedback from her Bio-Sonar. Without interrupting she closed her hands together again, this time folding one over the other.

Yes, she knew about what had happened at Peccatore the night before. And yes, she'd also been briefed that the canaries may be working with the Akula in the near future. As for the Akula themselves, it was interesting to learn more about the mysterious smugglers... and Swift didn't hear anything that sounded like deception. So far Swift had no reason to doubt what Misty was saying - and her story explained away some of the concerns Swift had. She spoke eloquently too, a true businesswoman. Just... Why did she have to arrive now of all times? Just a couple of hours too late to speak with Adel himself. It would have put everyone in a better place, if she was telling the truth.

Swift let out a breath. Finally her eyes flickered back to Misty's face, and they locked eyes. She breathed in. Her focus on Misty became laser precise.

"What is your favorite color?"

Misty blinked, her exterior betraying her inner character for a moment. “Oh, uh, you know I’ve never really thought about that.” Her eyes darted away for a moment, staring upward before her lips rose into a warm smile. “I think, I think I’d have to say yellow.” Her eyes went down to the table. “About a few years after the wall finished construction I was just a tiny kid, but I still remember how bad things were outside the house. A lot of panic, desperation.”

Her expression dropped a little before picking up again. “This might sound dumb, but every time I’d get scared, dad would chase me round and wrap me up in a yellow blanket. So tight I couldn’t even move my arms, and we’d both just laugh and laugh.” She laughed gently before going on. “Strangely despite the chaos those were simpler times, glad things aren’t as bad now as they were then. That being said, the way things are going these days though…” She gestured to the table to suggest the reason she was here sitting in front of Swift.

The shorter woman nodded slightly. She understood how things were going quite well. And, as far as she could tell... Misty was trustworthy.

Swift had paid close attention to every aspect of her answer, from her body language to the words she'd chosen to use; Her reaction to the unexpected question, whether or not she had stalled, whether or not she had lied about something small like this, the color she'd chosen, why she had felt the need to explain said choice, the story she'd supplied, the emotion she'd elicited in herself and whether or not it was genuine.

It was an odd test. One that her employer had taught her very early on. It served her well now, as she determined that Misty was -if not who she said she was- at least not looking to deceive Swift on the purpose of her visit.

The change wasn't instant, but Misty could see her counterpart begin to relax a little. "Thank you. For answering. It was a nice story," she said. A kind father was like a rare commodity in Nocturnia, and she quickly pushed away the unwanted thoughts of her own.

"Let me tell you before you decide to throw your lot in with us canaries. We will likely need your assistance far more than you may need ours. But in return we will help you, and yours, with whatever we can. I am prepared to answer whatever you may ask for, if it will help protect both Silverside and Brewery."

If Adel had been right, then they needed allies right now. Swift was going to make that happen with or without his approval. Prove that she had only the best in mind for every canary, silver or otherwise.

Misty let out a deep sigh of relief. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, and to be completely open with you, it might be us that needs you more in the short run.” Now she laid her cards out on the table. “I’m in charge of our, frankly modest, intelligence arm and my team has reported a… distressing event. Antonio Litwin, supporter of the Akula’s before the wall went up, has just hosted a meeting between Vincenzo Accardo, Ezra Blackheart, Flint Weathersteel, and a strange Doctor we’re still trying to ID, we’ve had better luck with their associate they brought though, we’ll share details as they’re confirmed.”

Distressing was an understatement. Swift's eyes narrowed, particularly at the mention of Ezra Blackheart. So he had made his way into Brewery as well. The canaries and Akula had a common enemy already.

Misty tapped her fingers. “Point being, this is a clear betrayal of the Akula’s, one we highly doubt The Eel has anything to do with, that unfortunately too is a case of trust but verify. Again, once we confirm The Eel’s intentions in regard to this sudden coalition, we will share those too. My primary concern is should a worst case scenario arise, we’ll have a rally point to regroup to assault this problem as Akula cells become aware of the betrayal and we can cleanse it ourselves.”

Misty’s fingers pointed politely at Swift. “That’s where the Canary’s come in. If we can get the intel advantage we might have this contained before it goes off. If you help us find those cells we can make the handshake and inform them of the situation. Preferably before they head to the Jolly Jalopy to get invalid orders and do some really stupid shit. They’d wisen up after the first mission or two, but I think we’d both prefer it didn’t reach that point.”

Misty leant back. “In return we’ll guarantee that your headquarters immediately has a kill team on standby at all times. If the Canary approves it, they’ll begin clearance training under the cover of being a PMC your shell company or organisation has hired. I’ll leave those details to the Canary’s if you prefer.”

Misty smiled. “You’ll get the best we have to offer. They’re bloodied veterans, zero hesitation and motivated to get the job done. They might not seem professional, but.” Misty gave a playful smirk. “You’ll see for yourself, if The Canary approves the team and exercises. Beyond that we can begin covertly entrenching the district, the waterway for example will make an excellent choke hold on anyone foolish enough to invade.”

"I see... That is more than generous. I'll ensure that our security specialist agrees to this as well. If you have need of her, I'm sure she would be willing. Should you and The Eel allow it, we can begin collecting information as soon as I leave this room. We'll find your cells, and everything else we find will go back to you as well. Anything I know. I..." Swift trailed off, taking in a breath. She clasped her hands together again. She couldn't ask Misty for more than what she was already offering. She changed gears.

"I thought your timing was bad, earlier. It still could have been better, but... now I'm grateful that you almost found us." She tried to offer Misty a smile, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. "Before any misunderstandings continue, The Palazzo is not where we operate, though we have staff here for obvious reasons. It was fortunate you came unarmed. With your armor, I thought that you... well. I apologize for being standoffish before."

She was still standoffish now, of course, but maybe a little less so. "Regardless. I will see these plans through."

Misty sat up. “Oh, this?” She rapped her knuckles on the ceramic front plate so it could sound out its presence. “Good eye being able to spot that. This is just precautionary. Wasn’t at all intending for a fight and the cover story was out of respect to avoid attracting attention to your front, very well done might I say. I like to think I’m pretty good at my job, but you Canary’s are definitely a cut above in that regard.”

She parted her hands. “But yes, going in, unannounced, with no contact and under a cover clearly standing out to the owners.” She tapped the chest plate again. “Well, accidents happen, and I would’ve liked to survive that accident to explain myself if that came to pass.” She allowed herself a little huff of a laugh. “We Akula’s are still around because of that. Put crudely, accept shit happens, just survive it and learn from it. My favourite interpretation was ‘less bitchin more fixin’. That one came from dad though so I’m probably biased there.”

Swift let out her own amused huff. Griffon would like that saying, she'd have to let her know. She would probably like Misty too.

"A fine adage," she said. After a beat she spoke again. "Was there anything else you needed from me, Ms. Misty? If I seem in a haste to cement a partnership between our two groups, it's because I am."

Misty shook her head. “Anything else I’d have to say would just be me sharing pleasantries. I agree, we should begin drafting agreements so The Eel and Canary can begin ratifying the moment they’re available.” Misty clicked open the briefcase to retrieve a laptop and diagrams of the underground. “I’ll begin the security agreement if you’d like to begin writing up the intelligence agreement, sound good?”

"Yes." At that point Swift stood, finally reaching out to take the card Misty had put on the table. "Please don't hesitate to let us know anything else you need. Anything."

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Front Office, Silverside

_{Mentions: Many (in passing), Ezra, Ezra, Ezra, EZRA— || Interactions: -}

---

When Swift finally arrived back at the office, it was already late. She found that she'd missed a lot of things. She'd missed Eagle's on-boarding (probably for the best, she wouldn't have wanted to ruin Griffon's fun), the delivery of the equipment her coworkers had picked up from Merryland, the absorption of Omakase, and apparently a dinner spread. Someone had set aside some of the food for her though.

The office was all familiar faces at the moment, so the men from Omakase -and their leader Poppy- must have come by and gone already.

She picked at some shredded pork and let people catch her up on the day's events. Then she departed down a separate hall, rapping her knuckles lightly on the Silver Canary's door. She waited until she heard a vague noise that was probably Adel acknowledging her before she went in, quietly closing the door behind her.

He was not sitting at his desk, instead he stood leaning against the side of it with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed. He glanced at Swift when she entered, offered her a quick half-smile in greeting. She looked like she'd had a long day. If he had to guess, it probably hadn't gone well. Hopefully she didn't get hassled too much while on the job. He tactfully didn't bring up how tired she looked, but she was not so polite.

"You seem stressed," she said bluntly. Adel scoffed.

"Thinking about how to negotiate a hostage situation."

That was... interesting. Swift smiled briefly, recalling how she and Adel had met. "I don't suppose it would be as easy as undoing their bindings and unlocking the door this time."

"Unfortunately not."

Even if he knew where said hostage was, there would most likely be way too many moving parts for him to try and just break them out directly. He'd prefer brokering a deal for their freedom instead, as he usually did.

He looked at Swift again. "Did you run into the Blue Bloods?"

"Oh yes," she said. Her face pulled into an expression of disdain that amused Adel, though he didn't let that show for long. "An interesting couple. I mean, a couple of interesting... people."

She hoped she wouldn't run into the duo again, truthfully. They seemed a little unhinged.

Though she was clearly less than enthused as she slid Emily's business card onto his desk, Adel didn't want to pull her out of the area for now. "My condolences. If you don't find anything after a couple of days we won't keep looking–"

"I did find it."

"–I'll probably move you to..." he stopped. She found it? Had he heard her right? "Already?"

Swift nodded. "I happened to just be in the right place. The officers I spoke to mentioned something about some radiation in the area too. It's a plain looking warehouse from the outside. And on the inside, really. But the way the air moved around it, and how it felt with my gyft... like extra space, more than logic would allow. Shifting and folding."

It was a bit hard to explain to someone who couldn't see or hear the same way she could, so she didn't continue trying. "I didn't see it with my eyes, but I can confirm what you're looking for is there. Locked in an unassuming room in an unassuming warehouse."

"That took a lot less time than I expected." While it might seem like a stroke of luck at first, Adel didn't trust anything that came too easy. He unfolded his arms, gripping the edges of the desk on either side of him as he considered what Swift had said so far.

"What did the lock look like?"

"The folding space's lock was set in the center of a standard wooden door. A hidden panel covered a deep circular indent with ten evenly placed notches along the inside of it. The notches were approximately the size of a standard Nocturnian gold bar."

That sounded exactly like what was described in the note Webb had. 'The door to power, wealth, and whatever your heart dreams,' huh...

"So yesterday we get a stranger who says they're running from Ezra, who found a note about this 'folding space' on a dying man, and just thought to bring it along instead of getting rid of it. Today, we find the same folding space just like that." Adel tapped his fingers against the wood. It all seemed a little convenient. "What else was in the warehouse."

"Debris and offices. One of the rooms on the upper level seemed to have recently been in use. There were computers, however I opted to see if they had any physical files." She sighed, and as not to leave Adel in suspense she finished with, "a copy of the property title said the building is owned by one Ig Notus."

Honestly Adel wasn't surprised. If Ezra apparently not only knew about this mysterious door but also had some kind of password to get around the gold lock, there would be no reason for him not to buy the property. Of course, there was the question about why something like that was even there in the first place. Did Ezra build the warehouse around it or had he just stumbled upon the whole set up?

...and if he had wanted to keep its existence a secret so much that he would allegedly kill a man and come after whoever knew that he knew, why would it be so easy to access? Hiding in plain sight wasn't a bad idea in general, but the city was full of people with gyfts like Swift's.

Something about this whole thing felt bad. Adel felt a prickling sensation begin to climb up his back.

"...were you seen there, Swift? How did you even get that close?"

Swift shook her head. "That was the oddest thing, I think. There is clearly something important there, but there was no security to speak of. I got into the building with just a lock pick... there were no guards, no alarms, no cameras. And yet people had come and gone."

What the hell? That didn't make any sense.

"It's almost like they wanted it to be found."

"...maybe, but I don't think so. Or I can't see why they would," Swift replied. What benefit could there possibly be in letting something like that just... able to be stumbled upon by any overly curious passerby?

She looked back at Adel, about to inquire into his theories, but she paused when she saw the expression on his face. One hand had come up to cover his mouth in thought, but though the lower half of his face was concealed his eyes were wide and dark, his brows pulled tightly together as if he'd just considered a horrible new possibility.

Which he had.

Ezra had wanted it to be found. He'd wanted Adel to find it.

There was no kind of coincidence that could explain the events of the last few days besides this. Ezra had threatened Adel directly under the guise of a job to make sure that he would be in the forefront of the Canary's mind. He had nosed around Pennystakes and forced Poppy, Adel's closest ally, out of power and stripped her of any ability to come to Adel's aid. Knowing that Adel would look into him, he sent snide little notes reminding the Canary that nothing he would find would help, making him feel cornered. He must have sent that kid, Webb, to Adel - the one who had pleaded to stick around and so happened to have 'found' that envelope. The one that Ezra had most assuredly given him. And with that envelope in hand Ezra had to know that Adel would investigate.

Ezra had led the canaries to Smoke Risers on purpose.

Blackheart didn't have some secret password to the door to wealth and power - Adel himself was his fucking password!

Adel broke out into a cold sweat. He felt like he was about to be sick.

Why was this happening right now? He was getting so close to his goals. He had amassed a lot of money, he'd managed to make connections outside of the wall, he'd even gotten those military contacts. With just a little more time he could buy his way out of Nocturnia, but now? Now he saw darkness coalescing around him. He was standing in the palm of Ezra's hand, and the man was about to close his fist. He'd been so stupid, gotten overconfident and fell for every single one of Ezra's manipulations. If he'd realized any later then- what would have happened to him? Just why- and what was he supposed to do now? Could he fight the Dark Aces? Of course not- but then- why had they chosen now- He couldn't go to ground, but- He had to look after Pops and her people- Antonia- Would they kill him after opening the door? Keep him as a living key? Could Antonia even help- He didn't have proof, just that feeling like his stomach was about to drop out of his body, and she'd be tied up in bureaucracy, and Ezra would target her, and- Khor- they hardly- was she lying to him? getting close to him on purpose, just another- no- but could he really rely on her or would it just put her in danger or- god damn it, how did he end up in this situation? was he going to be trapped here the rest of his life? an ornament on someone's key ring- why, why did it have to be him--

"-on? -awson? Adel–!"

He didn't seem to hear the voice, but he felt the touch. A hand closed around his forearm, and though the grasp was gentle it sent electric alarm shooting through his entire body. Adel twisted violently, slapping the hand away and stepping back with a sharp inhale. He stared at Swift with wide eyes as the world filtered back in, and she stared back with even wider ones. He fought to breathe normally, grounding himself. He'd been spiraling as his brain came up with the worst case scenarios, conjuring visions of the past and premonitions of the future. But he wasn't huddled together with his father in a tent as they waited for the proverbial storm to pass, wasn't hastily ushered into a closet while the mafia sampled their new merchandise in the form of his mother, wasn't alone and trapped inside of a suitcase among a dozen other kids en route for God knew where, wasn't bound in shadows in front of some ominous passage, wasn't...

He was in his office. Behind the gallery in Silverside. With Swift, someone he could depend on.

Swift, who'd brought that bug with the note here. Here, after he'd told her not to.

A dark, ugly feeling flooded through Adel's chest. His heart reminding him that he couldn't truly trust anybody.

Seeing and sensing the change, Swift went very still. She'd never seen Adel like this. Normally he was calm and collected, maybe some exhaustion and irritation showing through the cracks at times, but this... he looked wild, desperate. And she honestly didn't know what to do. Console him? Go get someone who could? She gathered her courage and opened her mouth to speak–

"Get out."

"...what?"

"Get out," Adel repeated, his voice harsh as he pushed his gyft into it and moved towards Swift, crowding her backward. "Open that door and get the hell out right now!"

She flinched when the door behind her crashed open on its own, slamming against the wall outside. That, at least, seemed to soften the look on Adel's face a little - that, or the further grounding that the confirmation of his gyft brought. But he still didn't look normal, so Swift backtracked through the threshold. When she did Adel turned away, and the door closed, blocking her view.

Swift stared at the office door. Multiple people had peeked around corners to see what was going on, and both Griffon and Eagle had appeared to investigate the commotion. Griffon put a hand on Swift's shoulder, spinning the shorter woman so she could look at her face and parse what the hell had happened from it. She shooed Eagle away as she did.

"... I... messed up, I think," Swift said softly. She could easily trace her employer's logic from here. In his mind, she had invited Blackheart's spy right into their home. She couldn't have known, and in fact she had questioned the bug's motives herself, but she'd wanted Griffon to be present at the meeting just in case. So she'd taken Webb to the office. And she was the one that had found Blackheart's warehouse, a little too easily, no matter if Adel had asked her to do it or not. To the volatile state of mind Adel had found himself in now, it painted a picture of betrayal.

Griffon stepped behind Swift and took her other shoulder in hand, steering her away from the boss' office and toward the break room. "You messed up? I don't believe it. Don't worry about it, alright? Tomorrow the boss will apologize, and if he doesn't I'm gonna make him."

A smile ghosted across Swift's features. It was just as likely that tomorrow Adel thought better of letting her go, and in addition to firing her had her detained somewhere if not outright killed.

...no, he wouldn't have her killed. He wasn't that kind of man. That was why she'd followed him in the first place.

The building briefly rattled. As though possessed by spirits everything within it moved slightly. The interior window shades flickered, door handles turned, cabinets crept open, the locks swapped themselves back and forth. The phenomenon passed quickly, and Griffon reached out to slap the break room's fridge closed. She glanced up at the ceiling with furrowed brows, and Swift turned to leave.

"Wha- where are you going?" Griffon called after her. She answered, but kept walking.

"Just giving Mr. Dawson some space. I'll be close by if you need me."

She walked by Eagle, who despite having almost no idea what was going on had enough sense to determine something serious had happened. He took post by the entrance, expression hard, as though expecting someone or something might try to come charging in at any moment. He wasn't about to let the new place he found himself in go up in flames too.

Griffon clicked her tongue, watching Swift leave the office from the doorway. She exchanged a glance with Eagle, but unfortunately she was nearly as in the dark as he was at the moment.

---

After more than an hour of stewing in his thoughts and trying to force the worry of being trapped as little more than a tool from his head, Adel emerged from his office. The desperate man that Swift had seen was gone, and in his place was a Silver Canary that wasn't quite the usual. He only looked blank, but it was easy to see the roiling of his emotions under the surface if one knew how to look. He hadn't changed since earlier, still in loose sweater, and he walked towards the exit without so much as a glance at anyone or anything else in the office. As he entered the wider area that might be called their lobby, Griffon spotted him from her security desk. She was alone in the room, and without a second thought she shot up and made her way over to him.

"Boss~ are you done brooding?" she asked, and didn't get a response. Her lips twitched. Was he actually pissed at Swift? She was like the best person they had, what the fuck could she have done? Plus she was Griffon's friend, and she felt like she had to defend the other woman a little.

Griffon's face turned more serious and she swooped around, putting herself in Adel's way.

"What happened between you and-"

She stopped, bewildered when he came up so close to her that they would have collided only a second later. Adel didn't look at Griffon, pushed his forehead against the taller woman's shoulder and delivered his orders.

"Do another full bug sweep. Everything. Get Darter and the rest ready in case of a fight. Anyone suspicious shows up, get rid of them."

Griffon scooped her hand under Adel's forehead and lifted him off of her, checking his temperature as she did. He was pale and felt clammy, though once exposed he found her eyes, meeting her pale gold with his own cloudy brown. She frowned when he said, "Did you hear me, Griffon?"

"Uh- yeah, boss. Got it." She stepped back out of Adel's path. "Are you okay?"

He made a noncommittal hum and brushed by. He would be. There wasn't any other choice than to be okay. Right now he was just going to get out for a while, where the walls didn't feel so much like they were pressing in on him.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

???, Smoke Risers

_{Mentions: - || Interactions: - (written in collaboration with @Estylwen)}

---

As Swift exited through to the other side of the alley, her luck would indeed be capitalized on that day. Ahead of her was what appeared to be a very normal-looking warehouse. However, deep within the warehouse, there was an impossible space that bounced back at her. Almost like infinite space folding back in on itself.

She was immediately intrigued. You don't see that everyday... she thought. Truthfully one wouldn't normally see that at all. She had never encountered anything like it before with her gyft at any rate.

However, when she went to investigate, she found the outside door was locked. If she wanted to figure out the source of this strange enigma, she would have to break in.

Swift brought a hand up to rub her opposite arm through her coat, chirping inaudibly to make sure no one else was in the immediate area. It was still early, but there were no sign of workers nearby. She couldn't rule out that the warehouse wasn't in use though. It was possible it was a storage facility of some kind, for someone that had a... strange gyft. Maybe a magic pocket, 'tear a hole in space' type of ability in which they could deposit any number of things? And they kept that dimensional door hidden for good reason.

Or maybe not. She'd have to investigate further regardless.

The woman fetched a small lock picking kit from the inside of her glove. After some finessing, and without anyone else in the area to be the wiser, the door was picked open. It swung back with ease, revealing an old, dusty warehouse. It wasn't really filled with much, just a few crates, and more closed doors. The windows were smeared with dust, dimming any light that came in. She stepped into the building and quietly closed the door behind her.

There was a master light control panel beside the front door. Then there were metal grate stairs that went upstairs to the offices. And, in the cement square that constituted as the warehouse laid out before her, at the end was a small hallway with a number of doors. One door had that trademark ‘folding space’ behind it, though initially it looked completely normal from a distance.

What on Earth...? Swift thought to herself, pressing her hand gently to the door's surface. It felt like normal wood, cool to the touch.

She had noted the offices but bypassed them for the moment, wanting to confirm what it was that she was 'seeing' first. Then she would check for any records stored in the building. Her heart beat a little faster at the mysterious feeling behind the door. She was fairly sure it wasn't something like a black hole that would suck her in, or else it could hardly be stored inside of a building, but there was a little nervousness all the same. She gently tried the handle in order to peek in.

She would find the handle locked. And, curiously, there was a sliding panel and a small handle in the center of the door. Pulling it up revealed a hollow in the door that was deeper than what a door would normally be. And it was perfectly sized, with notches to accommodate. Anyone who knew the standard size of Nocturnian gold bars knew it was exactly ten (100 Wealth) of them that fit in this hidden compartment. There were more lines etched in the wood of the hollow, making circles to highlight where the gold would go. It was like a tribute.

Besides that, there wasn't an obvious other way to open the door. The handle had resistance, indicating it was locked, but there was no lock to pick.

She stared at the door's offering space, then took a step back and stared at the door itself. She'd never seen anything quite like it.

But it must have been what her boss was looking for.

Swift pursed her lips. She had no idea who would have built such a thing or why it required so much money to open (an uber-wealthy person, perhaps?), but she had an inkling of how she might find out. She slipped out of the hallway, keeping to the edges of the building as she made her way towards the stairs inside. She had left the lights off so as not to arouse suspicion, navigating with her gyft, and once she carefully climbed the metal she poked her head into the rooms on the upper floor. Was this place as abandoned as it looked, or were there desks, filing cabinets, or other things she could look through for anything that might shed some light on what exactly was being housed here?

Indeed, though the offices were sparse, many of them did indeed have desks and filing cabinets. The first office Swift ducked into was neat and tidy, even the garbage bin was empty. There was an off-powered computer, though it was fair to assume it was password protected. Though, there were no locks on the filing cabinet. Filing through it, in the P section, a property certificate came up, where the city authenticated that this warehouse was owned in the name of… an Ig Notus.

Swift stared at the file for a moment, frowning on the inside but perfectly calm on the outside. She flicked through a few more folders before quietly closing the drawer. This was more than enough. She departed as silently as she'd come, locking the warehouse back up as she left.

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Two Blocks from Home Free, Smoke Risers

_{Mentions: - || Interactions: Swift and Adam & Eve (in collaboration with @LanaStorm)}

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Although Swift was careful not to rush, or more specifically not to appear as though she was rushing, she did make one mistake in her haste to leave Smoke Risers. It was a long way back to Silverside from Nocturnia’s northernmost area, so when the vague district line separating Smoke Risers from Grey Square was within sight she went for it.

There were people around but they were sparse. She hadn’t known they were police until she was close enough that they could see her. Off duty… or undercover, she thought with a small grimace. Turning around would be suspicious though, so she continued on. Her expression smoothed out into one of calm as she intended to walk right by the officers.

Before she had a chance a meaty lunchbox sized hand grabbed her bicep from behind. “Going somewhere little lady?” Adam said, his pectoral build straining his once beautiful patrol officer uniform. Outflanking her was Eve, the two had secured the sector. Killed everyone but a little boy and defused a bomb, now what was this nosey little mouse up to? Eve had spied her little eye on her for a while.

“Don’t fight too much~” Purred Eve coming up along her other side grabbing her bicep. Decked out in tactical gear itching for a reason.

Swift kept still, not wanting the situation to go downhill. It was already less than ideal. She frowned though, looking between the man and woman as she tried to pull their names from anything she'd read about the Blue Bloods.

"I was planning to go home," she answered honestly. "Is there a problem, officers?"

“Same, why you sniffin’ around radioactive city little girl?” Adam said, as Eve took out some cuffs clicking them in place on her wrists. “Got any weapons on you?” She moved her behind the patrol car that was parked, patting her down away from any cameras for the time being.

"Wha-?" Swift blinked in surprise as the metal closed around her wrists. She didn't struggle so much as dig her heels in slightly when the two of them guided her towards their squad car. "No, I- I don't have anything like that."

And it was true, she didn't carry any weapons on her. There wasn't so much as a box cutter to be found. The only things Eve found were a simple wallet, a phone, and a device that looked a little like the Life Alert from those old commercials.

It figured that since she'd found what she was looking for so easily that her luck would turn now. Swift let out a shallow sigh. Now came the tiring part. Her process was much like how her boss had taught. First was play dumb, play innocent.

"I'm not being charged with anything, am I?" she asked, forcing her voice to quaver as though frightened.

“Restricted area y’know?” Adam said. “You’re trespassing little girl, full of rads too. You steal any plutonium from the plants?” Eve snapped back turning out what she could shaking her down.

“Who are you and what’re doing here, answer our questions ‘n maybe you don’t goto the Jeweled Bank tonight. They’d tear your ass up.” Adam says laughing thumbing through her wallet.

There was nothing interesting in it - an ID with a matching photo of the woman they were bullying which stated her alleged name as 'Madeline Thompson', fifty seven dollars in cash, a giftcard to a frozen yogurt shop chain.

More curious was the flicker of distaste that crossed her features. She knew the Blue Bloods were dirty cops, but she hadn't thought they would be quite so obvious about it. There were few things Swift hated more than a corrupt cop, and it showed in her eyes; only briefly, but it was there. And she decided that she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Dropping her pretense all too quickly, Swift's voice returned to her calmer tone. "Every time a district changes hands, opportunists swarm in to find and sell information. I am one such opportunist. Unfortunately your squad is very... thorough at cleaning up after yourselves. If there was anything interesting to find, someone else already has."

“So you’re saying we’re so good there is no information to find because it got scrubbed lil girl?” Adam said thumbing through the wallet looking at those small noc noc bills and noc noc yogurt card before putting her things back on her person. “Yeah an opp-ortunist huh? Who you working for, that Vincent fuck? Del Nickel-arde, whatever it’s called?” Eve chirped back. Blue bloods had nothing to fear, literally - they were the police.

"...the Silver Canary."

“Ah bird brain, what’s that cheese ball want with the smoke risers pipsqueak?” Adam said holding onto the woman’s arm now.

"As I said, in the confusion of a takeover there are usually valuable pieces of information to find." Swift tensed at the grip on her arm, but she did nothing but fix Adam with a dark stare. "I'm here for business as usual, as it were."

She shifted, the metal clamped around her wrists uncomfortable. "Would you uncuff me, officers? If you have more questions for me, I won't run. I know I won't get far."

“Alright collaborator, we’ll uncuff you.” Eve said looking to Adam. “Collaborator that like a bird?” Adam said back, slowly uncuffing her but itching for a reason to throw the lady around like a rabid malinois.

“In Noc Noc City? I think so, that’s what they serve at Noc Noc Chow. Now little lady give it to us straight, you work for the Silver Dodo. You sniff around the sectors we take over, so tell us what you found in Battleford and Ragged Gavel!” Eve said with some effort to show she was still a cop, kinda.

Swift looked between the siblings, gently rubbing her skin once it was freed. They were quite the pair. She didn't know if they were trying to get a rise out of her or this was just how they were all the time, but regardless they wouldn't have much fun with a woman like Swift. She was not one to rise to bait, and her reactions were dull if she had any at all.

"I was not assigned those districts," she told them honestly. "But I believe we only found a lot of leftover blood."

One could say what they wanted about Clash's boys, but they did move quick.

Taking the chance to steer the situation to a better place, Swift changed the topic as she asked, "Officers, if it pleases you, you can take down our direct contact. Unfortunately I don't have any business cards on me, but I'm sure our, um, boss bird would be happy to discuss any misunderstandings... or inquiries... or bills... with your captain."

Another thought occurred to her, and she tried putting on a smile like that of a businesswoman. She didn't quite succeed.

"We don't have any issues working with the police. In fact if we had an official invitation to look around Detective Newport's territories, we'd be happy to share anything we found. Gang caches, hold outs plotting insurrection, and the like."

She didn’t mention there was usually a fee. And, of course, that she had found something in Smoke Risers. It wasn't inconceivable that the Blue Bloods had found it too, but just didn't know what they had stumbled upon.

Instead of taking her info, Eve offers a business card to the bird spawn.

DETECTIVE NEWPORT, GOLD RIM BUREAU

“Give her a call and sort this out, next time you sniff around without our permission tho? We’re gonna like cook you like an egg.” She says.

“Crack you like an egg and serve you sunny side up at Noc Noc Chow, got it lil bird?” Adam’s lunch box sized hands patted her on the shoulder to quite literally show he could crack eggs.

Swift accepted the card, holding it tight between her fingers. She began to feel relief but then Adam's hand came down on her, and she couldn't help but let out a small eep.

She had no doubt that they would eat her alive, quite literally, if the encounter had gone poorly. She really was pretty lucky today, if she was able to escape this pair of blood thirsty siblings.

"Of course. Thank you so much for your generous hospitality," she said, shuffling out from under the man's grip and tipping her head slightly to try and be polite. And then she easily lied, "It was nice to meet you both."

As soon as they let her go Swift turned and power walked the last two blocks out of Smoke Risers. Once she broke their line of sight she sped up, just in case. The hard part was over - now it was back to Silverside.