Act 2, Chapter 14: Dead air, Part 3.

I told you the "Vilgant" chapters were going to mean something!

Act 2, Chapter 14: Dead Air, Part 3

The motorcycle rolled to a low hum in the dead of night near the old warehouse district of town. Morgan parked her motorcycle under a street lamp near a shoddy one star hotel where the neon lighting didn't even work, only occasionally flicking with the hum of sparks trying to ignite the gas inside the tube and failing. Morgan kicked the bike out, leaning it on the metal stand as Robin climbed off just behind her, dusting off her dress as Morgan hung the helmet off the handlebars, making sure to turn off the huge headlamp in the front of the bike. “...This isn't a train station, Morgan.” Robin commented, Morgan slipped the carrying bag on her shoulder onto the ground with a thud, Robin doing the same and bending down onto one knee as Morgan zipped hers open.

“I know that, Robin. If I pulled up too close to the train station, they'd hear us coming and we'd blow our cover.” Morgan explained, as she pulled out a blue and black uniform along with a mask. She set them onto the seat of the bike, a folded up piece of paper sat next to some basic supplies like canteens and MRE's, along with a pair of binoculars. She unfolded the paper, luckily sitting in the street lamp allowed her to read it quite easily. “So.. What does the note say?” Robin asked, leaning over her shoulder to see if she could read it from a distance.

“This disguise is the official uniform for Silent Fall members. They do not use identification cards, instead they give out confidential pass codes for each mission to ensure they don't have any outside influences. We have several moles inside that you will eventually encounter on this very train ride, the pass code for Silent Fall's current assignment you will be participating is 'Midnight Raven.' The key phrase for the moles will be 'When does the clock tower ring?' If someone says this phrase, then speak with them immediately.” Morgan read out in the dull voice that reminded Robin of a first grader, glancing down just a bit at the bottom of the paper, where there was one small note left that she hasn't read; The number Stella uses on her modified phones.

“1035-5154” Morgan muttered, ripping the edge of the paper with the phone number and stuffing it into the pocket of her jeans, Robin lightly lifting the uniform's jacket to inspect it in a light. “I hope these fit.” She mentioned, before dipping behind the hotel to get dressed, Morgan waiting her turn as Robin came out from the side of the cheap hotel. The mask was a modified hockey mask, painted with a metallic silver paint to make it slightly shimmer. The visage was pure silver, but on the inside of the mask, it was secured with small metal bars to make it sturdier against impacts, there were holes on the eyes, nostrils and mouth to make the senses react properly.

The outfit itself was a dark blue Chesterfield coat, buttoned up with a black shirt and a red suit tie. It featured a pair of black leather gloves, long black cargo pants and a pair of black combat boots. On the front of the jacket hung a small chain from one pocket, featuring a silver trinket of a wolf skull holding a sword in it's teeth. Robin flipped her mask up to take a deep breath, looking over at Morgan. “These must be terrible on a warm day.” Robin commented, Morgan just shook her head, walking past her and getting dressed in her similar looking outfit. It was a bit tighter looking on Morgan, but that was a given as she was about 4 inches taller than her and had a slight muscle mass advantage. “Let's get this over with.” Morgan stated as they abandoned the motorcycle, Morgan turning to look back at it with a sigh as Robin walked down the sidewalk.

“And the delay is...?” Robin asked, turning to look back at Morgan as she stared at her bike. “Just... It probably won't be here when I come back. I saved up for 5 months for the damn thing and I have to lose it.” She complained, Robin just sighing and turning away from her. “We'd be lucky to just have the motorcycle towed, if this goes, bad we could just end up in prison.” Robin mentioned, turning back to walk down the road, Morgan quickly breaking into a jog down the street to keep up with her, tucking the phone into her pocket as well with the numbers as she observed the gate for the train station. It had a couple of Silent Fall members standing in front of it. It made Morgan wonder if the guys running this nearly ancient train station is currently in Elliot's pocket. Where did he get all that money anyway? As they both approached, one of the men raised a hand at the both of them.

“Wait there.” He half warned, hand on the sheathe of his blade as he sauntered up to the two slightly shorter women. “Why are you 15 minutes past the point we asked everyone to arrive?” He asked... Robin slightly stepping in front of Morgan to speak for her, as she questioned Morgan's ability to lie. “How do you expect us to go to the bathroom when there's nearly 100 other people in there?” She asked, the man just slightly shaking his head. “Well... There's only one bathroom, admittedly.” He said, looking off to the side and slightly drifting his hand off his blade, before looking down at them. “The code?” He asked, Robin taking a second to peruse her memory and recall what it was.

“Midnight Raven.” Robin stated slightly louder, puffing her chest out slightly as if she was proud of the fact she didn't forget it this time, the man just gently pointed inside the station with his thumb. “Half of the people get it wrong, sometimes I wonder if this is even working.” He complained, Morgan chimed in, raising a finger as if her point was profound. “Why not use ID cards?” She asked, he just rolled his eyes. “That's pretty much saying 'Hi! I'm a terrorist! We're going to have an official terrorist meeting at the annual terrorist picnic!” He said with blatant sarcasm, Morgan just sighed out of defeat. “Just... It wouldn't work, we're sort of an informal group, we don't need executive meetings.” He continued, Morgan nodded her head and began to step inside.

“Don't mind her, she's new.” Robin said with a chuckle... She felt nervous, but these people weren't just all evil cartoon villains who eat cats to prove how evil they are, They were just people. Admittedly people she didn't understand how they could be so desperate to change the way the world works in such a violent way, but they were all just... people. It was kind of weird that she essentially called these folk enemies to the state and yet could have small talk with them in this uniform. “Just get inside, train's leaving in 5 minutes.” He said, Robin nodded and dashed past him, he gripped the gate and slowly closed it, the rattling of the lock echoing in the quiet of the night.

Robin looked for Morgan, noticing that she was now hunched slightly, looking around the railway platform. The train was sitting on the tracks, all the doors open and the men slowly boarding it as a woman wearing a metal fox mask shouted orders at them. Saying it was their 'time to shine' before shouting to 'get a move on' and issuing various threats. Morgan slowly hopped onto the traintrack, a short 2 foot concrete stoop and overhang to protect the passengers from the rain. A clear yellow line separating the point where it was safe to stand, as any closer would mean you would have your first ever kiss... with a train, potentially your last one too, if you were a betting man.

Morgan slowly walked along the side of the train, a slightly rusty looking locomotive carrying various storage containers, all tagged with graffiti from years gone by. She walked to the back of the train, going around to the other side to hide from the hundreds of men waiting for the signal to actually climb on the damn thing. Morgan found a small ladder near the back, between the last and second-to-last train car. She hopped up, Robin following quietly behind her as she slowly pushed the latch open. It was unlocked, luckily. She popped it open, slowly pushing the door open and quietly stepping inside. When the door shut, the latch locked... They both realized how dark it was. They tread carefully, hoping not to knock anything over. The walls were made of corrugated steel, this must have been some kind of shipping container. Sadly, there was ZERO light. Morgan pulled out her lighter, flicking it on to make a dancing but dim red light they could use for now as they went to find a place to sit.

“So, are we just going to stay in here until we arrive?” Robin asked, Morgan digging through her bag until she felt what she wanted to grab. She pulled out a large black flashlight, clicking the button and placing it on the ground, the light pointing upward and shining bright enough for them to dimly see the rest of the room. “BOOM.” She brashly stated as she provided lighting for the rest of the container. “This is one of those fancy lights you awkwardly shake to recharge, we can use this so we're not completely blinded.” She stated, looking about the room and noticing that on both the left and right side, there was just a couple of barrels of some kind of metallic material, roped down to not move. The trains wheels began to creak, feeling their bodies shift as the fright began to slowly propel itself forward. Morgan casually unzipped her bag, pulling out her sword and gently polishing it with her shirt.

“So... This might be a long train ride.” Robin stated, leaning against the wall. “I know he's your brother and everything, but how did he get into something like this?” She asked, Morgan sighed softly as she hugged her knees. “Just... We were never in the best position. Him and I made money in our teenage years by being couriers. We would smuggle packages illegally through the city when just putting a bunch of drugs, weapons, and other things since putting it in the mail would be both stupid and illegal.” Morgan explained, looking at Robin as she slowly grabbed her long hair and began to braid it so it was out of the way. “He was kind of a bad judge of character and I would always have to give him advice, it was weird because I was like 4 years younger than him and I had more awareness and common sense than he did.” She stated, leaning her back against one of the barrels to prop up her back to rest.

“Yeah but running into a bad man and running into a terrorist group are two different things, how did this end up happening?” Robin redirected, leaning forward and placing her forearms onto her knees. “It wasn't always like this, when I went into high school, Nick said he wanted to make sure there was always food to come back to. I don't know what job he got, but apparently it was with these guys. I don't know what happened to them but apparently he was roped into something much bigger than he thought. This is my only chance to bail him out.” Morgan exclaimed, crossing her arms and looking away from Robin just a bit as the train hit a nasty bump, making the entire thing bounce a couple of inches into the air.

“I'm just not sure this is smart, still. What's wrong with going to prison for a couple of years just as a way to bail yourself out?” Robin asked, Morgan curling a lip and glaring at her. “Imagine you going to jail for something that isn't your fault... Now imagine you're in a prison with a connected group of criminals... The last person who went to prison and leaked any information about silent fall was stabbed over 40 times once he got out... They want people who compromise their integrity killed. Is that okay with you?” Morgan asked with sarcasm and enough anger to stand up, legs wide and fists clenched, Robin raised her hands up and shook her head. “I'm not trying to antagonize you Morgan, keep in mind that I chose to go with you because of how much I care. This is dangerous work and I want you to understand that, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth, alright?” Robin argued back, but Morgan just crossed her arms and turned away.

“Maybe this might go better if you didn't come along.” Morgan said, bitter, but Robin then stood up, brows lowered. “What's that supposed to mean?” Robin asked, nose crinkling a bit. “Well.. Wouldn't I do better if I didn't have someone to second guess me all the time?” Morgan asked, keeping her shoulder turned to her. “Well fuck you too!” Robin stomped her foot on the ground as she shouted, which was strangely not something she would usually do, Morgan didn't respond to her outburst, just slowly walking to the front of the car and popping it open. “I'll be on the roof, holler if you need anything.” Morgan said, clearly still fuming as she slowly climbed up to rest atop the roof. Robin sighed, gently thumping back down onto the cold, metal ground.

Robin dug into one of her pockets to look at her cell phone, it was an older, flip model, she pressed a couple of buttons and looked at her contact list, she scrolled down to her brother and hit the green button to call... only for it to say no signal. Were they that far out of town already? Or is this box blocking the cell phone signal. She growled softly, putting it back into her pocket as she sighed, closing her eyes in hopes of cooling off. Was closing your eyes kind of dangerous in a train full of enemies? Yeah, kind of. She didn't really expect to be caught, she was in the back of the train and it was probably going to be a very long train ride, even if it's been just a half hour. The ground was cold and unforgiving stiff, she could feel the bolts pushing against the sides of her hips and legs that were jutting out from the ground which she sat on. The entire thing smelled like rust, a rust so strong it caused her nose to burn if she inhaled through it.

There was a loud popping sound, a metallic one that made her jump from her seat... She looked left, the direction Morgan left in, the door was closed and the light of the little flashlight wasn't enough to cover the distance. Then she looked right, the door was slightly open as a beam of moonlight shot through it. Just behind the cargo container on the other side of the door was a caboose. A place the crew would rest and a secondary engine for the train when it needs to reverse itself, a train can't turn around on a goddamn rail. Robin's pulse began to race... Who opened that door? Was it Morgan? She stood up, slowly walking over to her bag and unzipping it slowly, hoping to not get the attention of whoever opened the door. Her spear was assembled by twisting together three parts, but the blade itself could be used as a sword thanks to the foot long handle just underneath the 14 inch blade. She gripped her hands around the handle as she heard a rustling from behind, the sound of metal echoed through the container as Robin's blade crashed with a blunt blade.

Sparks flew as the person who attacked her leaped back into the distance. Robin backed closer to the flashlight, only for the man to leap at her again, this caused her leg to stumble back, kicking the flashlight over as her only source of light disappeared, leaving her in the dark against an unknown assailant. “AHHHH!” She shouted, not 100% sure what to say to get help, knowing that Morgan was currently residing on the roof and could possibly help within seconds. “Quiet!” A male voice rang back, a bat swinging at her head as she instinctively ducked it, a trait she leaned from the countless hours of basic training, the sound of a weapon swinging through the air giving her enough leeway to roughly dodge. He backed off again, as Robin realized that being in the light for so long meant her eyes wouldn't adapt to the light fast enough... She was completely at the disadvantage. The bat swung at her stomach, smacking her in the stomach and knocking the wind out of her, making her lurch over and collapse onto a knee, she wasn't ready for it and her pulse couldn't react in time.

The other door bashed open, Morgan rushed through the door, blade in hand as she looked around to see what was going on. She ducked to grab the flashlight, her claymore impressively in one hand as she looked to the man standing over Robin. In one pulse fueled lunge, she smashed her shoulder into his side, knocking him onto his back, she threw the flashlight to Robin, before pushing the edge of her blade close to his throat. “THOUGHT YOU COULD GET ONE ON US, MOTHERFUCKER!?” Morgan growled, Robin grabbing the flashlight and shining it in his face. “Aw, fuck!” he shouted, suddenly blind from the flashlight shining right in his face. He was a somewhat tall and young man with a messy mop of blonde hair. He was wearing black cargo pants and boots, along with a white shirt and a blue vest over top of it. “EAT SHIT!” He shouted, Morgan holding the blade at his throat as she spoke. “...What the fuck are -you- doing here?” Morgan asked, not afraid to cut this man's head off if he was stupid enough to say the wrong thing.

“I'm not telling you Silent Fall bastards a goddamned thing!” He shouted, Morgan reaching back to lift her mask up, revealing her tanned skin, long black hair and brown eyes. “Who said we work for those assholes!?” She shouted at him, he thrashed underneath her, until Morgan headbutted him once to get him to stop. “Work for them? You are wearing their fucking outfit!” He argued, but Morgan just growled through gritted teeth. “You didn't answer our first question, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?” Morgan shouted at him. “None of your goddam-” He was cut off by Morgan hitting him again. “Shut up and tell me your name!” She shouted back at him, he just sighed and stopped struggling. “Lucas... Lucas Gray.” He finally admitted, Robin grabbing his bat and yanking it away from him as Morgan slowly pulled off. “Holy fuck you are hard to deal with...” She said to him as he slowly sat up.

“Who do you work for?” Robin asked, taking her mask off as well. “Can't say, but it ain't these assholes. How about you?” Lucas stated as he adjusted the shoulder he landed on, it felt somewhat numb from such a hard impact. “Can't say, but it ain't these assholes.” Morgan said, copying him. “So why are you on this train?” Robin asked again, as Lucas walked over, yanking his bat from her. “I'm on assignment. Back in our town we raided an outpost that Silent fall wanted to turn into a base for themselves. We found train schedules and I was going to ride to find out why.” He explained, Morgan laying her blade over her shoulder in a more relaxed posture. “And you didn't see the 100 or so people boarding the train?” Morgan asked, he just sighed. “I did see it... And I'm really afraid to find out what's going to happen, what about you two?” Lucas stated, Morgan looking away and gently rubbing her arm. “I need to go talk to someone, the only way there is dressing up as one of these clowns and riding there on this train.” Morgan stated, Lucas raising his brow just a bit.“Look, I might not trust you but maybe we can survive on this train long enough to do what we both want, deal?” He said, sticking out his hand, Morgan reluctantly reaching out to give his hand a shake.


“I'll promise not to murder you.” Morgan added during the handshake, which made Lucas slightly awkward.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 13. Dead Air, Part 2.

I'm sorry for the delay, this whole thing gets complicated and I needed to plan it out bit by bit.

Act 2, Chapter 13: Dead Air, Part 2

The door slammed open, Morgan looking around her shared dorm room until she found her closest, just past the bunk beds on the right wall after the room splitter for the second half of the dorm room. She yanked the door open, taking her swords carrier bag and slinging the strap over her shoulder, before grabbing her duffel bag and popping it open, yanking clothing from the hangars and stuffing them hastily inside the bag. She also took her canteen, a first aid kit... but opted out of packing her armband. It tracked her location and she didn't want to draw attention from the authorities, what she was doing she assumed was going to be fairly illegal.

Robin stormed in after her, looking at the black haired girl putting supplies in her bag before zipping it up. Her blade was kind of large, but she managed to make it look like a second bag of luggage on her back, her duffel bag of supplies hanging off her side as she lobbed it onto a shoulder, dangling it of f her hip. “Why are you in such a hurry?” Robin asked as Morgan lightly wiggled to make sure nothing fell off, before looking at her. “I'm leaving -today-.” Morgan replied, walking past her and attempting to leave the room before the dinner rush was over. The dorm halls were usually when people went out to dinner, the perfect opportunity to sneak out.

“...This seems pretty rash. Are you sure you're thinking straight? You may want to recons-” Robin was cut off of her motherly chastising by Morgan. “People forget how much of a luxury it is to have a choice in how they approach things. I wish I had a choice.. I wish I could just... Walk up to their front door and just ask them if I can have my brother back.” She said, before walking forward. Robin hastily grabbed her supplies with no time to check what the contents were, though she knew that was where her weapon was stored. “But, the only thing that's going to get me is killed. The person I contacted... She has push, she has power... She might be able to do it.” Morgan explained, but Robin just frowned. “What if she can't?” Robin asked, closing the door behind her as they both walked out into the hallway. “Then I'll fucking make them do it. If this is my only option then I'm going to either make it work, or die trying.”

Morgan turned away from Robin, walking at a breakneck pace toward the staircase, her boots thumping the carpet covered floor. “The meeting with my contact is going to be in 2 hours, I need to hurry.” She felt herself stop, Robins hand gripping onto her shoulder for a slight ache to emanate from it. “Not without me.” Robin stated firmly, Morgan furrowing her brow before turning to face her with a slight frown on her face. “You sure? This has the potential to go all kinds of bad, I don't want to drag anyone down with me if that happens.” She warned Robin, but Robin just shook her head. “You're my teammate, Morgan... I'm not going to let you die if I have the choice to.” Robin argued, Morgan nodding her head before looking back down the hall, climbing down the stairs slowly with Robin in tow. “Thanks, I guess.” Morgan said with a somber tinge... the 'I guess' an attempt to cover up the face she was slightly moved by someone looking out for her.

Robin always had a motherly grace to her, even if she was only 6 years her elder, it was kind of nice to have someone looking out for you occasionally, she's never had anyone like that before. Even the people who ran the orphanage took care of their kids in a more impersonal way unless you made friends with them. They quickly dashed out the canvas as fast as you could walk in an inconspicuous manner. They headed to the parking lot, where Morgan's motorcycle was parked... A dark red colored chopper with white pinstripes in flame-like patterns. Robin ran up, bending down to inspect it with curious eyes. “When did you get this?” Robin asked, Morgan pulled the keys from her leather jacket, which was wrapped over top the taped shoulder and tank top she had on earlier that day. “Saved up for it because I knew this was going to happen -long- ahead of time.” She said, turning the engine on with a low chugging sound.

“It's pretty nice.” Robin complimented, as Morgan straddled the seat and scooted forward, patting the back half of the seat. “It fits two, barely.” She said, as Robin slowly climbed just behind her. Morgan was a bit taller than her, so she couldn't really see over her shoulder until she hunched down slightly to grab the handlebars. “Wait.” Robin said in a hurried voice as Morgan revved the engine. Morgan looking back somewhat disappointed she couldn't take the bike for a spin just yet. “...What?” She asked... And Robin gestured to her own head. “Helmets! We need helmets!” She motioned, Morgan sighing and grabbing a helmet that was hanging off the frame of the bike, strapping it onto her head and flipping down the visor. “There.” Morgan said, voice slightly muffled by the black helmet with a playing card on the back that displayed the Ace of Spades.

“...And what about my helmet?” Robin asked, Morgan just shrugged at that. “I don't have a second helmet... Just imagine a helmet, you'll be fine.” She said, revving the engine. Robin frowned at her, poking her once on the shoulder. “I'm not sure it works that WAAAAYYYYYYYOHGODNO-” Robin suddenly shouted, as Morgan pulled the throttle full tilt to rev the engine so loud it echoed, making it skid it's tired and billow out of the parking lot in a billow of smoke. Robin clung to Morgan's shoulders, leaning up and pressing her legs in so they didn't end up scraping the ground as Morgan leaned to turn.

Eventually the loud engine noises settled to low rumbles, as Morgan wasn't stupid enough to break the speed limit, but she was still in a hurry.. her hands jittered as she revved the engine, turned the handles or grabbed the brake. She raced through the city as the sun set, she responding to the darkening light by turning on the bright headlamp to guide her way, quickly approaching the parking lot of the aforementioned Greyson Park. She kicked out the kickstand, turned the engine off and took her helmet off, Robin following behind her as she slightly shivered from the motorcycle ride she just took. “That was... Less fun than I expected.” Robin commented as they both entered the park.

It was a small recreational park near the intersection of two street corners, the fence warning people to not let their pet dog into the park. A lone man stood in the center, leaning against a small play structure for children, lighting a cigarette. He heard the creaking of Morgan pushing open the gate, and he nodded his head some to gesture them both to come closer. As they approached, they got a good look at him. A man in his early thirties, a neatly parted brown haircut just underneath a fedora. His build was lithe, a beard to cover up his slightly effeminate mug. He wore a black dress shirt with a red tie and suspenders holding up his black dress pants. On his cheek was the symbol VII, scrawled in a thin tattoo ink.

“You the kid Stella wanted me to meet?” He asked, hand still holding his cigarette between his middle and ring fingers, the light red glowing just illuminating his face enough to see, as the streetlights haven't turned on yet. “Morgan, yep.” Morgan replied as the man pointed his thumb to the girl standing beside her. “And this chick your partner?” He asked brashly, Robin frowning a bit as Morgan stepped forward. “Uhh... Yeah, She's with me.” She awkwardly replied, hoping that Robin wasn't too offended by calling her 'chick' Robin just rolled her eyes as the two continued their conversation.

“Well... We only have a one hour deadline, so I better keep this as brief as possible.” He said, pulling out his touch screen phone and tapping a couple of buttons, spinning it to face Morgan. “Y'know this area?” He asked, Morgan squinting in the dim light and holding his wrist to life it closer to her face, her lips slanting a bit as she thought it over. “This is the old railway station most places used before we opened up the new Maglev trains...” She correctly stated, the put away the phone and placed it back in his side pocket. “They still occasionally use this station for small freight operations, but they fell into the pockets of Elliot after he bribed them. The wolf has a surprising amount of money on his person to dig himself into so many pockets.” He added, Morgan narrowing her eyes some as she looked at him. “So why do you want me to go to that old ass train station?” Morgan asked, putting a hand into the pocket of her currently empty leather jacket, her other hand adjusting the strap on her shoulders to be a little looser as it was squeezing up against her chest for that entire motorcycle ride.

“Keirsberg is making a move, our informants have been covering this over the last month and it's getting worrying the more they do.” He said, slowly pacing back and fourth, the soft crunch of the wood chips they use to protect children from high falls under his nice dress shoes. “They usually warehouse hop. Hide in storage shelters, use hit and run tactics, rob and attack in small amounts.. But their numbers have suddenly spiked when they started putting money in the pockets of mercenaries.” He continued, Morgan crossing her arms and looking away for a second. “Wait.. wait wait wait.” She stammered, bringing her hands out in front of her. “Mercenaries? What kind of mercenaries work for an anti-government terrorist organization?” Morgan asked. “The kind who don't want to work for a government, you bloody fool.” Robin applied with just a bit of sass, Morgan felt slightly stupid for saying what she did, just sighing and sinking her shoulders in defeat.

“She's right, Kiddo. Some people want to fight for profit and don't want to be tied down with red tape. Mercenaries are perfect for that. I fuckin' hate bureaucrats, just we don't work in the line of war, we work in the line of influence and profit.” He continued, hands sliding into his pockets just after he snapped his fingers. Two men wearing black and red suits appear from the dark of twilight, lightly tossing two bags onto the ground. “Keirsberg has been moving his men every week on a train leading to some city in the northeast. He ships nearly 100 people at a time every Sunday. We want you two on this train.” He explained further, Robin slowly undoing the bun in her hair and letting her long hair drape on her shoulders some, pulling it in a bun pulled on her skin, making her eyebrows constantly raised and her face sort of weirdly tight.

“Why do you want only two people to go on this train? Are you expecting us to fight them all off while outnumbered 50 to 1? That's absurd! What are we, cartoon action heroes?” Robin asked incredulously, her head softly shaking as she couldn't help but have her face turn slightly in disgust. “No no no, ladies... two is the perfect number for exactly what we want you to do.” He said, walking up to Morgan and gripping his hands against her shoulders to reaffirm her and Robin with some bravado, but Morgan just kind of gripped his wrists and pulled him off as he spoke. “You're going to stow away on the train, and ride it all the way to the town so you can contact the locals there.” He said with a smile, but Morgan's head just softly tilted slightly to one side. “...Why can't you just drive us or fly us there?” Morgan asked, slightly confused.

“If we enter that town in any sort of vehicle, we'll be spotted and attacked. We need sleepers, people who won't draw any attention... Your friend back there is your contingency plan, just in case you end up being unable to complete your job.” He said, Morgan kind of not wanting to think the exact meaning of that phrase for now. Danger sort of spooked her, even if it was her day to day job. “Inside those bags are your disguises, standard issue Silent Fall uniforms, one size fits most. Look, we only have 55 minutes left... You will get more information once you're in the town we want you go to.” He said, tossing his cigarette into the grass, not caring if it was still lit or not. “One more thing... Don't fuck this up.” He said, snapping a finger and his two goons follow leave the park. He reached into his pocket, placing a similar looking cell phone into the hands of Morgan. “The name is Sticks, this phone will be for Robin so you may both communicate with the Rousell family as you continue your mission. Don't fuck this up.” He explained, before following after his two lackeys, leaving the park and climbing into a car to drive away into the night.
“Last chance to go home, Robin.” Morgan warned, turning to Robin with tight lips as Robin slowly felt her gaze drift away from Morgan.

Robin shook her head, looking at the grass covered ground as she was pat on by Morgan, slowly walking over to her motorcycle as Morgan placed the key in the ignition, turning it on to a low rumble to get the engine turned over once again. If it didn't warm up, the engine would choke and stall. No one ever said Morgan got the bike -new.- “...Well... Do you think these guys will be capable of giving what you want? They seem shady, I'm not exactly sure they can hold up their end of the deal.” Robin mentioned, she didn't know of their results, these guys could just be blowing nothing but a big gust of wind with no results for all Morgan knows.

“Well... It's either this or having him die or end up in a prison for doing something stupid. This is stupid, but it's the best chance I got.” Morgan added, slowly putting on her helmet, bur flipping the visor up so her speech wouldn't be as obfuscated by the Plexiglas visor and face padding. “And are you willing to die for this, knowing that it might not even work? Why immediately go to a crime family to ask for help with this? Are you daft? Why couldn't you ask ANYONE ELSE in the entire damn planet for help instead of going to these shady people you don't even trust?” Robin began to rant at Morgan, though Morgan, annoyed and clenching harder on the throttle than before, pulled it back for a loud rev to cut her off. “Don't you think I know this is fucking dangerous!? I tried official means, and if I go to the Sterlings or the government and file an appeal, I will be forced to wait for months and months of legal proceedings.” She said, Robin climbing on the bike just behind her.

“I don't have time for that, every single day is a risk of me not ever seeing him again, and I want to do this as fast as I possibly can.” Morgan added, leaning forward just a bit in a riding position. “Even if I die... I want to save the life the only person who gave a single shit about me, even if he's an idiot.” She said, driving off into the night to head to the train station.

Spectrum: Act 2, Chapter 12: Dead Air, Part 1.

Back after a hiatus, but back!

Act 2, Chapter 12: Dead Air, Part 1

Morgan and Robin both left the front gate of Spectrum, it's only been 2 weeks since the test was finished, and they both managed to get promoted. Admittedly, being promoted isn't as lucrative as they expected, as it only increased their pay grade by about 20%. It was a little more wiggle room in the month, but at best it just means they can spend the small increase on better food or maybe a couple extra sets of clothes. “You know, for the fact I have a slight limp now, I expected a huge reward.” Robin stated, Morgan stretching just a bit as one of her shoulders were bandaged up. It was hard to put on anything difficult, she had to ask Robin to help put her black tank top on from just how busted her shoulder felt.

“I'll take anything I can get.” Morgan replied with a chuckle, before she winced and hissed from the sharp pain going up her shoulder. She not only dislocated it, she fractured it at her attempt to relocate it... This really was a dumb move. “I guess that's true, maybe I'm just spoiled from not having a budget growing up.” Robin mentioned, Morgan turning her head and raising her eyebrow as they slowly progressed down the street. “You know, I barely heard of the Goldshore family besides in the occasional newspaper article. You're the real deal so.. Tell me about 'em?” Morgan asked, but Robin just chuckled a little at her. “I'm surprised you're interested, you're usually hanging out with Erika.” Robin admitted, but Morgan just shrugged her good shoulder, reaching out and gently slapping her fingers against the cyclone fencing of a park they were walking past. “I was going to find out eventually, right?” She mentioned as Robin took a short breath.

“Well, Rosewall has had this arrangement of kingdoms for the last 400 years or so. A lineage of Kings ran the country, but couldn't feasibly take care of the land. He assigned various other houses who attempted to stake a claim at the throne to hold various territories. House Goldshore was a very minor house, not one of the seven that became very prevalent.” She said, slipping her hands into the pockets of he dress, wearing a long flowing white gown for the summer, her hair braided in a long tail down to her lower back. “It ran pretty smoothly, even if the head of the house was technically a Viscount and not a Duke, we weren't ambitious and we were pretty well off compared to most other places.. But the Ash Scramble a couple of years ago changed everything. Towns imploded in gang violence, and even Astra invaded us to try and take some land from us. The Rift opening has caused this whole world to become a lot more desperate of a place.” Robin continued with a light sigh, Morgan gently kicked a pebble to watch it roll across the ground, before dropping into the road just as a car passed by.

“When the kingdom dissolved, some of the members of the large houses took charge and formed a council. We were a pretty small house, so we weren't able to influence any decisions.. but it turned out that it wasn't really helping out case. The gold mine we used for our treasury began to run out and we pretty much lost our biggest financial backbone. We slowly entered a pretty big debt, especially because of my fathers fraudulent spending.” Robin added, Morgan lightly nodding a bit as they continued to their destination. “I joined Spectrum to get away from that life for a while.. Refocus and try to get my life back on track... Also because my brother wants to make a name for himself and watch over him.” She finally finished, Morgan chuckling a little bit at the last part. “I remember a while back me complaining that you didn't think your motivations through, joining only to protect your little brother...” Morgan commented, Robin nodded her head once as she turned more to face her.

“While I'm still looking out for my brother, I decided to stay because I want the Rift to finally end... Maybe after that, I can go back home and have a kid with a husband I actually care about.” She said with a shrug of the shoulders, Morgan nodding as well. “So.. Where are we going?” Robin finally asked, Morgan turned to face her other shoulder, pointing to a tattoo on her shoulder. “A... Chess piece?” Robin wondered aloud, a black knight's chess piece tattooed onto Morgan's shoulder which looked slightly faded, indicating that she got that quite a while back. “I got this tattoo back when I was a member of Checkmate, I want to visit some of them to see what they're up to.” Morgan halfway explained, but Robin just stared at her confused as they walked down the curb to cross a road, hopping quickly onto the next side of the road as they cut back into the city. “And checkmate is..?” Robin wondered aloud.

“Well, back when I was younger, my friends and I made this group called Checkmate. It was a kind of gang... We would brawl with each other and any willing participants and have people bet on us to see which one would win. We would take those earnings from people betting one either us or the guest fighters winning, and we would take the earnings and use it to buy supplies for the needy.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin chuckling a bit. “And that tattoo means you had a membership?” Robin replied as they passed by a small fast food place. “I was the 'knight' of Checkmate. It pretty much means I won a lot of fights.” Morgan said, pointing her good arm at herself as Robin smirked a little bit. “Impressive, do you think they're still up and functioning?” Robin replied.

“That's what I want to find out, I'm taking you with me because well.. I wanted to talk to you. You could turn around if you really wanted to.” Morgan added, Robin nodding gently. “Well color me curious, I want to see it for myself.” She added, but Robin just kept trekking along with her. “It'll be fine, don't worry so much about it.” Robin said with a little bit of a smile. They slowly walked through the city until they entered The Barrows, a underprivileged part of town just a couple of miles past the old orphanage she lived in, as they approached a wall, Morgan walked up and placed her hand on the concrete side of the building. “What are you even doing?” Robin asked her as Robin pointed to the graffiti, an intricate symbol drawn on it. “This used to be our old tag we used to help direct people to the location of the fights.” She said, patting on it as Morgan turned a shoulder to begin walking toward the next marker.

And just as Morgan thought, there was another one just down the block, facing the right side of the building. She gestured Robin to follow her once again, as she was still standing back at the first checkpoint. Robin jogged over to catch up as they followed check point by checkpoint through streets and alleyways. They finally arrived in a small warehouse, probably used as small vehicle production facility before it was closed down.. A typical case for being shut down as more industrial and efficient methods began to outstrip the heartiness of elbow grease. Men woke up to find out that they were replaced by a computer, and promptly had their asses kicked out collectively to the street, the pinnacle of hard times.

The approached up the concrete stoop, the door was rusty and covered with a thick layer of both dust and oxidization that turned the door a rustic brown. There was sort of a faded painting of a checkerboard hastily painted on the front, this wasn't really helping the matter. “...Do you think people still hang out here?” Robin asked, apprehensive. Morgan felt a pang of thought in her head.. How long has it been since she's been here? This -was- her hobby every week when she didn't have chores, or school work.. When she left school, she started working on making her own motorcycle, finding work and winning fights held by the gang to see who was the toughest... It's been nearly a year since she joined the school, and she was in her twenties. 'Holy shit, I'm in my twenties..?' She thought, before Robin snapped her fingers to bring her back to the real world once again.

“Why did you just zone out..?” Robin said, before Morgan just grabbed the door and pushed it open. “They have to be here.” Morgan said, before her and Robin stepped inside. The floor was coated with thick dust, the metal parts of cars were pushed to the side and what could be seen of a cyclone fence was resting on each side of the dimly lit building. There were faded spray paintings denoting an octagon on the ground. “Looks abandoned.” Robin mentioned as she stepped inside, the sound of her footsteps echoing about the room. Morgan felt her heart sink a little bit.. I guess a group where people punch each other for fun and profit with a bunch of rambunctious teenagers spending their allowances was an easy concept to grow out of, What a shame. “Long abandoned.” Morgan chimed in, gently walking over and finding an old set of barstools, some of the seats they used for spectators if they got sick of standing, Morgan dragged both stools along the ground and sat them next to eachother, gently patting one to let Robin take a seat. Robin dusted off the seat before taking a seat on it, though Morgan didn't care, showing no caution of getting her jeans dirty.

“You see that octagon over there..?” Morgan said, pointing to the painting on the ground. “We would prop up chain link fencing along it, standing it up with rebar along with way as a makeshift fighting ring. We started using the painting on the ground because we couldn't eye an octagon to save our lives.” Morgan said, Robin chuckling a little bit at that. “Geometry not a thing in public school?” Robin idly joked, Morgan chuckling once as her leg crossed over the other one, letting one of her black boots dangle off the other side. “We had to constantly pull the cage open and closed because none of us were good enough to make a door frame, it was the most clown-shoes thing you'd ever seen.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin giving her own polite chuckle in response.

After that, the conversations slowed as they realized the short pause became longer, just sitting next to eachother for 5 minutes in complete silence. “It's so quiet in here...” Robin muttered to herself as Morgan stood from her chair, walking forward just a bit as she looked around. “It's so quiet I could hear my heart beat for a bit.” Morgan she added as she turned to face Robin. “Morgan.. I had a question.” Robin asked Morgan lifted a brow as she turned to face her, arms crossing over her chest as she nodded to her. “Yeah, ask away.” Morgan replied, before Robin stood up, slowly walking to the fencing leaning against the wall and softly running her hand along the grates. “Do you ever wake up and realize that.. this is the world we live in?” Robin asked, but that just made Morgan confused. “...What the fuck was that?” Morgan replied in her typical crass way, this would normally offend Robin but she's been around Morgan long enough to just... not care.

“Well.. Think about it. We're in a pretty desperate situation. Monsters are attacking us from a physically impossible phenomenon... And yet we have quiet, and happy days sometimes. We wake up in our beds and all of this terror just seems so far away that it's hard to imagine that it's even real.” Robin explained, Morgan gently walking up beside her and watching her play with the fence grating. “That's a very meta sense of denial you got, there.” Morgan replied, but Robin softly rubbed one of her arms, looking back at her with a frown. “We go on missions and deal with some horror movie shit, I still find it hard to sleep at the end of the day and I've been doing this for a year now.” Morgan argued, but Robin just grabbed one of the half inch thick steel rebars that Morgan mentioned a short while back.

“Yeah but... It doesn't happen often enough to feel normal.” Robin said, gently letting it hit the ground with a metallic ping sound filling the room for a brief moment. “It's hard to have a happy and relaxing day, days where I'm at peace, or having fun with you guys, when it's a very realistic possibility that at the same moment... far, far away.. some boy's parents were killed. I'm just relaxing in a chair whilst he cries over the remains of his burning home, his life completely in shattered remains.” She explained, Morgan frowning a little bit. “That's just how life is, sometimes...” Morgan replied, but Robin just softly shook her head. “I don't feel like it's okay, I just wish it didn't happen at all.” Robin said, somewhat upset.

“Uhm... Where did all of this even come from?” Morgan asked, not one for melodrama and clearly just kind of confused. “I just.. I've been feeling like that for a long time, I just wanted to saythat it just feels so strange to live in a world like this.. and not be miserable all the time. I feel guilty.” Robin added as Morgan just pat her once on the shoulder. “Whatever makes you feel better.. Wanna get some food?” She asked, before a ringing came from her pocket it. Morgan's hair on her neck stood up as she quickly rushed down to her pocket, pulling out a red cell phone... the one that Stella gave her and told her that one day she would accept the call. The LED was lighting the phone's caller ID, a blank space with no numbers listed.

“Uhh.. Morgan?” Robin asked as Morgan hit the talk button and turned away from her. “I need to take this.” She said with an urgency not normally seen from her as she rushed to the other side of the building, as far away from Morgan as possible. She decided to slowly, but quietly approach her from behind as Morgan spoke to someone on the phone. “Is this our contact?” The man asked, Morgan quickly replying with “Yes, this is Morgan.” The man on the phone muttered something to someone behind him. “This is a pretty big deal to get one of these phones from the boss, they're only given to her special contacts, and from what I heard... that was your first meeting with her.” He said, slightly astounded, but Morgan just sighed. “Look, she told me just to do.. whatever my orders are. Can you explain what I'm doing?” She asked, as the man fiddled with some papers to get the details that were printed out.

“Your job is pretty much act as a face as you deal with a situation in a town called Ravenglass.” He added, Morgan staying quiet just to let him talk. “Silent Fall is going to be making a move soon and they know it, they're trying to move a base in a more discrete location to use more guerrilla tactics in their weird as shit 'Violent Protests.' Having a base in the town they're planning on attacking is just stupid and they're currently planning on moving several hundred of their members into this new building.” He continued, Morgan tapping her foot some as he realized he should just continue.

“It's a ghost town, so it's a pretty smart move... The only hitch in their plan? There's a fairly big group of locals squatting in a hotel district who have been raiding their caravans for months now.” He continued, before Morgan spoke up. “Why would locals squat a ghost town?” She asked, but he audibly shrugged. “I guess they hope to rebuild, or maybe they're just insane.” He replied, before flipping a paper. “Our informants have signified that they maybe intending on wiping out these stragglers.. yet, they're skilled enough to steal from them and not get caught until only recently? Stella wants them as allies, and she wants you to be her negotiator.” He explained.

Morgan wondered aloud. “Why would she send me, and not someone more skilled?” She asked, the man just chuckled. “One of the members of the group Silent Fall is going to wipe out... One of our boys did some digging, and you perhaps know of him. Ever heard of a Gabriel Caine?” He asked her, Morgan gasped sharply... The redheaded kid back when she joined Spectrum? She might not have been great friends with him, but he always seemed like a good kid. How in the hell did he get to Ravenglass? “Before you ask, we hacked the records of Spectrum, cross referenced it with the census database and even sent someone on a stakeout to confirm that this is indeed someone you knew... All of this was taken into account, your prior friendship will be our key to get them as our allies.” He mentioned, Morgan slowly pacing just past Robin as she talked, almost completely ignoring her.

“Why do you need a bunch of squatters and petty thieves?” Morgan asked, but the man just chuckled. “Well... They have enough training to be stealing from what could be described as one of the biggest terrorist organizations in the past decade. The thing about crime families that you should know... It's about connections. You make as many allies as you can, forge bonds with as many people as possible... Because one day? Someone will ask them to betray you.. and you want them to an answer with a resounding 'No.' The boss wants them as allies and contacts... Do this, and we'll arrange to free your brother.” He said, Morgan clenching her fist at the word, the plastic of the phone creaking just a bit as she did. “How will you free him?” She asked, he took a couple of seconds to breathe before answering. “Hostage trading is the answer, we have... 'acquired' Elliot's beloved daughter just this last week as we prepared for your mission. If you're successful, we will trade him back his daughter, he normally doesn't let people who work for him leave... But this is a scenario he can't refuse. You will have your brother, and the boss will have about 200 more people joining her ranks... Everybody wins.” He replied, though.. Morgans heart raced as she gripped the phone tight once again. They kidnapped Elliot's daughter as a bargaining chip? What the fuck is wrong with them?

Morgan swallowed her pride, and some of her morals at that very second.“...Tell me what I'm doing.” Morgan said as she closed her eyes. “You will be meeting us tonight at 9pm near a place called Greyson park. It's not too far from Spectrum Academy, so if you look it up online you will be able to find it.” He said, Morgan grabbing a pen from her pocket and scrawling the area and time roughly on the back of her hand, her skin turning red and swelling slightly where the ball point pen rubbed against in her writing. “You may bring a friend to help you out.. but there are two warnings to this, and these warnings are dire.” He said, Morgan waiting on baited breath.

“You must trust that this ally will be loyal to you, if word gets out about this.. We're talking about a potential gang war with the law getting involved.. It will be a shitstorm and the blame will rest entirely onto your shoulders.” He mentioned, Morgan nodding some as he added the next warning. “Do not bring your Spectrum armband. This will go horribly wrong if she gets involved.” He said firmly, Making sure Morgan understood that this was a terrible idea if she brought her armband, it would pretty much constantly track and monitor them. “Is this clear?” He asked, Morgan just softly replying before turning off the phone. “Yes, clear.” Robin pressed her hand onto Morgan's shoulder, clearly concerned. “What was that?” Morgan had a brief panic attack when she realized Robin was still with her... Did she hear all that? Did she talk too loud?

“It doesn't concern you.” Morgan tried to brush the entire thing off, but Robin was stubborn and she knew it.. There was no way she was going to make it out without some details slipping. “As both your friend and ally... I demand to know what you are going to do! What is that red phone for?” Robin said, Morgan putting the phone in her pocket as she frowned. “Please, don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you... If you do, I'll beat the shit out of you... Got it?” Morgan warned, Robin gently nodding at her before letting her continue. “My brother is in Silent Fall.” She said, Robin gasping a bit as she stomped her foot down, her loafers making a strange and dull thud on the concrete. “You -do- know that's a terrorist organization, right? That's completely mad!” She shouted, Morgan sighing and shaking her head gently. “Of course I fucking know.. Nick didn't know that, and wanted out... But Silent Fall doesn't like people who stir too much trouble... They threatened to kill him if he deserted them. I tried to go to Spectrum to help, but they said they were just going to arrest him when... Well.. He's forced into this!” Morgan added, Robin frowning and looking at the ground.

“I had to get help from outside means... I can't name names... But these people can set my brother free and he won't be thrown into prison like a damn pig.” Morgan stated, Robin gently rubbing her chin as she thought it over. “So... Doing this task for the people on this phone will set him free, do you know it will even work?” Robin asked her, but Morgan just slowly began to walk for the door and head back outside to the streets of The Barrows. “I don't know... But this is my only shot... It's either this, or having my brother get killed knowing that didn't help him.” Morgan stated as Robin grabbed her wrist, looking up at it to see the address written down on it. “So, this is where you're going?” Robin asked, Morgan just gently nodded. “They said I could bring a friend if it really helped...” Morgan mentioned, but Robin just sighed. “Let's go get food.. We'll discuss this more when the time comes.” Robin answered as they both started to walk down the road.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 11: The Tower, Part 6.

"GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!"

Act 2, Chapter 11: The Tower, Part 6

It's been about four hours since the test started, and about three since Jonah last saw Maria. His natural pessimism made him only assume the worst for her. She might have had two cards, but she was wounded and in a very poor mood, meaning that she would possibly lose the fights and be forced to leave. So he just quietly continued on his own as he ascended the tower. The tower itself was not in the best of conditions, it might have been a work in progress and it might have been in a usable state, with power and sections that actually functions.. But there was a part where the floor caved in and he was forced to ascend a ladder on the outside of the building.

This ladder was pretty damn tall, especially for Jonah. The most climbing he's ever done was either in basic training, or just climbing up and down to sweep some leaves out of the gutter of his parent's house. This one was just a series of metal rungs bolted into a concrete wall extending nearly 300 feet in the air, and going for nearly another 100. He assumed this wasn't the only pathway, as there were about 40 other people left in the building and he hasn't come across one just yet. But still, his knuckles were white and his his legs were tired of lifting his own weight.

“I didn't think I was this heavy.” He muttered to himself as he kept climbing, stopping to look up at an open window with a small rope dangling from it. “...Well there's an answer.” He smiled, climbing sluggishly as he reached up to grab the rope, leaning over to get both hands onto it before he could climb in the window. He could take this ladder all the way to the top if he wanted to, but he still was technically carrying 0 cards on him, and he didn't want to rely on a wounded insane lady to get to the top and sail on her coattails just to win.

He leaped to that rope and began to dangle, he would of slipped and fell to his potential death if there weren't knots tied incrementally every 6 inches or so to stop his hands from gripping, but the twine of the rope dug into his hands, burning them slightly as he huffed and slowly pulled himself along the 10 feet of bundles. He grabbed firmly onto the solid window, grabbing hard against it and slowly pulling himself in just to fall into a heap on the ground. He slowly sat up and rubbed his hands as he looked around. The sun shined from the afternoon light and scatted out into the room, but the windows were boarded off on this floor. This made the rest of the room dark, and since his eyes were adjusted to the light he couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of him.

He stood up, dusting himself off and slowly walking along the dark room, hands pushing out in front of him as he struggled to figure out where he was going. His feet sifted on the ground because he didn't want to step on a nail... or two nails, or one hundred thousand nails. Well... Who makes a floor out of that many nails? Crazy ass spectrum might. He calmly slid his hands into his pockets as he slowly opened the door as he realized his legs were starting to hurt. Typically, 800 feet of building doesn't sound like it'd be that tall, you could probably run the length of the building in under 15 seconds if you happened to run pretty fast.. But the problem is they're on the inside of the building.

He didn't have a floor plan or blueprint to his building, every floor, one of the main staircases is blocked off and you're forced to traverse the building to find the next staircase, while there are about 40 other people all gunning for position and hoping to get to the top with at least 1 card minimum. Jonah knew that since he didn't have a card, it would mean he would be demoted instead of actually getting a promotion. He needed someone to fight, and he needed to find them relatively quickly. Jonah felt sore, his knuckles and fingers throbbed from the rusted metal of the ladder running up the side of the building, his legs hurt from all the running and climbing, and the emotional duress from the fight Maria had a couple of hours back was wearing on his mind.
He didn't really like speaking up to his teammates, they tend to get along pretty well and he likes to consider himself along for the ride. He sat back and rode things through, but for once, the weight was squarely on his shoulders and he's never felt the pressure like it is now. He's felt the hair on his back constantly stand up, his pulse can't even get anywhere near his usual heart rate... In the back of his head, he felt like he was going to blow it. Caleb's training, outside of physical conditioning has been pretty shit, in his opinion. He made Jonah do things like carry him piggyback up a hill, tugging him around in red wagons, and making him cross blacktops while shirtless and on his bare hands... He still kind of resents him for that last bit.

Jonah stopped mid thought, closing his eyes and calmly tried to assess if he could head any nearby sounds. The building was pretty poorly insulated, some of the torn off drywall showed there was no fiberglass, or foam.. or anything. It was pretty cold on the skin, if he wasn't wearing his combat outfit he'd pretty much feel the constant draft of high altitude winds seeping through windows and walls. He heard the familiar sound of clanging, the sharp ringing of metal striking another piece of metal. Since he was in the middle of combat test and not a smithy or a car factory, he could only assume there was a fight nearby.

The sound came from above him, so he started to break into a dash, smashing through doors with a pulse powered shoulder tackle because he actually thought to use it unlike someone else we saw earlier in that day who was stupid. Minutes passed and he finally found the stairwell, popping it open and quickly grabbing onto the rail to stop himself from running full tilt.. He took a deep breath to calm down, when he felt an eerie creaking. “DAMNIT!” He shouted as he felt the supports to the modified staircase buckle underneath of him, metal beginning to twist and bend and fall off, warping the stairs as it slowly began to pull itself off the supports and threaten to collapse 400 feet to the ground with Jonah standing atop it.

Jonah made a break for it, running up the stairs as each stair changed underneath him, making his footing unsteady as he them slammed hard through the door, the stairs crumbling down just behind him and falling off as he spilled through the door frame, sliding a couple of feet on his chest as he took a deep breath. “...Apparently someone didn't build this building up to code.” He said, sitting back against the wall before closing the door and taking a couple of deep breaths. He decided he should catch his breath just a bit before continuing, just in case he has to fight very soon, he shouldn't be out of breath.

This floor was strange, it was just the metal girders holding up the floors both above and below it. The outside was just bare, leading into the somewhat orange hue of the sun as it slowly slips down the horizon. He felt the wind gusting through the building to make it whistle at various pitches to match the speed. He checked his flanks, noticing that there were 4 different concrete pillars on each corner of the building. Each corner of the building holding a staircase. He could only guess that maybe one or two are still functional and actually not blocked off or completely un-viable to climb.

He checked his arm's indicator, checking the time to be roughly 3 hours before the end of the test, which he has guessed to be from noon to 8 PM as the overall timespan. He's been pacing himself, but it was pretty clear he needed to start getting a move on. He grabbed the pack strapped to his back and rested it in his lap, pulling the zipper open and reaching into the bag to pull out a sandwich, sealed in a plastic bag. It was a simple chicken salad with thousand island as a sauce to change the flavor, along with it he also had a plastic bottle of water. He avoided putting the bottle in the sun so he didn't have weird chemicals seep into the water. He knew this was probably just purified tap water... but you can't always bring the tap with you as you travel.. So he might at least consider this his last break before making the final break for the top of the tower.
“If that was your attempt at stealth, I'm afraid of what you sound like when you're loud.” A female voice rung behind him, it was unfamiliar sounding and he was in the middle of eating a sandwich. She approached from the side, his mouth full of food as he looked at her. She was wearing the standard combat outfit, but it was adorned by a red mantle wrapped and hooked around her neck to give it a raised collar, raised enough so he couldn't really see her mouth as she spoke. “...Did I interrupt something?” She asked, Jonah just finishing the sandwich quickly and standing up to face her. She had a short bob cut of brown hair framing her face, with green eyes. On her back was a fairly large scythe, a weird choice for a weapon user.

“Just... was on break.” He replied, drinking some of his water before capping it off and putting it back into his bag, slowly sliding his short sword from his belt, shield still attached to his left arm. She slowly unhooked the scythe from her back with a strap, spinning it once and holding it beside her. “Oh, my apologizes.” She half apologized, Jonah just sighing and crossing his arms over one another. “Did you want something...?” He asked her, she just smiled and reached down into one of her pockets to pull our 6 different cards. “I'll keep this simple, don't worry.” She said, Jonah cocking a brow out of curiosity as she explained.

“I was going to challenge you to a fight... but you may call me a gambler of sorts.” She said, smacking the handle of her scythe into the ground, showing the curved blade to have the number 21 etched onto the side. “Call me... 'Lady Luck.' ” She said with a sly smirk, Jonah just keeping his arms crossed as he lightly tilted his head to one side. “Don't tell me you are trying to have a gimmick...” Jonah asked incredulously. The girl just frowned, smacking the snath of the blade into the ground a couple of times.

”Uhh... Gimmick?” She asked, Jonah just lightly planted his head against his forehead to pinch his brow. “A moniker, a character, a nickname... stupid bullshit only people in comics do.” He half complained at her, she just softly tilted the scythe and frowned at the insults.

“...Hey, I earned that name legitimately! I consider myself to be really really lucky!” She argued at him, but he just kind of glared at her. “You could have always just gotten the name from a friend at a sleepover.” He joked at her expense, but she just sighed a bit. “...You live for this, don't you?” She said with a sigh, spinning her blade a couple of times, as Jonah noticed that underneath one of her eyes was a black spade, the symbol usually on a suit of playing cards. “I'm just pushing your buttons, really.” He replied, he thought it was stupid, but well... People be crazy, he has his own weird traits, just he happens to keep his cards to his chest... That pun was unintended.

“Well back to my original statement.” She said, trying to play it off coolly. “I would like to partake in a wager... Take a risk for a greater reward, a greater promotion and a greater chance to become a hero...” She stated emphatically, spinning her blade in her arms a couple of times to show a play of dexterity. “But I will warn you for playing against my game of chance and skill.. The house always has an edge.” She said, pointing the blade in a way to make the sun glimmer off of it. Jonah just paused, rubbing his chin some as she explained. “...Do all of your team have the playing card gimmick tattooed on their faces?” He asked, but she just gripped her blade in frustration.

“OH SHUT UP WITH THE GIMMICKS! ARE YOU GOING TO WAGER SOME CARDS OR NOT!?” She shouted, pointing the blade in frustration at him. “Woah woah... Calm down.” He stated, hands in front of him to get her to point the scythe down. “I uhh... Don't have any cards.” Jonah added, she slowly smirked, tucking away some of the cards before pulling out just two. “I guess you could say I feel both confident, yet take pity on you.” She said, pretending she just didn't lose her shit about 10 seconds before this. “I'll wager two cards against your zero... Let's see if you can take your meal ticket from the hands of fate herself!” She said, brandishing her blade, choking up on the grip and posing in front of him.

“...Uhh... Before that, have you seen a my friend? Short.. Very grumpy.. Red hair.. says 'fuck' a lot.. Anything at all?” He asked as she scanned both cards to be up for contention. She quietly pondered with a vocal 'Hmmm.' before spinning her scythe one last time. “No clue! Fight time! Now!” She said, leaping into the air to slash at him, but he quickly rolled to one side, gripping firmly onto his blade and pointing his shield almost instinctively to block a strike, the blade of the scythe bouncing away from him and over his head. She slid her hands down the blade, spinning with impressive speed to strike again, Jonah kept the block up, but realized the scythe was hooking behind him, the range was suddenly different and he didn't even notice, the blade bouncing away with pulse but also slid him back a couple of feet, making him roll as the girl choked her hands up the blade, diving forward to give a series of quick blows, Jonah being completely unprepared for any of them as he held his shield to his chest, his pulse was strong enough to hold them off, but his arm was already feeling heavier as his strength faded.

He stood back on his feet, dodging a couple of her swings, swinging his arm to realize he met no resistance, only air... It was like each swing was at a different distance, he couldn't even gauge how far away she was with her hits. When he was training with Caleb, he was taught about the concept of 'Zones Of Control.' The range of the user involving both their range of motion along with the range of their weapon. He learned about the traveling speed of the weapon getting faster the farther out, yet also requiring more effort. The best way to counter a long range fighter was to get closer to them, stopping the slower moving motion near the arms and making any strikes against him less powerful.

But every time he got closer, she changed the grip on her blade, making her swings faster, more concise, and harder to block. She was pretty good for her fairly low rank, she had quite a good reason why she was able to collect those cards... It wasn't power, or cheating... it was skill. Skill and unpredictability. He couldn't fight her up close, his blade was only about 16 inches in length and she probably had him beat in the agility apartment, that blade must've been made from some kind light alloy, letting her swing it so fast.. The good thing about her light and quick frame was the lack of power.. The speed of the scythe might have been scary, but he's been hit several times by it, his Pulse was still fairly steady, if a bit drained from the direct strikes.

He leapt up, doing a handspring and landing behind him in a low stance, gesturing for her to come after him. She responded with another charge, which he watched her arms specifically. 'From the top and to the right...' he thought to himself as he dipped below the strike, curling his hand to back with his elbow, smashing his shield straight into her knee. Sadly she didn't expect the blow, making the blow of steel cracking hard into the bone of her knee with an echoing thud. She felt the power fail from her legs as she stumbled onto her face, weapon smacking onto the ground with a ring as it bounces away from her. She got on all fours, looking back at him as she sputtered.

“That was a dirty trick yo-” She was cut off, as Jonah charged at the now weaponless girl. He leapt into the air, before smashing his boot into the back of her head. He charged his Pulse, drilling her face into the ground with a sick thud, the concrete cracking against her face was she was instantly rendered unconscious from the kick. Her arm indicator rang out that the fight was over. He sighed, lifting his foot off the back of her head, a tinge of guilt in his heart for using such a pragmatic move on someone... But a win was a win. He reached down, grabbing her shoulder and slowly rolled her onto her back. Blood was leaking from her nose as it was clearly broken, luckily, her teeth weren't busted and it appeared her face wasn't swelling up too bad... He managed to avoid giving her a major injury. He took the two cards from her pocket, scanning both of them as it accepted his victory from her wager.

He looked at her one last time, sighing as he sat down his second bottle of water from his bag beside her, hoping to help her out when she wakes up. He slowly approached the side of the building, looking at the sunset last time as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and look at the sun one last time before he ventured off. A gust of wind blowing his jacket and long blonde hair as he stumbled back just a bit, the wind being stronger than he expected. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he turned to approach one of the staircases with a completely not-fucking-destroyed set of stairs as he prepared to continue his ascension to the top. “Hopefully that's the last nutcase I have to deal with...” He muttered to himself, as he began to make his way up along the staircase and hopefully be combat free on his way to the top.

Jonah pushed the final door open onto the rooftop of the building just as the sun sank below the sunset, roughly 15 minutes before the test was actually over and came across quite the scene. About 15 or so students sitting and having a conversations with each other as they either sat on a helipad, near a medical or mess tent, or standing to discuss things with each other. His eyes scanned the area as he tried to check for familiar faces... He slowly walked forward, descending down a staircase while keeping his hands to himself so his key cards didn't spill out due to some unfortunate theft or accident. Crossing between a couple of vent fans as he noticed the familiar group of people sitting together at the food tent together, sitting at a bench and eating in silence.

He broke into a soft jog, running at them as a member of Spectrum got in this way. “Your card count, sir?” He said, Jonah's running suddenly stopping as he hastily dug through his pockets, pulling out the two cards from his pocket and handing it to him. He grabbed them both, scanning them with a small scanning gun in his hand, both of them caused the LED screen to flash a green color, confirming both of them as legitimate. He smiled softly at him, patting him on the shoulder. “Good job, kid.” He said in congratulations, Jonah just smiles and nodded his head at him as he turned to walk off, wanting to scan other students cards. He walked up to the bench and finally sat down in front of all of his 6 other teammates.

They weren't in the best of shape, Lily had a huge bruise on the side of her head and a surprisingly pensive look on her face. She was quietly poking at a piece of steak on a plate with her plastic fork, barely noticing Jonah's existence. Morgan looked pretty cut up, but she had kind of a grin on her face... But oddly, her typical companion Erika was sitting on the opposite side of the table, looking away from her. Maria wasn't even there, Florence wasn't sitting at the table at all, he was actually sitting just outside of the tent now that Jonah thought about it. Robin looked like her typical bravado was completely eradicated, the only person who had a semblance of life in them was Caleb.

“Uh...” Jonah asked as he stared at everyone, the silence was uncomfortable and he felt like he was nearly choking on it. “Welcome back, champ.” Caleb said, patting Jonah once on the back as he looked down at his shorter teammate. “How many cards did you win?” He asked, Jonah lifted two fingers up into the air to point them at him. “Either you won two cards, or you're telling me to fuck off. I'm assuming the latter!” He said with a grin, patting one more time before going back to carve into his steak. “Thanks, man... Why is everyone so quiet?” He asked, kind of alluding to the awkward silence. “I assume everyone had a rough day.. I suggest you give them space.” Morgan added, looking at Lily mostly.

Erika slowly scooted her trey from the table, her food was finished and she had no incentive to stay. “Look... Let's talk when we get back to the dorm, okay?” Erika stated, slowly leaving the tent after dumping her empty tray into a nearby bin to dispose of it. “Okayyyy...” Jonah muttered to her turning back to the remaining people at the table. “Actually, I'm not hungry.” Lily said, standing up and leaving just after her. Jonah noticed she didn't even take a single bite into her steak, she was just gently poking it with the fork while she tried to slice into it with her knife.

“Did you run into any opposition?” Caleb asked Jonah, noting that Jonah didn't really have any bad wounds on him or anything. “I fought someone.. caught them off guard and managed to win back 2 cards... Maria had two cards, but I had no idea what happened to her.” Jonah replied, Caleb nodding some as he finished his last bite of the steak, but was not intending to leave the table just yet. “After Maria beat Lily and took our card, me and her won 1 fight a piece and managed to get enough cards for us to pass.” He said with a smile, pointing a thumb at himself with quite a bit of pride behind it.” Jonah sighed some, leaning back to check if Lily was standing outside of the tent, but she was nowhere in sight. He leaned back and sighed softly as he scooted the table up to look back at Caleb. “That's good.” Jonah mentioned, before Robin interjected. “Me and Morgan cleaned up shop, we managed to get 2 cards as well.” She said with a smile, Morgan reaching up for a high five, only to get met with Robin's confused stare. “Uhh... Did you want me to give you money?” She asked, before Morgan angrily grabbed Robin's wrist to force her into a non-consensual high five.

“Erika did just fine with Florence, but she's mad at me.” Morgan added, Jonah sighing some as he felt a oddly thick air on his shoulders, like a lot of things were either going wrong, or about to go wrong. “And Maria is...?” He asked, Morgan shaking his head some. “I haven't seen her, haven't heard from her... Nothing at all.” She added, Jonah frowning a bit as he rested his chin against his hand. “I hope she's okay.” He replied, as they both watched the students file out of the tent, them following suit as they noticed that Chancellor Lakewood was standing just on the very edge of the helipad, roughly 10 feet higher than the roof's floor level. “All students, Attention!” She said with a Drill Sargent esque tone.

All the students broke out with a run into a line, standing shoulder to shoulder in a grid a bit smaller than it was before. “I've gotten reports from our instructors that every single student has been accounted for. Every single person not standing before me has been returned back to the academy for either treatment, or prosecution.” She stated, softly tapping the bottom of her cane on the helipad. “Unfortunately we've had some unsavory folk that have caused a couple of incidents, and all people involved have been removed for questioning.” She said, softly spinning the cane and catching it in her hands. “This officially draws our test to a close, you will be sent home, processed and will be handled accordingly. The helicopters have a max limit of 8, not counting the pilots, I highly suggest that everyone be patient.” She said, as a helicopter descended just behind her, slowly slowing it's rotors to a stop.

She slightly lifted her long skirt to ascend up the stairs into the helicopter to take a seat for herself. Some of the students slowly approached the copter and climbed inside, before taking off. The rest of the students restlessly padding atop the roof, Jonah sitting against the ledge as Lily went to sit beside him, watching the other Slayers wait for the next helicopter to approach. “I just.. wish I did my job to the point I didn't feel this way.” Lily said with a half sigh, Jonah leaning back on his hands as he looked at her, her head down, with her short blonde hair draping over her eyes.

“Don't act like that...” He said, cautiously reaching his hand to softly place it on her shoulder, hoping to the maker that he doesn't slap him in the face. “You're smart, you're good at magic.. You are pretty Wolf, I lost to Maria..” She complained, but Jonah just lightly shook her shoulder with his grip, the next helicopter landing as more students filed on to leave. “I just.. Can't do this.” She said, softly gripping her head and squeezing to hope that the stress can settle by grabbing it.

Jonah stood up, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked down at her. “Well I don't care about that... Fights between people are just matters of pride.. They don't matter.” Jonah complained, the next helicopter taking off and causing another gust of wind. The next helicopter landed as Lily stood up, putting her hands into the pocket of her coat and leaving Jonah behind to sit there, waiting to leave for himself.

Spectrum Act 2, intermission 3: The Song You Deserve.

Well, this is different.

Act 2, Chapter 9, Intermission 3: The Song You Deserve

It's been nearly three hours since Maria was removed from the test due to injuries. Maria was placed in a small medical tent about half a block away from the skyscaper where students can briefly be treated before being sent back to the Spectrum infirmary where they can receive more treatment, almost as if it were a field hospital. On the set of beds they set up for every student, which were half occupied, Maria sat her back against the back of her tent. Her ribs were taped up so tightly she struggled to breathe at times, the cut across her face was thin enough to be patched back together with a Cyanoacrylate, an adhesive mixture which can close wounds without sutures.

The cut on Maria's forehead was just disinfected, as it was already starting to scab over and didn't need any major attention, but her lip was split and they quickly stitched it together. Maria heard a ruffle in the canvas of the tent, turning her head to it, she saw a familiar face. The boy she fought roughly 2 hours earlier, out of his combat gear and in a more casual jacket with rolled up sleeves, along with a pair of loosely fit jeans.

“Aren't you supposed to be off with someone?” Maria asked, her voice soft to not hurt her lungs by speaking. He sighed, placing his hands to his sides and bowing his head as if he was greeting someone higher up. “I'm so sorry this had to happen.” He said somberly, Maria noticed the more oval eyes, coffee with cream skin and slight accent to his voice, now that she wasn't hearing her head ringing. “Uhh...” Maria trailed off, scooting to the side of the small cot she was sitting on. He looked back up at her and stood back to his normal posture, his parasol blade nowhere in sight. “And just so you know, Chris was disbarred from the exam and is currently being transferred to a holding cell. He thought he could cheat the system, even if Councilor Lakewood explicitly stated they had countermeasures.” He explained, sitting on the empty cot sitting beside her.

“So your partner was an idiot, why aren't you in prison too? Don't you associate with him?” She asked, he crossed his arms over each other and leaned back just a bit before replying. “They questioned me, and I recalled that all I did was reluctantly challenge you to a fight, use a move I didn't know the power of, and win my wager.” He said, gently dusting his shoes off before standing back up to look down at her. “The whole robbing you thing was Chris's plan.. So our team was disbanded and I'm back into the rotation, they still stripped me of my weapon until I go back to the academy.” He continued, but looked at Maria. “Why didn't they question me?” Maria asked, looking up at him. “You were pretty beat up, I asked the doctor and you've only came to about.. 10 minutes ago.” He mentioned, Maria frowning and looking at the ground.

He sighed, gently reaching up to rub his hand onto her shoulder, Maria not really in the mood to push it off. “Hey.. I'm sorry I took you out of the exam. I don't know how to make it any better.” He admitted, a tinge of sadness in his voice. “Look, I don't blame you.” Maria said, slowly pressing her palms flat onto the bed to stand up, when all of a sudden a sharp pain entered her chest, dropping her onto her knees as she inhaled sharply from the pain. He quickly grabbed her to stand her back up, using some of his strength to sit her back on the cot. “Just.. leave me alone.” Maria said, leaning back on her seat as he frowned. “That's fine, my name is Julen... Julen Pierce.” He said with a smile, wrapping his bag over his shoulder. “I'll make sure to visit you later, okay?” He added, only to get shot down by Maria's somber silence, he frowned a little, turning his back and slowly leaving the room to herself.

Julen passed by Sienna as she entered the room with a clipboard, he held the flaps of the tend open for her to let her walk by, nodding his head once as she walked over to sit on the same bed as Maria, quietly leaving for himself. “Who was the black haired kid?” Sienna asked, sitting on the bed beside her. Maria looked up, shaking her head a little bit. “Some dude who I fought in the tower.” Maria replied, she didn't really know, nor care about him. The little act of kindness and apology was alright, but it really wasn't enough to like somebody. “Oh well.” She said, folding the paper back and reading it over. “Your medical reports got back.” She said, frowning when she read the diagnosis.

Maria leaned over her shoulder some to read the same page. “What is it?” She asked, Sienna closing the clip board and looking to her little sister. “You've broken four ribs, received a minor concussion along with your lacerations, luckily the bones in your rib cage stayed together enough to reset them, but any more extraneous activity and your bone fragments will begin to puncture your lungs... And that would require a much more invasive surgery.” She said, Maria looking up at her a bit with a dour pout. “So.. I'm out.” Maria replied briefly.

“I'm sorry Maria... You're out.” She said with a frown, clearly seeing the disappointment on her face. Maria reached her hands into her hair, pulling back lightly as she sighed loudly. “Every fucking time... I'm the first one out.” Maria said half groaning, falling back onto the bed with a light bounce. “...And you'll need surgery when you come back, and then it'd be about 8 weeks of limited movement for you.” Sienna compounded, Maria just growling a bit in annoyance. “I'm sorry Maria.. at least if Jonah makes it to the end, you will be able to still pas-” Sienna tried to cheer Maria up, but Maria quickly stood back up. “Fuck Jonah.” Maria muttered to herself, rubbing her sore, broken ribs as she softly limped away.

“Don't say stuff like that...” Sienna reprimanded, Maria shaking her head and clutching her fist that wasn't nursing her wounded body. “I'm always out first, and it's always because I take a bigger bite off than I can chew. I'm always hurt, in a hospital, or pissing someone off.” Maria complained, taking a shot at herself as she leaned against a table for support. “The more I think of it, maybe you were right.” Maria turned to her, Sienna furrowed her brow, standing up and walking behind her, resting her hand on Maria's shoulders. “I was being irrationally protective Maria. You don't need my approval to be here... You need to do what you feel like you need to do.” Sienna said to try and bolster Maria's confidence, but it didn't break the deflated expression on her face, to be honest.. It might have compounded it.

“I'm not cut out for this... Most of my friends are relatively successful, but every time I have to toe the line and do my best, I drop the ball.” Maria folded her arms together, reaching into her bags to see if she could find something to wear that wasn't her combat armor, it was uncomfortable and stained with her own blood. “I always liked to think I was a good fighter.. but what's the fucking point if I get hurt worse than the people I end up beating? What the fuck kind of lifespan is that?” Maria asked her, Sienna just staying quiet and letting Maria vent. “Maybe this entire idea of joining a combat academy was fucking stupid. I just didn't know what to do with my life, I get it.” Maria complained, taking off her jacket and slowly pulling on a tank top instead.

“This isn't where I belong, I know.” Maria admitted, crossing her arms and looking at the floor as Sienna slowly backed a step away from her. “I went through that once when I joined here... That sudden feeling of regret in your stomach. That feeling of running away in the pit of your stomach before you fully commit to something.” Sienna tried her best to sympathize with her, but Maria didn't really feel any better for it. “I'm leaving Spectrum.” Maria said, though it made Sienna's stomach drop just a bit. “Maria don't... You'll regret it and just come back.. Try and failing is better than not trying, right?” Sienna said with a smile as she placed a hand on her little sister's shoulder, Maria reacted by grabbing it and gently pulling it off of her. “No, I'm pretty sure what I want.” Maria replied, wiping a tear from her eye as she turned to look at her sister.

“I've took my bumps, I'm not cut out for this... I'm a failure.” Maria said with a soft sigh, sinking back into her seat as Sienna frowned at her a little, coming to sit with her once again. “I'm finished.” Maria said, light tears rolling down her eyes as she sunk forward just a bit, resting her hands on her knees as Sienna reached up to softly rub an arm. “I'll stop arguing with you, if you really want to do this.” Sienna said to Maria's silence. “Guess it's back to the boarding school.” Maria joked a bit, leaning back into her chair. “Actually, that wouldn't be the case.” Sienna cut her off, Maria looking up at her quietly to her her explanation.

“I'll sign the papers and say you're under my custody, since you're still under 21, I can have you stay with me until you choose to either rejoin or move out.” Sienna said with a smile, Maria leaned back and sighed some. “A thing that separates Spectrum from most Military schools is the fact they offer both high school and college courses, you could finish those and maybe get a career.” She said with a grin, Maria looking back up at her and looking down. “Where would I stay?” Maria asked. “Probably in the dorm you were in.” She said with a smile, Maria's lips curling into a frown as she said that. “I can't go back there.” Maria said, leaning back a bit more as she felt the pain in her ribs well up again. “Lily hates me, I don't want to talk to her.” She stated flatly, Sienna stood back up and slowly turned around to look at the exit of the tent. “Look, I'll get you a different dorm. It won't be too hard.” She said with a smile, Maria nodding lightly as Sienna slowly walked away from her, stopping just before she left the room.

“Remember that I love you, okay?” Sienna said with a smile, Maria nodding gently and leaning back against the bed as she heard the sound of a helicopter landing a ways off. “They will come pick you up, ship you over to Spectrum and I'll get the papers ready while they prep you for surgery, okay?” Sienna asked, Maria nodding some before leaning back onto the cot and covering her eyes with her forehead.

“I guess that's it...” Maria muttered to herself.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 10: The Tower, Part 5.

Spectrum: You know, For kids.

Chapter 10 The Tower, Part 5

Maria quietly climbed up the central stairwell of the skyscraper, a metallic set of stairs wrapping on each wall, before turning each corner roughly every floor. The sound of her boots clanging against the metal of the stairs didn't help the dull throbbing Maria felt in her head. Even if the cuts on her lips and forehead stopped bleeding about half an hour ago, they were only just barely scabbed over and could be busted open once again. She gently rubbed her head to try and rid herself of the dizzy feeling she felt. She turned the corner to head up past the 20^th floor, but she stopped only when she realized that the staircase had a massive iron plate welded to block the way.

“...Really?” She muttered to herself, slowly rearing her hand back to form the black carapace around her left arm. Maria's magic was kind of strange, once she did some research on it. She uses something called “Primal Magic.” Something that is similar to every person who has Ash tainting their bloodstream like hers. She can't use traditional elements, which means she'll always be at a disadvantage when it comes to range. Her abilities enhance her physical attributes, making her faster, stronger and more durable. But at a cost, it burns through her stamina extremely fast to use Magic. Typically in combat club, Maria can go about 25 minutes in a fight before her legs give out, but if she used her Primal magic, she can only go about 5.

She also can access various attributes of the Riftfallen who poisoned her, giving her phoenix like features such as talons, and what she could possibly assume to be wings at one point or an another. Maria quickly reared her fist back, smashing it straight through the wall as it was wet paper, before gripping onto it and slowly ripping it downward enough to get her second arm in, ripping a hole she could fit through in the metal slab welded to block her path. She took one step forward as the talons faded to smoke on both hands, dipping in only to realize at the last second the staircase was completely removed for this section, it was so clean it was almost intentional.

She crouched down, looking over the edge and grabbing a small piece of what she would assume to be rubble, tossing it over the side and watching it as it nearly careened 200 feet to the bottom of the stairwell. “...Yeah, not doing that again.” She said, standing back up and slowly backing through the hole in the metal sheet, turning and slowly pulling the door open leading into the rest of the building. As she walked through, she felt the strength fade from her legs, making her stumble forward. “I'm using this Primal thing too much...” She mused to herself, curling her fists tight and pushing them into her pockets as she stumbled until she forced herself up against the inner wall, sliding against it to help prop her weight and help her balance.

She slowly approached a door leading to a hallway, slowly pushing it open and stumbling her way through it. It was dimly lit as it didn't have any windows leading to the outside. She wasn't any closer to finding another stairwell and she knew it. She muttered quietly as Gale appeared by her side. “You really should talk to me more.” He remarked, Maria looking up at him as she turned to her side, walking backward to get a better look at him. “What, do you get off by the sound of my voice?” Maria asked him, but he just sighed in response. “No, I'm not even sure I'm capable of such a feat.” He stated as a fact Maria didn't want to imagine.

“When I'm in public I don't talk to you because I don't want to sound like I'm talking to myself... People think I'm insane enough, I don't want them to think I hear voices in my head.” She explained herself, he reached up and stroked under where his chin would be. “Fun thing to think about, what if you arejust imagining me as a coping mechanism, and really are insane?” He added, Maria just paused wide eyed in silence. “...Good point.” She admitted, continuing her backwards stride.
“Door.” He flatly stated, Maria tilting her head as she kept walking. “What?” She wondered aloud. “DOOR!” He shouted as Maria smacked her back and head into the door, as the door was slightly ajar, it popped open and she ended up falling flat on her back. “...Fuck.” She muttered to herself, a light chuckle echoing from across the room. The room was very stripped down, being just a couple of concrete pillars and concrete floors. Maria could only surmise that this room wasn't finished, or Spectrum is re-purposing it for some other option.

Standing above her and just across the room was an effeminate man. Effeminate enough to make Maria pause for a second to think about what she was looking at, he had long, somewhat styled black hair draping over his shoulders off to one side, a stripe in his hair dyed red. His black standard Spectrum armor, which was covered by a long, silver coat. And his gloves had metal that went over his fingers to form claws. Attached to his belt was oddly, an umbrella. It was a modern umbrella, not the typical wooden handled parasols you'd see in a picnic catalog, but with a more composite black grip.

His eyes were red, and his skin was somewhat dark, indicators he was also infected with Ash Syndrome at one point of his life. “Greetings.” He said softly, slowly pulling his umbrella and placing it on the ground so he could lean on it. The fabric was a simple red color with white swirls on it. “All you have to say?” Maria said, dusting herself off and trying to recompose herself from the worst door entry she's ever taken part in.

“Do you always do that?” He asked, placing the umbrella on his shoulders as Maria grumbled, looking away. “No... It was an accident.” She tried to play it off a bit, but he shook his head. He didn't have a smug look on his face... Actually, Maria had no damn idea the look on his face. “You know the rules.” He said, twisting the handle of his umbrella to reveal that inside the handle, at the press of a button, was a long sword. He drew it, spinning it in his hands and brandishing it toward her. “A fight, then..” Maria said, taking a deep breath as she slowly drew both of her blades to meet his stance with hers. He inspected her face, noticing the wounds, her lack of balance in her stance, along with her deep breaths.

“You're wounded.” He observed, showing a strange lack of using too many words. “I'll let you pass, if you wish.” He offered, lowering his blade, but Maria just growled, clenching her blades tighter. “None of that chivalrous bull crap, please.” Maria bounced his offer off, taking one or two steps forward to only realize her knees shook from her lowered stance, she had no power... That was usually her major advantage, her explosiveness. “Well, how many cards do you have on you?” He asked, Maria dug into her pocket, pulling them out and placing them between her thumb and index to show she was brandishing two.

“I have only one to wager, but are you sure you have a partner I can fight...?” He asked, somewhat concerned. It was less that he had to fight a girl and more he had to fight a wounded one that was bothering him. “I want to do this myself...” Maria muttered, scanning one of the cards to put it on the line, and he reluctantly accepted the duel with his own wager, keeping his Parasol strapped to his side, his other hand raised in the air, the metal plating on his gloves having a strange cat's paw pattern. “Uhh... Dude. Why the cat gloves?” Maria asked, dropping his guard. He just shook his head a couple of times, not using the opportunity to attack. “I like cats.” He added, before charging at Maria.

He was clearly much fresher than Maria was, his movements were sharp and on point, even if he seemingly lacked power thanks to his somewhat light 5'7 frame. Their blades clashed, Maria's faltering strength able to still match him in a clash. “You need a better battle cry...” She mentioned, since the fight hasn't really picked up yet. “Like... 'Let's do this' or 'Stabbing time,' I like cats is kind of shitty.” She criticized, but he just sighed, breaking the clash and taking a step back. “Kind of a bad time, don't you think...?” He mentioned, before launching a deep stabbing motion at her with his narrow, but sturdy blade, Maria's legs only kicked in at the last second, stumbling to the side and rolling on her shoulder. But by the time she stood up, he leaped onto one of her shoulders, his other boot kicking her square in the face. Maria gasped, falling onto her back as he spun around to strike another blow, but Maria quickly bashed it aside with one of her arms. Sparks began to fly from his blade scraping the concrete. Maria rolled away from him, quickly leaping onto her feet until one of her legs buckled, forcing her on one knee.

He responded by calmly waiting for her, hands crossed together, his blade resting on his shoulder, almost as if he was hesitating. “Come on, man...” Maria complained, shouting to him as she stood back up, pointing one of her swords directly at him. “Don't half ass this unless you want your head cut off! Don't goof around in combat...” Maria shouted at him to get him to be more serious. His eyes began to glow as he lowered his stance. “So be it.” He said, breaking into a charge at her, his rapier tucked against his chest as Maria broke into her own pulse assisted charge straight at him.

Maria crossed her blades downward in an X formation to try and force him to either dodge to the side or force him to take the hit, but he tucked his head just past it, sliding on his knees and forming his own Primal armor around one of his hands, smashing his fist right into her stomach. A dull crack echoed throughout the room as Maria felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. Her entire stomach and chest tightened as she bent down into the fist. “G-ggh..” She rattled in pain as she realized she couldn't speak. Blood beginning to splatter from her mouth and onto the ground as she collapsed over his fist, buckling her knees and collapsing to the floor to make another raspy gurgling sound.

“Oh no...” He winced, taking a couple of steps back in shock as he might have just shattered her ribs with his strike. He dropped down onto his knees, rolling Maria onto her back. Her mouth was open, but her tongue and mouth was red from the blood leaking from it. “I uhh... didn't know using Primal magic hit that hard!” He said, with a panic in his voice, Maria's armlet turning red and beginning to ring to state Maria was unable to continue. He ran over, twisting her arm enough to see the writing on it. “Maria...” He said to himself, trying to remember her name, before reaching into her pocket to grab one of the cards.

“I'm sorry, Maria.” He said, pocketing the card and hastily making an exit from the room they fought him. Maria rolled onto her chest, pushing off of the floor as she coughed up even more blood. “THAT ASSHOLE.” Maria shouted, the sounds echoing about the room as she propped herself against a wall. The pain in her chest was so severe she couldn't even press her hand against it without shrieking in pain, so she wasn't even going to try. “You alright?” Gale said, manifesting back to float beside her. Maria felt more of her blood leak from her mouth as she spoke, her voice raspy as she struggled for air. “No I'm fucking not, Gale.. I think... that fucker... just broke my ribs.” She said between heavy breaths.

“He knew you were hurt, it looked like he just wanted to burn though the rest of your Pulse and finish the fight early.” He explained, Maria glaring up at him. “But you might have been so low on Pulse already you couldn't take the hit.” He observed, Maria lost the strength in her legs to stand, gently taking a couple of ragged breaths before looking up at him. “Well look who just became a detective..” Maria chuckled, before leaning back onto the concrete pillar she was resting against. The sharp sting turning into a dull throb, as long as she sat still, the pain wasn't going to get any worse. “Well... What's the plan now?” Gale asked, as Maria undid the zipper to her armor, revealing her black tanktop, as she tried to relieve the pressure on her ribs. “I-I'll be fine.. I need to lay here for a minute.” Maria said, trying to get in a comfortable position.

“You're acting a bit more reckless than usual today, is something wrong?” Gale asked her, perching on her shoulder as she felt her vision began to blur. “I overestimated myself again... Shit happens.” She tried to brush it off, as she heard a chuckle come from her peripheral vision. A man with a black hat, in Spectrum gear approached her. “Damn, Julen did a number on you.” He commented, before clutching at Maria's throat, slowly lifting her up on her feet, before going even higher to make her dangle off the ground, she grabbed his arms, squeezing him tightly on his arm as he reached down to dig into her pockets. “Card should be in here somewhere.” He muttered to himself, Maria too weak to do anything about it.

He grabbed her key card, letting go of Maria to make her dump to the floor in a mess. “And that's our meal ticket...” He said with a grin, bending down and drawing his blade, slicing her across the face with one of his dual daggers, blood leaking across the bridge of her nose and cheeks as he stood up with a chuckle. “Thanks bitch, see ya!” He said, before turning his back to her. Before Maria slowly stood back up one more time. “HEY!” She shouted at him, adjusting her chest a bit before drawing her blades once again, even if she was in a bloody heap.“You leave this room and I'm going to fucking kill you.” Maria nearly hissed at him with her still ragged voice. He turned to her with a sigh, one of his hands rubbing his forehead out of annoyance “And of course I get to rob the crazy one, do you have a deathwish?” He asked, frowning as he drew his second dagger to her.

“I ain't scared of you..” Maria replied, charging her broken body at him, but he responded by just stepping aside as Maria slashed overhead at him, falling right onto her face in a pool of her own blood. The tall, auburn haired man sighed to himself, slowly walking to her to scan her card into her own armlet, before taking it for himself. He then walked into the other room to leave the girl be. Julen, the boy who previously fought Maria leaned against a pillar on the other side of the door in the room he entered, approaching him with a disgusted look on his face. “I hope you're proud of yourself, Chris.” He reprimanded, but the taller boy just gripped onto Julen's shoulder, squeezing it hard enough for it to hurt. “Oh quit bitching, I just won us a promotion.” The taller man known as Chris replied, patting him on the shoulder as they walked off together to climb up the tower.

Because of Maria's armlet going off, and Jonah not being anywhere close to her at the time, two medical staff ran into the room about 15 minutes after the whole ordeal was over. One a woman, one a man. The woman rolled Maria onto her back, looking her over as she pulled out a small satchel of medical supplies. “What happened to you?” She asked, the man behind her calling in a crew to help extract her, even telling them to unlock the elevators to make getting her to a medical tent even quicker than carrying her down the stairs.

“Got robbed..” Maria replied, coughing more blood out as the woman began to wrap her chest up and tighten on the ribs so at least she could be taken down more safely. “I'm sorry, miss. Your exam is over.” She replied, gently standing up to talk with the man as they were prepared to take Maria to get help. Maria felt her eyes began to well up with tears until the bit her bottom lip so hard it bled once again. “Not again...” She growled to herself over her own failure, this was the second time she's failed her exam, and had to rely on someone else to finish for her.

“I don't want to be overly critical, Maria, but... clearly you doing things on your own isn't working out.” Gale added, suddenly pecking at her cheek once or twice like a bird looking for rocks to put in it's gizzard. “I know.” Maria replied, crying slightly, but maintaining enough composure to not dry heave or sniffle, she reached her hands up to her face, lightly running through her own hair to cover up her own tears. “I'm a colossal fuck up, I get it.” She muttered, slightly chuckling at the whole situation. “I just... screw up everything.” She added, breaking out into a weak laugh, like someone just told her a joke. Gale frowned at that, watching at the two technicians left the room to await for more help. “You know that isn't true.” Gale replied between Maria's strange laughing. She slowly slid her hands on the smooth, hard pavement, rolling onto her chest and slowly falling asleep from being overwhelmed in pain and exhaustion.