Spectrum: Act 2, Chapter 6: The Tower, Part 1

I had writers block for a while, but luckily I persevered. Happy 30 chapters of Spectrum!

Act 2, Chapter 6: The Tower, Part 1

Maria was wrapped up in her covers on her top bunk, not fully asleep, but not fully awake. She just felt like she was just resting her limbs, magic training has been hard on her and all the other members of her team. Even if Maria couldn't use real magic like her other teammates, she learned a couple of cool tricks so far with how her powers work. She heard the doorknob twist open, pushing open hard enough to bang against the wall. “Gooooood Moooorrrrniiinnng!” Ashley shouted in the room, only to be met by tired groans and sluggish movements. Maria began to roll to the side, before grabbing the mattress to halt herself from falling out. “Did the sun happen yet...?” Lily asked, her eyes blurring as she looked up at the window to see the dull blues of nautical dawn fill the windows, the sun nowhere in sight.

“We need all of you up early, the Promotion exam is today!” Ashley announced with both pep and excitement in her voice, which was completely at the wrong time of the day to even feel such feelings. “Come back in about three hours, until then... Bite me.” Maria responded, burying her head back under the covers to make what was pretty much a Maria shaped mound under the blankets and adamant to fall asleep. “We have no time, shorty.” Ashley said, yanking the blankets off to reveal Maria hugging her knees to her chest in a fetal position. “The helicopter is going to take off in half an hour, and I need all of you dressed.” She said, Maria slowly sitting up, one eye half closes as Lily lightly slid out of her bed, still in her nightgown.

“I will eat your face.” Maria mumbled, not entirely awake enough to know what she's saying, sliding out of the top bunk and dropping onto her feet with a dull thud against the smooth, wooden floor. “Good luck with that.” She said, ruffling Maria's hair as she started looking through the clothing door. From the doorway leading to the second set of bunk beds in the dorm came Jonah and Caleb following in line. Jonah rubbing a sore spot in his shoulder as he slept on it wrong. “There is no way you can be this awake, this early.” Jonah muttered, slipping on a pair of pants, hopping on both legs to get it over his waist. “Are you a robot?” He asked her, semi seriously. She just grinned and patted him on the back. “No, I'm just amped up on about three cups of coffee.” She responded, Jonah just raised his brow at her, considering it a reasonable answer through his messy wad of bed hair, as he hasn't washed or combed it just yet.

Everyone got dressed within five minutes, Maria opening the door where they stored their weapons to only find them absent. “...Uhh... Where's our stuff?” She asked. “I actually had everything loaded on the helicopter just after you all went to get dinner, your combat equipment, weapons, armor and armlets are all there.” She said with a grin, Maria sighing as she slipped on a hoodie to combat the morning cold, even if it broke dress code with her suit underneath of it. “Why do we need a helicopter to go to an exam?” Lily asked, slipping into her school uniform with an extra pair of leg warmers to make up for the fact under her knee length skirt, her legs were exposed.

“Well... We're heading to Silverton.” She said with a bit of gravitas, before hearing it just fall short on everyone. “...That's a city, right?” Maria asked, tossing a bag over her shoulder which had a bottle that she could refill with water. “It was the capital of Rosewall, Maria.” Ashley added, gesturing them to come walking down the hall with her now that she was better dressed. “I didn't go to Silverton when I got my promotion.” Caleb said, putting his hands into his pockets as he turned to step down the stairs just behind Ashley. “This is a culmination of a 4 year project, we typically used the Arena for the exam... but we feel like the students at Spectrum need to work in an environment that feels more like it does when they go on a mission, instead of some kind of strange game show that involves fighting a bunch of weird looking stuff, wearing colored outfits and navigating a stupid, made up temple where one of the challenges was to arrange a golden monkey.” She explained.
“I think I would have liked the golden monkey.” Jonah mentioned, Ashley just lightly sighing as she pulled the double doors open so they could continue to follow her. “Silverton was the Capital of Rosewall roughly 25 years ago. Spectrum was barely a thing and the counsel wasn't a thing yet, we were still presided over by a king. The king and his castle resided in Silverton, which around the time the attack happened, had a population of over 2 million people.” She said as they walked past the fountain, heading to the back end of the hospital where the helipad was located. “But because Spectrum was only an idea at this point... The towns didn't really have the best ways to counter Riftfallen if they attacked besides trying to defeat them.” Ashley said, Maria walking up a bit faster to hear what she had to say, hair and hoodie covering all but one eye and the bottom half of her face.

“Then one of the biggest Riftfallen attacks that has ever been seen happened. Buildings were toppled and people were killed. They all rushed into their cars, but there was an issue.” She said, walking up to the helipad, watching the other teams climb on theirs and awaiting the pilot to give her the ok, they still had another 15 minutes to wait. “The town was a coastal town, there was only one highway into the city so all the people panicked, rushing down that road as fast as possible to get out. One car accident near the front of the pack sent the whole dense traffic slowed, more and more accidents began to pile up and eventually it halted. People were stranded, but there were too many to rescue. They robbed eachother, starved and became thirsty. Over 782,000 people were killed over the length of 1 week, making it the largest mass grave in human history.” Ashley finally admitted, Jonah and Lily's eyes grew to the size of figurative saucepans as they both gasped at the same time.

“Sounds like a nice place to live.” Maria said, brow raised with a flat, sarcastic tone. Ashley just kind of glared at her slightly from the random comment. “It would be funnier if this wasn't a real thing that a bunch of people died in.” Ashley replied, Maria cleared her throat, looking away when she realized she didn't have a comeback. “So, what about our weapons, why would you ship them to Silverton before we got up?” Jonah asked a sound question, Ashley raising a finger some as she nodded. “Ah, you see I have to take your weapons in to be dulled before the test, I'll explain more later.” She said with a smile, hoping that would stop their questions. “Well.. Where's team Solstice?” Jonah asked, Ashley looking up in the air and pointing at the horizon. “They're being taken to Silverton, you should be able to meet up with them soon.” Ashley stated, Caleb crossing his arms over his chest as they all heard the sound of an approaching helicopter slowly land just behind them.

“Well, looks like our ride is here.” Lily said, walking up as the double doors in the back popped open, revealing a ramp they can climb up into. This helicopter was a bit bigger than the ones they normally do missions in, she only assumed it was for the equipment they had packed in to make sure everything arrived safely. The doors opened in the back as the rotors began to slow down so no one would get decapitated if they decided to play a spontaneous game of basketball underneath a helicopter. The co-pilot, operating the door and gesturing for the five of them to head inside. They complied quietly, the insulation of inside the helicopter, but it was still loud enough to have them speak up over the sounds of the helicopter.

“So...” Jonah trailed on the awkward silence, just loud enough to speak over the loud whirring. The room lit by a dark red light, broken by the dim sunrise peering through the pilots window. “Why are we going to go to an abandoned city, just to get a promotion exam?” Jonah asked, rubbing his pale blonde stubble. “Isn't it a bit.. extravagant?” He mentioned, Ashley patting her hands on her thighs before leaning back a bit. “We have less permits and regulations we have to abide by, it's quicker and simpler and no one really has a title deed on an abandoned skyscraper.” Ashley explained, Jonah raising his brow. “A skyscraper...?” He asked confused by the fact they managed to get an entire skyscraper devoted to this cause.
“Yes, a skyscaper.” Ashley replied flatly with a light chuckle, Lily furrowed her brow as she bent forward just a bit to glance at Ashley face to face by looking around Maria. “Isn't that a bit.. Shady? We're using a graveyard for a training center...” Lily mentioned out of concern, Ashley had the response in mind even before she finished her sentence. “Well, if someone dies in a house, is that house off limits for anyone who wishes to take residence?” Ashley asked, Lily rubbing her chin with a bent finger as she thought it over. “It's been over 25 years since it happened, the dead were identified and buried, I think it was about time we went over to fix the place up.” She justified, Lily just leaning back and sighing as they let the helicopter drift along on the extended ride over the mountainsides and beaches of Rosewall.

Even if it was inside a metal box covered in whirling blades going so fast you couldn't see them, Rosewall was close to the northern tip of the western continent, just slightly south of the northern tip of the eastern continent. It enjoyed the temperate and varied weather because it wasn't far too north or south to get stuck in a permanent climate, time passed as the sun rose, shining it's dawn golden light on the helicopter as it flew 200 miles southeast to Silverton. The helicopter slowly drifted down, the engines turning off as the doors opened up when the pilot flipped the switch, the doors opening to a bright, shining sunlight that was so bright all of them had to cover or close their eyes, as the light actually hurt.

They all stepped out in a single file line, Ashley was the last as she dropped two large boxes on the ground with a metallic rattle. She reached down, unlocked the locks on the metal boxes and pulled both of them open. “We had to modify your weapons for the context of this test. We've been running Lidar around this general vicinity and it seems like there isn't enough Riftfallen in this area to show concern, so it shouldn't be an issue.” She mentioned as Maria grabbed one of her swords, running her thumb along the blade. It was dull as a kitchen knife, when typically if she pushed too deep against the blade, it would slightly cut her thumb.

“Why steal our stuff and modify it so it can't cut anything?” Maria asked, confused as she strapped the belt around her coat wrapped waist, sliding both blades into them with a metallic rattling. “Well, the test you're about to do involves fighting other students with your weapons.” Ashley stated as she dug through her side pocket to pull out two small plastic cards. “Catch.” She added Lily caught the card in her hand, the other one smacked Maria in the head. Jonah quickly swiped the card off the ground, pocketing it as Maria reached down to grab it. “There we go!” He said with a grin as Ashley chuckled. “Hold on to those two cards, you'll need them.” She stated, turning to the helicopter. “There is a huge skyscraper near the center of the city. You will use your natural navigation skills to get there yourself within the next three hours, or else the doors will close off and the test will begin.” She said, the helicopter rotors whirring as they started up once again.

Maria was sliding the straps of her arm communicator along her forearm, now with a nifty little fingerless glove attached to it for aesthetics. Inside the metal boxes included their impact resistant armors they typically used for missions. “Why do we have to find our way there? Wouldn't it make more sense if you just.. landed us there?” Maria mentioned, Ashley getting against the helicopter, placing one leg on the rail as it started up a strong headwind to begin liftoff any time soon. “Navigating to the objective without a map is part of the mission! I'll be transported there by this helicopter while you have to find it yourself. Bye!” She said, hopping inside of the helicopter once again, closing the doors as it began to lift into the sky and set off toward the eastern sunrise in the heart of the city, quickly being covered up by the skyline of tall buildings. “What an asshole...” Maria complained, grabbing her armor and folding it over her arm. “So now what?” Jonah asked, Maria began to walk up onto the sidewalk.
The buildings had this strange faded look to them, like someone left a photo of them in the water too long and the color began to wash out. The wooden signs showing what each shell of a store used to be was faded from the paint wearing off and the weather making the wood rot and look dilapidated. “I guess we'll get dressed in our fighting gear and venture out.” Maria calmly stated as she pushed the door to an abandoned laundromat to get her clothes on. The ground was littered with clothes, some of children, some of adults. She kicked some of it aside in a wide enough place to where she couldn't be seen, before putting her armor on.

Minutes later, everyone was geared up in their black and grey standard issue uniforms, Maria's long red scarf hanging off the shoulders of the short sleeved black top. “Do you think the streets are safe...?” Lily asked, nervous as she slid her rapier into the scabbard on her left side, adjusting her short hair so it didn't cover both of her eyes from the fairly strong winds. “They better be safe, if we have to walk around with our weapons having no edge to them.” Caleb replied, stretching with both arms behind his back.

“You said your dog could fight a couple of months ago, Caleb... Why didn't you bring Sasha with you?” Maria asked him half jokingly, he tilted his brow up at her, putting a hand onto his hip. “Why didn't you bring Snowy?” He answered the question with a question, much to Maria's annoyance. “Well Snowy is different, he's like.. 9 pounds tops and well... he's a cat!” She answered, Caleb shrugging a bit as he adjusted the shield on his left arm to make sure the straps weren't too tight. “And I lied about Sasha being able to fight with me. I thought it would be fun to embellish the truth like that.” He admitted with a light chuckle, Maria just glared at him because of how unimpressed she was at his lie. “That sucks, Caleb. I would have paid to see a fighting dog.” Jonah mentioned to try and lighten the mood some, to no avail.

“That slight excitement followed by disappointment is what I live for, Jonah.” Caleb mentioned as they started to walk down the long, barren street. The sun was starting to rise enough to see just a bit more, even if they weren't in direct sunlight just yet thanks to the buildings blocking the light enough to force them back into the shade. They continued south along the road until they hit an intersection splitting left and right. Parked at the intersection were remnants of cars, the bodies so rusted the paint color could barely be recognized, all the parts such as the wheels and the radio were already pilfered a very long time ago.

“How are we supposed to get there without a map!?” Lily shouted from exasperation at the fact this city was quite big, and unlike Riverside, she didn't recognize any landmarks. If this test took place in Riverside, she could probably find this skyscraper like she could find the back of her hand. She's driven threw it, flown over it, and even stood atop the highest building in the whole city. Not only was she lost, but this city was BIGGER than Riverside, and almost completely barren for over 2 decades. Jonah walked across the street and around the side of an abandoned apartment complex. “Caleb, give me a boost.” He said just loud enough for Caleb to hear the order, he jogged off behind the building as well.

“Just what are they...” Maria muttered, lightly patting Lily on the shoulder to come follow her. When they went around the corner, they saw Jonah standing on Caleb's shoulders as he reached up to grab a ladder. On the side of this ten story apartment complex was a fire escape, but the ladder was still coupled against the lock. Jonah was standing atop Caleb's shoulders as he searched for a way to lower the ladder down. “Any luck, dude?” Caleb asked, his voice a strain from holding another fully grown adult atop his shoulders. Yeah, Caleb might have had about a 5 inch height advantage over him, and weighed about 40 pounds more.. but feeling his boots pushing against his shoulders was quickly making them ache.
“Hold on!” Jonah replied, smashing his shield into the lock and sending the whole ladder down, the bottom smacking onto the asphalt with a metallic thud. “Got it!” He said out of excitement. Maria walked up to Caleb as he backed off, Jonah gripping the ladder and climbing onto the first set of stairs on the fire exit. “What the hell are you two doing...?” Maria asked as Caleb took a leap onto the ladder as well, climbing up it. “Apartment facilities tend to have fire escapes like this one,” Jonah mentioned, patting the railing with his shielded arm. “We use this to climb to the roof and we can get a good look at the skyline.” He said with a smile, Maria just stared up at the two males atop the ladder, before realizing that it was a pretty sound idea. “Ohhhh...” She trailed off like a dope, climbing up on the ladder swiftly, with Lily following in tow.

They all quickly climbed up the zig zagging stairs and along the side of the building, the windows showed the empty rooms and halls, either disheveled, or completely barren. The four approached the top of the building as they nearly approached 100 feet in the air. Caleb doing an athletic leap to grab the roof ledge, which was just under10 feet above the final set of stairs. He pressed his legs into the creases of the brick, pulling himself over and leaning a hand down to help the others up. Maria took a leap up from behind the two others, grabbing his hand and pulling herself up with ease.

They both leaned down as Lily took a leap, a much more delicate leap into their hands, pulling her up with little struggle thanks to her fairly light body. Jonah hesitated a bit, rubbing his arm nervously as the other three awaited him to leap up himself. “We have about... 2 hours and 40 minutes before they close the doors, Jonah. We better get a move on.” Caleb stated, leaning down a little bit to make the jump easier. “Don't you think I know that?” Jonah declared, rubbing his messy blonde hair. “I just... Gah.” He struggled to find the right words for the feeling he was getting. “Move it, dipshit!” Maria barked at Jonah, he shook his head with a sigh. “Fine.” He said, leaping just high enough for Maria and Caleb to pull him up as well.

Jonah slid onto the roof before standing up to wipe the dust off of his black jacket. “Now was that so hard?” Caleb asked Jonah, patting him firmly on the back in a reassuring way. Jonah snapped around and backed away just a bit, glaring at him. “I'm not in the mood for camaraderie, Caleb... Back off.” He muttered at him, Caleb just shrugging his shoulders and running across the roof to the other side, crouching down a bit to inspect the skyline. “Hmm... What skyscrapers do we have around here?” Caleb wondered aloud, Maria walking up and holding a hand to her brow to block the light as she looked as well. “What about that huge ass one?” She mentioned, pointing to the largest one smack dab in the middle of more modest sized ones.

“I'd assume that'd be the ideal one.” Caleb said, before leaping across the rooftop onto the apartment adjacent to it. “WOAH! Who said we're going to be leaping from roof to roof like idiots?” Jonah said out of surprise, crossing his arms together as Maria quickly pulled off the same leap. “I don't want to get lost on the roads!” Caleb shouted, breaking out into a run and leaping down to the next building, using his pulse as brakes so he didn't break his legs. “Just use Pulse if you think you can't make it.” Maria said as she leaped down as well.“I'll go after you, Jonah.” Lily said with a smile, Jonah sighing some as he looked back at her with a more friendly look on his face.

“Well, at least someone gives a shit about me.” He said, before leaping across the rooftop as well.

Spectrum: Act 2, Chapter 5: Discovery

For every mystery humanity uncovers, they reveal five in it's place.

Act 2, Chapter 5: Discovery

Sienna calmly pulled her bag over her shoulder as she got ready to teach another lesson for her team. They've been fairly successful with their missions so far with just the basic Pulse and weapons handling skills they were taught, with her oversight. But since the promotion exam was coming up, she knew that they needed to at least grasp this basic concept before they could be sent out on any mission harder than a simple cleanup job, or escorts. F rank tends to be basic work such as that, while E will mean they'll be able to participate in more skirmishes and the occasional rescue work.

She took her comb, quickly pulling some of the tangles out of her wavy wine red hair, before placing it in the bag and slipping her white beret atop her head, twisting the door of her loft and pulling it open into the hardwood hallways, lined with a dark blue carpet running from end to end. She broke out into a light jog as she passed by some students holding idle conversation, heading down the stairs and out of the dorm building, the one adjacent to the student's dorm, which was a larger building, but had more rooms in exchange for room quality.

She pulled up the sleeve of her white instructors coat, checking her quartz watch to check how long she had until she had to meet everyone for the lesson. “About 15 minutes.” She muttered to herself, the watch nearing the hour of 9 AM on this slightly frigid spring morning. The plants were beginning to bud flowers or just grow back proper, it made the campus fairly beautiful to walk though. If she only was alone to enjoy just the nature without a bunch of goofy teenagers talking about internet videos. She walked past the fountain and along the sidewalk to lead to the cafeteria. She pushed the double doors open and calmly walked inside. Most people would have had breakfast by this point, but there were a couple of stragglers in the room getting a late one in as well.

One of those particular people was a familiar red head to Sienna, her little sister, Maria. Who was eating a sandwich while sitting with a white haired girl. She tucked her free hand into her pocket as she approached her baby sister and her friend. “Heeeey sis.” She said with a friendly smile, Maria looks a bit different than she originally did when she joined Spectrum. Her skin is slowly starting to regain some color, they were both pretty pale, but Maria's skin was practically translucent. So she's glad she started to get somewhat of a pinkish color, even if it was a bit dry and cracked from not really taking too good care of it.

Her hair was actually longer than Sienna's now, though it was mostly because Maria doesn't cut her hair that often, Sienna's was typically chin length and kind of curly looking. Maria's was just kind of a mess, it was a bit frizzy and unkempt, some people liked that kind of thing, but Sienna just thought Maria should be a little more... well.. girly. “Mmmph?” Maria said, her mouth full of bread, egg, cheese and sausage as he looked up at her. “Uhhh...” Sienna kind of stalled, not really sure how to respond to that as Maria tried to quickly grab her juice out of panic. “Mmph! Mmpph!” She said, grabbing the juice and quickly chugging it, before slamming the drink down with a deep gasp.

“I don't think you should stuff your face like that.” Cassandra kind of quietly observed, Maria glaring at her a little bit and pointing a finger out of objection. “I will not let anyone judge how I eat my food, dammit.” Maria complained, Sienna just looking at them both somewhat dumbfounded. “...OH! Hey Sienna.” She said, suddenly looking up at her sister. “...Aren't you a bit short for time, Maria? We have a lesson in like... 15 minutes.” She stated, maybe hinting Maria to get a move on. “Will I be admonished for being late? I've never been before.” Maria replied, finishing her glass of juice and flipping the cup upside down on her tray. “Well... You'll be annoying both Ashley and me by knowing you'll be late, but doing it anyway.” She warned, Maria frowning a little bit at her.

“I'm not actively trying to be late,” Maria muttered to Sienna, standing out of her chair, her long red scarf swaying some from the sudden movement. “Just... Even if I was late, you two will just lecture us, have us do a couple of things and see how badly we failed.” Maria mentioned, referencing a couple of months ago back when they learned how Pulse worked. Sienna frowned a little bit and ruffled Maria's somewhat messy hair out of frustration. “Oh come on, it won't be that bad.” Sienna reassured, Maria finishing her sandwich and looking up at her.

“I'll consider otherwise when you show me.” Maria mentioned, grabbing her trey and tucking it under her arm. “Was showing up and telling me I might be late the only thing you wanted to talk to me about?” Maria asked her, Sienna tucking the bag over her shoulder and walking with her as she slid the dirty tray into the disposal, Sienna quickly ordering a small strudel she could eat before her instruction. She wrapped it in a couple of napkins instead of using a trey, paying a small amount of Geld to the cooks before turning to Maria, taking a quick bite from it. “Nah, just we don't talk much.” Sienna stated her intentions somewhat, Maria sticking her hands in her pockets as they both left the cafeteria together.

“Where are you going, Maria?” Cassandra asked her, as they both were about to walk out the double front doors. Sienna turned to Maria and patted her on the shoulder. “I wanted to coral her for her exam.” She explained, Cassandra smiling and nodding as she climbed from her chair, quickly grabbing Maria for a hug. “Good luck, Maria!” She said with a grin, Maria turning her head to the side, not really pushing her off, but not really hugging back either. “T-thanks.” She muttered, Cassandra letting go and taking a seat back into her chair. Maria rubbed her shoulder off a bit, before turning and walking with Sienna along the sidewalks of the courtyard.

“What's there to talk about?” Maria asked with a shrug, walking with somewhat of a slacked posture. “A lot of things, you goof.” Sienna replied, pointing at her as Maria just kind of looked down to stare at her hand. “Like... Do you have any plans to get a boyfriend? Get your own place? Finish College?” She asked a variety of questions, Maria raised her brows, thinking it over for a second. “Not really, No, and no.” Maria stated bluntly, Sienna frowning a little bit. “Well... Why not?” Sienna questioned, Maria rolling her eyes a bit as Sienna took the slight lead to guide them to where she told all her students to go, a field just behind the school, just before the forest.

“Well... I'm not really sure being with someone is a good goal to have, it makes me feel like I'm relying on someone else instead of carrying my own weight.” Maria explained, rolling her neck to make sure it was loose. “That and I guess I'm just not really 'into' anyone.” She added, Sienna looking around some as they turned the corner to start walking around the school by cutting through the parking lot. “As for the house and college.. I guess I just don't think about the future too often.” Maria continued, Sienna just calmly looking at her as she spoke.

“You should consider what you want to do after this, is all I'm saying.” Sienna mentioned, Maria huffed quietly lightly shaking her head as they climbed up the small hill. Jonah, Ashley, Lily, Morgan, Erika, Caleb, and Florence were all awaiting Maria and Sienna to begin their lesson. “Took you two long enough.” Ashley said, reaching up to her shoulder and slowly spinning her arm to make it pop and feel a bit looser. Sienna huffed, dropping the bag on the ground with a heavy sounding thud, the rattling of metal clearly resonating.

“You bring everyone's weapons this time?” Ashley asked Sienna, who raised a finger, before bending down and unzipping the bag. Everyone's weapons were neatly sorted in a pile, barring Erika's. Since she actually bothered to bring hers along, resting it over her shoulder to ease some of the weight of the 35 pound axe. Everyone reached in to grab a weapon, though beside the weapon was a bunch of sheets of paper. “Uhm... I hate to question you, but I don't think you're supposed to write notes using a sword.” Jonah half sarcastically joked, strapping the shield to his arm and sliding his blade into the sheathe.

“That's not what we're doing.” Ashley mentioned to him, poking him on his forehead during her reprimand, he was not amused by it at all, which you could tell just by looking at the expression written on his face. “These papers are integral to what we're about to do.” She stated, lifting them into a stack and tucking them underneath her arm as she handed one sheet to every single student, before holding one for herself. “Because what we're going to do is... MAGIC!” She said, using both hands to make kind of a stupid pose, wriggling her fingers with wide open eyes. Everyone just quietly stared at her out of confusion and shame, with overwhelming embarrassment. “Don't make me feel any worse for being here.” Maria commented flatly.

“Anyway, barring the stupid jokes, does everyone have their paper and weapon?” Ashley asked, each person nodding in confirmation as she gestured to Sienna to begin explaining the properties of magic. “Magic is probably much harder to actually use compared to Pulse, it uses a similar process, but has a minor difference that makes it well... Magic.” She said, using her hands as she couldn't find the right words to say. “Instead of channeling through your limbs... You channel your energy through your blade.” She continued, grabbing her rapier and calmly grabbed another piece of paper into her hand.

After a short amount of time, the paper began to drip wet with water, seemingly from nowhere. “Once you channel your energy through your blade, you can then push it throughout your body to make it emanate from another part of your body, and have it not harm you.” She explained, Jonahs eyes widening some as he realized what she was doing. “Wait, we can fire elements out of our bodies!? Awesome!” He said with a bravado that hasn't really been seen from him before.

Maria raised her hand, sliding her fingers back and fourth on the simple piece of A4 paper. “Isn't water not really the best skill for combat?” Maria asked, before Sienna looked at her, making the paper intentionally freeze into solid ice. “If I coat my blade in elemental water, stab them with it and freeze the water, it makes ice crystals inside that will cut them if they move from the inside.” She explained with some gruesome detail, Maria's brow raising a bit as she was taken aback. “Holy shit, that's kind of metal.” Maria stated to Sienna soft chuckle.

“Every single person has their own element, though some tend to be more common than others.” She continued, tossing the now saturated piece of paper to the ground with a wet thud. “These papers are pretty much an easy way to channel your energy into something easy so you can get the hang of it.” She stated, each person holding up their paper and looking at it. “At first, you will expend a ton of energy with little or no results, but the reserves you get for Pulse and Magic never increase.” She slipped both hands behind her back, sticking out her chest like she was some kind of commander.

“You don't get any stronger than what you are now... But you become more efficient, wasting less excess energy, kind of like when you sharpen a pencil, or press your thumb in front of a hose.” She tried to use a metaphor, though everyone was too busy just holding a weapon and trying to channel their energies through the blade. “Now, I want everyone of you to channel their energies through the paper until an effect happens, Just so we can get the hang of it before the promotion exam starts.” She walked over to a small chair, taking a seat in it as Ashley took a seat with her and began to idly chat about life, love and a bunch of other useless stuff that doesn't actually pertain to helping anyone improve. Best instructors ever.

“Hey, I did it!” Lily shouted, her piece of paper having parts of it slowly turn to dust and float off into the wind. “Wait, really?” Sienna asked, standing up and running over to look at the short haired blonde's progress. “Yeah! Uhh... Was I not supposed to just yet?” She asked, a bit nervous, Sienna crossed her arms, inspecting the paper as it continued to float off as dust. “I think that's wind.” She observed, Lily looking up at her, blowing the hair out of her own face from the wind messing with her hair. “How do you know if it's wind?” Asked Lily, it could have been something else that wasn't wind, with a similar property, she wasn't 100% sure of it.

“I uhh.. read a guidebook before I got here.” Sienna replied, having literally went to read a small pamphlet she got when she signed up to be an instructor, as instructors get quite a lot of pamphlets. “So wind, huh...” Lily muttered softly, shaking the paper once more as it fell apart in her hands, landing on the ground in shreds before being blown away by a breeze that also shook the grass where it sits. “The big thing is you have to learn how to be creative with your type of magic. Some people will get more than one, but it will always be the same barring unusual circumstance.” She explained to Lily, nodding her head before Sienna just gently patted her on the shoulder.

Caleb already knew what he was doing, his element was fire. Within a couple of seconds, his paper ignited like a candle and quickly burned into ashed before his hands, even floating his hand over the flame a couple of times so he could show off that it wasn't hurting him. “Ain't it cool?” Caleb asked to hope people were impressed with his ability to channel magic, but Maria, Jonah and Morgan all collectively sent him a death glare. “What?” He asked them out of confusion, he sighed, letting the ashes fly off as he crossed his hands over each other. “Oh, you guys are no fun at all.” He muttered, Jonah shook his head, going back to his paper.

He focused as hard as he could on the paper, doing every lesson he tried to remember as he visualized what he was told. A candle in the dark, with the winds blowing the flame where he thinks they need to go. Suddenly, a leaf sprouted from the paper, nearly looking like it was growing out of it. “OH GOD!” He shouted, dropping the paper with a leaf growing out it as Sienna picked it up in one of her hands. “Ooooh.. Life magic.” She said with a smile, Jonah raising a brow at her as he walked over to look at it as well. “Life?” Jonah asked, as he wasn't 100% sure life could even be constituted as an element.

“Yeah, life.” Sienna reaffirmed, lightly plucking the leaf off the top of the paper. “We use life energy to rehabilitate from surgeries faster, it's too slow to stop a wound that needs to be immediately treated, but we've learned that it nearly quadruples rehabilitation time.” She explained, Jonah's wonder and enthusiasm on his face fading as he just realized Sienna was also suggesting him to become a doctor or healer. “Man, even nature itself is telling me to become a medic...” He complained, tossing the paper aside as Caleb began to chuckle. “Fate's a bitch today!” He said, holding his chest to contain some of his laughter, before a gust of wind blew that paper right in his face. “LILY!” He shouted at her.

“Uhh.. I didn't do anything.” Lily argued his accusation, she doesn't even know how to use wind yet, just channel it in it's most very basic form. “Like hell you did.” Caleb responded, crumpling up the paper and tossing it over his shoulder out of annoyance. “I swear, I didn't!” She restated, he signed and folded his arms, walking back down the hill. “Oh whatever...” He muttered, before shouting up the hill. “JONAH! IT'S TIME FOR LITTLE RED WAGON TRAINING!” He grabbed his palty red wagon, led by a handle. The wheels rusted and barely able to spin. Jonah just sighed softly, Caleb climbing into the wagon, hugging his legs. “Run for 10 miles! We need to get prepared for the exams!” He proudly exclaimed, pointing his hand forward as Jonah spun around, struggling to pull the cart along because he was much lighter. Sienna just stared at the most stupid sight she has ever seen as they both left the campus. “...Sometimes I wonder why I still work here.” She commented.

“It's because you love us.” Morgan joked, looking back down to her page as she realized it just looked darker than before. The page was turning black, and a shadow was casting on her hands. “Uhm... What the hell is this?” She mutterd, Sienna walking up and grabbing one of her wrists, her own hands getting stuck in that perpetual shadow, almost like the sun was being blocked by something just overhead. “That's fairly rare, but it was still in the pamphlet.” Sienna commented, reaching into her back pocket and reading it over really quickly, Morgan trying to look over the paper and see if she could read it upside down.

“Darkness is pretty much stealth magic. Turning things invisible, removing light in a certain radius... stuff like that.” Sienna explained in a weird, passe way. Morgan sighed, folding the paper up and hanging up to her. “Wow, so informative today.” She muttered, turning and walking down the hill out of annoyance, stuffing her hands into her pockets and muttering. Sienna just put an awkward smile and turned back to the remaining students. Florence's paper was burned, but it had jagged, striped burns mixed in with the pieces of untouched paper. “I'm not sure this is how fire works.” Florence observed, Sienna pulled the paper from him and inspected it, rubbing her fingers along the jagged markings. “I think this is some kind of electricity.” She said, handing it back to him. “Awesome!” He said with a grin, before leaving as he began to talk about something involving trying to power a lamp.

“I'm pretty sure mine is earth.” Erika added, noticing the fact that dust was beginning to collect along the top of the paper. Robin leaned over to check as well, lightly sliding a finger through the dust to watch the way it moved. “You know that if it's dust, it could always just be a ton of dead skin cells.” Robin said to try and weird Erika out, she jumped to the point she almost dropped her paper on the ground. “Please tell me they don't consider skin cells an element! I don't want to be a master of skin.” Erika said out of worry.

Maria walked up, somewhat giving up on the paper, putting it in one hand as she leaned over to the both of them. “Skinmaster is an awesome nickname, you should go for it, Erika.” Maria commented with a half smile, Erika just turning at her with her eyes in a glare. “No, Skinmaster is not a good nickname.” Erika complained back at Maria, Maria just putting her hands on her hips and bending forward. “This is why no one talks to you! You would be awesome if you were the Skinmaster.” Maria shouted, Erika just throwing her paper to the side and walking off. “I think I liked you more when we didn't talk.” She muttered, Maria groaning some and flumping her arms to her side with a thud. “...Okay then.” She said, turning back to the paper.

“Sienna, this isn't working.” Maria said, holding the paper in her hands as she once channeled some more energy through her palms, when suddenly a black mist began to crawl along her palms. “Wh-wha..” She muttered, Sienna looking at her, grabbing her wrist and lifting up one hand, making it slide against the smooth paper so she could inspect the crawling mist as it climbed her fingers, swirling around the tips. Suddenly, the fog solidified and turned into a carapace like substance, resembling sharp talons.

“OHSHI-” She shouted, dropping the paper in a way her claws slashed at it, looking at her hands out of fear. “What's going on!?” Maria fell on her back, her blades falling from the sheathes on her belt and bouncing on the ground as her claws faded away. “I think I've heard of that.” She said, admittedly trying to shrug off the fact that Maria growing claws startled her. “People with Ash Syndrome can't use magic... They instead get the ability to channel the ashes of the creature that attacked them instead.” Seinna continued, inspecting her hands who have returned to normal. “I'm not exactly sure how it works... you may need to practice with it.” She added, Maria panting a bit and standing back up to dust herself off.

"So I don't have magic?” She asked her older sister, who just gently nodded her head. “Yeah, but this could possibly enhance your physical abilities as well... I still need to research it before I tell you anything.” She said, frustrated that she didn't have a full explanation. Maria dusted herself off, turning around. “I'm just going to go back to eating food, don't mind me.” She muttered a bit, before Robin shouted from just behind her. “Look! I'm a nightlight!” She said, as she learned to make her paper glow with the powers of light.

“Yeah cool whatever.” She said, waving her arm and slowly walking down the hill to leave Sienna, Ashley, Lily and Robin to their own devices. “Maria's been more of a jerk, recently.” Robin muttered, her little light lamp fading out as she handed Sienna back the paper. “Yeah, it happens to her sometimes.” Sienna confirmed, as they all quietly left back to the dorms as well to begin the rest of their day.

Spectrum, Act 2, Chapter 4: Vigilant, Part 2

Life is about changing yourself as the situation behests, the moment you can no longer change, is the moment you can no longer live.

Act 2, Chapter 4: Vigilant, Part 2

Gabriel approached the double doors to 'Ray's All-Purpose Market.' A recently abandoned shop, presumably owned by some person who happened to be named Ray and wanted an all purpose market. It was dingy, the windows were boarded with particle board, and tagged by passing by graffiti artists. The front glass door initially was locked off with safety bars, but the pad lock was bent and busted on the sidewalk. He calmly grabbed the double doors and yanked both of them open, slowly walking inside. The floor was tiled with dingy black and white linoleum, a thin layer of dust forming, some of the aisles were knocked over, it's contents split and congealing on the floor. Sitting far across the moderately large corner market were two figures hobbled around an oil lantern.

The first one was a man, somewhat on the tall side with a mop of wild blonde hair going slightly past his dark green eyes. He was wearing a black sports coat, with a tan shirt underneath of it, along with a pair of jeans. He was calmly polishing a baseball bat with a clean, white rag. Gabriel quickly recognized him as Lucas Grey; The man known as L on the radio he was speaking to earlier. Leaning against one of the still standing, yet empty aisle besides Lucas was a woman, a little bit shorter than him but still fairly on the tall side. She had a long, perfectly straight head of dark brown hair, nearly going to her mid back, leaving two bangs to frame her face. She was wearing a purple suit vest over a long sleeve white shirt and a black tie, along with a black pair of dress pants and shoes. The glimmer of the lantern's light reflected off her reading glasses, making them shine and not letting him notice her typical blue eyes.

That was Mia Thompson, or M. Mia slowly pushed off of the aisle and looked to Gabriel, slowly strolling over as she put on a pair of black gloves. “I'm glad you didn't drain me of all my patience, Gabriel.” She replied with some amusement to her voice, she was about his height, putting her at about 5'9 and Lucas at 6'0. Gabriel tucked his hands into his pockets and shrugged his shoulders slightly, eyes rolling and looking away from her for a second. “I might have lost my way once or twice.” He causally mentioned. She lifted a brow, leaning over his shoulder and stuffing her hand into his drawstring bag. Shuffling a bit before pulling out a folded piece of paper. “And you didn't check the bloody map?” She asked, unfolding it and revealing all 66 square miles of Ravenglass and it's surrounding county area.

“Would you be mad at me if I told you I forgot about it?” Gabriel said, lightly tugging on his collar since it was suddenly feeling much tighter. She frowned even more, lightly reaching up and smacking upside the head with the folded paper. “No, you'll just make an arse out of yourself.” She calmly replied, folding it and stuffing it back into his pocket. Gabriel sighed a bit and calmly clambered over to the small lit lantern for a source of heat. Being out in the cold of early spring can make you miss being warm. Lucas leaned up, leaning his chin onto his hand as he looked at Gabriel. “You had a fun night, didn't you?” He asked out of light amusement, Gabriel rubbing his hands together and scooting up a bit closer to the lantern.

“Hey, I was the only one who ended up getting in a fight because of you two!” Gabriel complained to them both, since Mia spoke at a very bad time. “Don't tell me you left the radio on while you were TRYING TO SNEAK!?” Lucas said incredulously, Gabriel awkwardly rubbed on one of his arms with a light chuckle. “Uhh... I guess that's what happened.” He replied, Lucas laughing a little bit as he pat him on the shoulder. “Well the important thing is we managed to get here without other people seeing us, AND before the night ended ontop of it.” Lucas stated out of accomplishment, Gabriel smiling a bit weakly as he looked up at the ceiling. This store wasn't really in the best of conditions in it's heyday. Instead of using an array of florescent lighting, it used a skylight. The glass was either cracked or missing and was letting the cold in.
“If the deaths of the men you fought still bother you, Gabriel. I would like to remind you that we've all been in his situation for nearly 6 months now. It's a trial by fire where we lose our innocence.” She started to try and console Gabriel. He was a pretty nice kid when they met, a bit of the head in the clouds type, but slowly came to as he got used to the situation. But still, killing someone is a pretty drastic step for someone just barely exiting their teenage years. “Both me, Lucas and many back at the hotel had to deal with the emotions of this at one point.” Mia continued, lightly crossing her legs as she sat on the other side of the lantern to roughly form a triangle with the other two males.

Gabriel looked away, leaning back and using his two arms to prop himself up as he leaned back his legs coming undone from their crossing. “I guess so.” He muttered, he felt in the bottom of his gut terrible for lying, but what else was he supposed to do at the moment? “Don't worry, this will all be over one day and our lives can go back to normal.” Lucas tried to place some optimism into Gabriel's mind, but Gabriel leaned back up and placed his hands on his knees. “So... Why exactly do we have to kill Silent Fall members if we've been spotted?” Gabriel asked Mia, who calmly stood up, setting her back down and searching through it for supplies.

“Well besides the fact they're a bunch of punks who thought using a small town as one of their major meeting points at my hometown? I can think of plenty of reasons.” Lucas said, lightly smacking the baseball bat in his hands. It was silvery with flecks of Ash along it so he could use Pulse. Mia cleared her throat quickly. “Ravenglass might be a small town, but it was pretty well known for being seated only 30 miles from The Three Mothers, a range of mountains well known for it's abundance of ore. I could only assume they're using this to undercut the Goldshore mines and drain them of their money, instead using it as a trading point on the black market.” Mia explained, gently pulling out her rapier from her belt to start cleaning it off, it seemingly was coated with dirt and scrapes.

“Along with that, it's an abandoned city abundant with food, supplies and nary a person in sight besides us. If they found out Spera has been taking in civilians as refuge in the hotel, they'd come and clear us out since they want the lions share.” She added, Gabriel nodding a bit as he felt the weight of guilt begin to form on his brow. “Would they do that?” Gabriel asked Mia, she nodded gently, polishing her blade to a shine and sliding it back into the sheathe. “They've been seen killing bystanders before once they stationed in Ravenglass. I've heard they might be behind a couple of robberies in Rosewall as of recent... But the thing that concerns me is just how many there seem to be.” Mia commented out of some concern, Gabriel tilting an eyebrow as she instantly knew he was going to ask her what she meant.

“One time I was scouting a factory along the coast, just before they moved to the water treatment plant. There were so many Silent Fall members, nearly a couple of thousand would be my guess. It's hard to count when a bunch of people might kill you if they spot you.” She observed, he nodded some as Lucas slowly stood up and walked over through he aisles, Gabriel leaning back to see what he was doing before Mia snapped her fingers to get him to look at her once again. “It's a bitter pill to swallow, I get it... But just push it out of your head. We have a job to do, people to provide for.” Mia went on one of her typical diatribes again, Gabriel sighing softly as he started to pace the floor of the stood.

“So, what are we going to do at the water treatment plant?” Gabriel asked, looking over some of the produce. Some of it was pretty rotten, pretty much anything out in the bare air was starting to turn in color. “Well.. We have some new recruits for Spera, I wanted to grab some supplies for them.” She started, crossing her arms together and standing up to walk over beside of him. “Also... If they're gonna be in our city I want to keep a close eye on them, I want us to break in and gather any information we possibly can to stay about 5 steps ahead.” Mia added, Gabirel still looking puzzled.
“Can't we just supplies off the guys we beat?” Gabriel asked her, she lightly shook her head as she reached down to slowly unfurl a map on the floor. “No, they outnumber us, but only think we're stragglers,” She explained, pulling out a pen and slowly marking a route they can take for later. “If we go looking for fights just to steal from them, they'll become more aware of us being an actual group and might possibly bring the hammer down. We can't afford that to happen” She said, rolling it back up and sliding it in her backpack.

“I guess that makes sense.” Gabriel admitted, looking over at Lucas while Mia began to unfurl her sleeping bag. “The night hours are too little for us to actually pull any of this off, I think we should rest and discuss our plans in the morning.” She suggested, Gabirel nodding lightly before a sound from Lucas turned his attention to him. He was currently digging through a canned good section a couple of aisles away. “Oh sweet! They have an entire section devoted just to canned pasta!” Lucas said with the excitement akin to a small child, even if he was 22 years old. Gabriel, now interested walked up beside him and started checking some cans for himself. Lucas started to stuff them into whatever excess room he had inside of his bag.

“This isn't the time for shopping, Lucas.” Mia commented in a commanding tone, Lucas just turned to look at her and slowly put another can of noodles into the bag, even if he had a guilty look on his face. “..What? Sometimes I want soup.” Lucas mentioned, Gabriel reaching up behind him and grabbing a couple of bottles of juice he could take along as well. “Hey, the people back at the hotel could use something nice once in a while, right?” Gabriel tried to back up Lucas's argument, she just sighed and softly rubbed her head out of frustration. “Do I need to remind you again, Lucas?” Mia complained, Lucas just blinking with an awkward grin on his face. “We need the room in the bag FOR THE WEAPONS AND ARMOR WE'RE TRYING TO STEAL!” She said, lips curling into a frown along with her brow furrowing.

“Yeah, yeah I get it...” He said, sighing out of defeat and slowly dumping the cans back out of his semi empty bag, he only had a map, his receiver, a sleeping bag, some binoculars and a canteen in there most of the time. It had more than enough space to pack something large, he kept one can of those O shaped noodles in tomato sauce for himself. He always liked making bulls eyes out of them whenever he was a kid. Gabriel sighed, placing every juice bottle he took back onto the shelf and slung the bag back over onto one of his shoulders. “I understand you both want to make the best out of a bad situation, but this isn't a game.” Mia once again stated how serious this entire thing was, she tends to do that a lot.

“We can have other people do a supply run if you want your... novelty soups that badly, but we are the procurement team. We take weapons and gather intel so we don't get completely curb stomped by a bunch of thugs who don't mind killing women or children.” She continued, they both just sighed as she gestured them to both follow her. She lit a small lantern and gestured both of them to lay out sleeping bags near hers. “Every 3 hours, we'll switch who takes watch for the night, just in case anyone else just so happens to barge in here.” She said, Lucas sitting on his rolled out sleeping bag as she drew her sword from the sheathe, resting it on her lap as she slid to sit against the wall.

“I'll go first, and I'll wake you when it's your turn.” She added, letting Gabriel and Lucas slide into their makeshift beds and fall asleep. The rest of the night was quiet, every couple of hours, someone would be woken up and asked to trade off watching over the other two as they made up for sleep. Gabriel couldn't sleep at all, but he tried his best to at least let his body rest for the allotted time. He thought a lot about if this was the right decision to stay here. He did have his family, but they were gone now, either dead or far away. Spera consisted of not only Mia and Lucas, but a group of people nearing 200. Not just young adults who fight, but children, grandparents and pets.
He could probably just go run to Spectrum if he really wanted to live a better life than this, but it would mean sailing the middle finger to anyone who happens to want to try and make the best out of a bad situation, or even those who are incapable of protecting themselves will be forced to either adapt or perish in a pretty hellish situation. The next town is about 100 miles off since they were on a pretty remote town on the coast side. Admittedly, the fact it has gotten this bad made him somewhat resent Spectrum as a concept.

Spectrum only has one purpose and was backed by the government to fulfill that purpose. They slay the monsters, sometimes they'll help with evacuations or go on rescue missions, but it's like getting wounded. They stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound, yet they don't close it or help the person rehabilitate. They don't help them rebuild what they've lost, they just kill the threat and leave. There is supposed to be funds and charities to help, but they're more about publicity than actually helping. And even if there was a charity willing to give a helping hand, it probably would be a bit of a stretch to help renovate a city that was destroyed, along with burying the dead and trying to remove a base of terrorists who happen to think an abandoned city is a good place to build a base of operations.

Silent Fall is probably going to learn their existence sooner more than later, yet there might be too many people in one group attempting to leave that they might draw attention. It didn't help that Gabriel might have made a major mistake. By the time he was through thinking, day had broken. They left their sleeping bags there to make sure they had as much space as possible in their bags. The less amount of runs they need, the less they need to reach their hands into a nest of hornets to get the nectar the less risk they'll be in.

The dawn of morning broke and Gabriel felt his shoulder gently shaken by a rough, yet dainty hand. Mia was peering down at him as he slowly sat up and yawned, rubbing his head and shoulder as it was still pretty sore from sleeping on such a cold, hard floor. “We have planning to do.” She stated, Gabriel rubbed his rough, reddish brown hair as he checked his clothes to see if he still had everything in order. “Planning?” He wondered, as Mia grabbed him by the arm to stand him back on his feet. “Yes, Planning. I don't want to leave Lucas sitting around for too long, I'm worried he'll start trying to steal soup again.” She halfway joked, which was enough to get a slight chuckle out of the very weary Gabriel.

She walked over to one side and took a seat next to an equally tired Lucas as she rolled out a piece of paper that appeared to be come kind of map of the city. “Unfortunately I don't think there's a floor plan for the water treatment plant.” She admitted, pulling out a marker and slowly tracing along it a route they can take. “But I just want to set some general ideas before we head in.” She continued, her hand tracing left and right along several roads. “What we're attempting to do is safely break into a base full of what I could guess is full of roughly 150 or so people from our scouting reports,” She started, looking up at anyone to see if they had a question.

Lucas raised his hand almost like it was a class presentation. “Why are they so far from Rosewall?” He asked her, she looked up at him, taking off her glasses and folding them in her side pocket. She didn't have huge vision issues, she just needed them to read. “I could only guess that they're attempting to make this city their base. I'm guessing they assume it's abandoned or only has a couple of scavengers.” She continued to explain, sliding the map to the both of them so they can inspect the area. “From what I've heard on our radio interceptions, I don't know their intentions. All I know is from the train schedules I've seen in Blackwood, the city just before this one, where the train stops.. They tend to all appear from Rosewall. But Rosewall has a population of 850,000. That means putting a base there would be a very stupid move.” She explained.

Gabriel rubbed his chin, leaning forward some and picking up the map so he could remember the route from their current position. “So they're coming here to lay low? Do we know what they've done so far?” He asked Mia, who just sort of rolled her eyes down and away, a signal that she didn't exactly know. “All I know is they seem to be functioning like some sort of militia.” Mia observed, Gabriel nodding as he folded the map up and slid it back to her. “I had some people from the Hotel drop by and give us more supplies before we head out. I want us to rappel into the water treatment plant from a skylight that we've found while scouting it out.” She ordered casually, Gabriel furrowing his brow some as Lucas raised his hand again.

“Why rappel from the roof?” He asked, she grabbed the folded up map and gently bopped him on the head out of annoyance. He just sort of glared at her as she rubbed her head. “Because militias don't like it when people knock on their front door and ask 'can we rob you?'” She said half mockingly, he just growled slightly and sighed. “Back on point.” She segued to explaining the mission parameters once again. “Our mission is to grab some weapons and supplies after finding where they store them, if one of us is spotted or you feel like we'll be unable to actually achieve this goal... We are to abort immediately. Call in on the radio and tell the others that you're planning on leaving.” Mia continued.

She stood back up and dusted herself off, pulling on the seams of her waistcoat to remove the wrinkles from it. “We'll meet outside of the Water Treatment plant at dusk.” She stated, they both nodded and prepared some food to eat before they headed out. Hours passed and they had another supply run from the hotel to get them things suck as grappling hooks. They set out and perched atop a hill just before the water treatment plant. Mia pulled out a pair of binoculars to inspect the water treatment plant. It was on the coastside, and was a large factory, where most of the people would probably preside. There was a large field next to it where they used to actually start the purifying process with several circle shaped tanks in the ground with a walkway over each one.

On the open spaces there were tents set up, it was too far away to see any detail, but it also appeared that no one was out in the fields. “What do you see?” Gabriel asked, she calmly muttered before zooming it in even more. “They're either not there at the moment, or they're all in the main building.” She stated, gesturing them to stand up and begin to follow her. “We'll play cautious at the moment, stick to objects to break line of sight, and don't make any sudden movements.” Mia added as they both stood up to follow her.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 3: Please Remember

I was planning on this chapter being longer, but adding a scene just to justify a longer length is just filler and not what good writing is supposed to be.

Act 2, Chapter 3: Please Remember

Maria, Lily, Caleb and Jonah were walking along the sidewalk after taking nearly a 10 days trip, all of them back in their school uniforms, Maria with her long red scarf around her neck and draping off her shoulders. Jonah and Caleb with their suits, and Lily with her school dress. Each one had a bag either on their back, over a shoulder or being pulled behind them. Maria yawned some as Jonah walked up beside her to talk. “Now that wasn't so bad, was it?” He asked Maria, who just kind of glared at him and sighed, her nose slightly red from the fact the flowers were beginning to bloom around them, making her allergies react.

“Maybe you guys and relay information to me when you actually want me to do something.” Maria complained, rubbing her nose on her sleeve some and squinting her eyes from the stinging sensation. Jonah pat her gently on the shoulder her bag wasn't slung over. “Well.. Maybe we were a bit extreme, but we just didn't want you to shoot down taking a break.” He tried to take a step back in justifying his actions as a bit stupid. Maria shoving his hand off and spinning around to start walking backwards.

“Look man, I had a rematch and I would have had 1000 more Geld than I have now... Which is 0. I consider that a pretty important thing!” She shouted at him, Lily sighed, rubbing one of her free arms as the bumpy sidewalk they were walking up made a clicking noise every time her suitcase rolled over a bump or hole. “Oh Maria we've all already apologized, can't you let it go?” Lily asked, Maria growling a bit as she turned to shout at Lily as well.

“YOU TOLD CUSTOMS THAT I WAS A BONDAGE FETISHIST SO YOU COULD GET ME ON THE PLANE WHILE TIED UP!” Maria shouted, clenching her fists and glaring right at her, she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly as she chuckled. “Not every plan works the way we want it to.” Lily tried to brush it off again, Maria giving up on her anger again as she just turned her shoulder to go back to walking. “Just don't pull that shit on me again.” Maria warned the three others, before her eyes began to widen, stopping in place. “Uhh... What is it, Maria?”

“...Did anyone feed the cat?” Maria turned to face Lily, she began to rub her cheek with one hand while she thought. Maria glaring at her and crossing her arms. “Well? He can't refill the bowl itself.” Lily raised a finger at Maria with a grin as she just remembered. “Oh, right! I bought the cat an automatic feeder.” Lily recalled, Maria began to rub her head, lightly rubbing the side of her head and hair as she murmured to herself. “Automatic feeder...” She began to imagine Snowy gently pressing a little button and eating food whenever it wanted when it dispensed from a feeder. It's probably more dedicated to feeding the cat than she ever was, but DAMN IT MARIA TRIES.

Lily awkwardly laughed a bit as Maria huffed, stuffing her hands back into her black coat pockets out of annoyance for her not telling her another thing. Maria began to look down the road, realizing that they were on the same road as the Cemetery she visited all the way last year. “Where are you looking at ,Maria?” Jonah asked, trying to speed up his walking to make the pace. “Well.. My parents are buried here, I would like to visit the grave while not in some kind of emotional crisis.” Maria answered.

“Oh. Well since we're all tired, maybe we should go home first.” Jonah replied, Maria looking at the floor as she stepped up to the entrance, turning her head to look at it. “Actually, just go without me, I'll be back in an hour or two.” Maria said, walking down the sidewalk into the entry gates, swinging them open as the others observed her. “Uhh... Well, See ya then.” He said loud enough to make it sound awkward with his voice, Maria just raised a hand and waved it gently while the three returned back to Spectrum together.
Maria hummed to herself, putting her hands in her pocket, looking off to the side as each gravestone passed by. The sidewalk winded like a snake between each row of gravestones. The older ones looking a bit more pale and cracked by the wear and tear of weather. She finally stopped at a familiar spot, her parents graves sitting side by side. The weather much clearer just like her head was, unlike that one time 9 months ago. “I felt like it wasn't fair that I don't visit more.” Maria stated, her voice somewhat quiet as she felt gusts of spring wind blow through her hair, and unfortunately blow some more pollen in her face.

She sneezed loudly, wiping her nose with her hand as she felt tears in her eyes for the wrong reasons. “Damn pollen allergies.” She muttered to herself, lightly crouching on her knees and looking at both of the gravestones in silence, before a familiar voice rang out just behind her. “Well... What do we have here?” He asked her, Maria standing up and looking over her shoulder. There stood a man in his late 30's, with a neatly trimmed goatee. His chestnut brown hair was to his shoulders, but some of it was loosely tied in a ponytail to not have his bangs in his face. He was wearing a blue jacket with a buttoned up undershirt and black pants. Beside him stood a girl, what appeared to be in her early teens, yet seemed to be about Maria's height. She was wearing a plain brown jacket with a fur lining around her shoulders and collar that could be pulled into a hood.

“Elliot?” Maria asked, when the girl suddenly rushed up to hug Maria tightly. “I missed you!” She said with a big smile, Maria smiled some, but gently tried to start pushing her off. “Hey Rosalyn.” Maria replied, the hug breaking off as Elliot calmly inspected his gloves. “Why are you here?” Maria asked Elliot, he looked down calmly at her and folded his arms together. “I'm visiting my sister, I do this every Sunday.” He responded flatly, gently sliding his cane up into his hands and calmly inspecting it.

“Oh... Is it Sunday?” Maria asked him, he lightly nodded his head, walking up and softly rubbing his hand on the gravestone. “It's been three years now, hasn't it?” He said, since it was the month his sister, Maria's mother passed away in the Riftfallen attack. “I tried not to remember it.” Maria muttered, looking at both of them. “I feel bad I didn't get to spend too much time with Laurette.” Rosalyn said with a somber face, Maria turned to her, lightly putting a hand on her shoulder with a smile.

“Yeah, whenever you came over they'd have me babysit you while Elliot was at work.” Maria reminisced, she nodded some. “Oh yeah! And you would never let me touch your DVD Collection.” Rosalyn said with a grin, Maria looked away and huffed quietly. “And you still can't touch my DVD collection.” Maria mentioned, She frowned and stomped a foot against the ground out of frustration. “Aww, why not!?” She complained, Maria stuck her tongue out for a second. “They all melted.” Maria replied, Rosalyn laughing awkwardly at the response.

“Wait, I actually got some cooking DVD's... I could probably lend you those.” Maria stated, knowing that those are the depressing microwave cooking DVD's Lily sent her, which means Rosalyn would get bored and never ask her again. Elliot lightly put his hands on each shoulders of the two teenage girls, looking at the two of them. “Well, since we haven't spoke again in three years... I'm glad we're getting this whole train started again.” He said with a reassuring smile, though Maria looked up at him with a tilted brow. “Well... Wait a second, can I ask you something?” Maria asked of Elliot, who calmly looked at her, hands in his pockets.

“What did you want to know?” Elliot replied, Maria looking away from Rosalyn with a serious look on her face. “Why didn't you take me in after my parents died? You're my uncle so you could legally do it, but I had to go to a boarding school when Sienna said she couldn't take me under her wing either.” Maria explained, he took a deep breath and released a light sigh, looking down at her.

“It's very difficult to balance my work life and taking care of my family,” Elliot started, slowly gesturing his daughter and his niece to begin walking with him along the sidewalk with his hand. “I feel bad enough that I have to leave my lovely daughter completely on her own unless it's the weekend.” He added, Rosalyn nodding her head some as she turned to Maria, who was just calmly walking with her hands in her pockets. “It's true you know... Dad usually only comes back when I'm asleep unless it's the weekend.”

Maria raised her eyebrow a little bit as they were walking behind him. He was about a head height taller than the both of them, but that would only make him 5'10, which is a pretty average height, he lightly pressed his cane into the ground with each step, making Maria wonder if he hurt his leg a while ago. “Who works that much? Shouldn't you find a different job with better hours?” Maria wondered aloud, Elliot lifted his cane higher along his hand to no longer use it to help him walk, looking back at Maria with his bright blue eyes. “I'm happy with my job. It feels like I'm doing the right thing.” Elliot calmly replied, Maria keeping her arms crossed over each other.

“Yeah, and we barely make the bills anyway, I would find ways to help but it's still not really enough to get us by unless Elliot works as much as he does, it sucks.” Rosalyn complained some, Maria chuckling lightly and looking up at her. “Eh I know what it's like to not have money,” Maria mentioned, Elliot shaking his head with a light laugh. “Fallen on hard times?” He asked somewhat amused of her. “Yeah, I keep losing my money every time I expect to earn some, those are hard times.” Maria replied, looking over to Rosalyn to pat her gingerly on one of her shoulders.

“I'm saddened by what happened to you, Maria. I know you didn't even get to go to your mothers funeral since you were stuck in the hospital.” Maria looked at the sidewalk, walking a little bit faster then both of them so she could get a little bit ahead, spinning on one heel and beginning to walk backward at the two of them. “Yeah, it's one of those things I wish that I could back and fix.” Maria lamented some, Elliot nodding when Rosalyn walked up and held her hand, Maria instantly pulled her hand away from her since well, she didn't really enjoy being touched.

“Elliot, is it fine if I took Maria with me to places...? I haven't spent time with her in a long time.” Maria asked Elliot, he lightly nodded at her. “It's fine, but I'd prefer you not to stay at my place if you intend to spend time with her, I have a lot of projects.” He said, Maria found that slightly odd but she wasn't sure if she could really bring up any questions for it on the top of her head. “Awesome I guess,” Maria said with a grin, turning to Rosalyn before continuing. “I'm taking part of a boxing tournament and I want you to come watch it, I can bring one person for free!” Maria said with some strange excitement, though Rosalyn began to look a bit apprehensive. “Uhm, I'm not really a big fan of watching fights.” She mentioned with some concern, Maria gently reached up to pat her on a shoulder.

“Don't worry, it'll be fine. All you need to do is watch me punch someone for 30 minutes and then we can go out and eat some ice cream or something.” Maria mentioned, Rosalyn chuckling a bit at her statement. “Well okay I guess, I'll give it a try if there's ice cream involved.” She replied, Maria smiling and ruffling her long brown hair with one of her hands. “Fantastic, but I need to get going now, I think my friends are waiting for me.” Maria said, turning and running off down the street. “Take care, Maria!” Rosalyn said with a smile, As Elliot reached down to pat her on the shoulder, slowly walking with her back to his home.

Spectrum intermission #2: Spring

Alcohol is both a window into truth and shame.

Intermission 2: Spring
Between chapter 2 and 3
Robin's Journal
Quarto 10, 535 PB
Entry 15

I'm glad we're finally through with all of the lengthy vacation to Erika's home. While it was nice not to worry about the typical trials and tribulations of this tumultuous territory of Spectrum, where things are hectic and I use a lot of T's. It felt like I was out of my environment and purpose, almost as if I wanted to commit to my current job as a Slayer, even if I didn't like it at first, it's grown on me. Morgan said during one of the first weeks that I needed to be here for my own intentions, not just to help babysit Florence... Even though I still intend to do that, he needs direction if he really wants to prove himself.
Older sisters always will take care of their younger brothers, I'm not sure Morgan gets that. I don't think she's ever had family, but it's the older siblings birthright and duty to make sure their younger ones do not do something stupid.

Erika's parents lived in the country of Kingsweld, a snowbound country across the Jade Sea. I was completely shocked how technology can be so different when you head outside of Rosewall, I heard even Cambris hasn't gotten around to manufacturing as advanced technology such as high performance computers and those strange cell phones you can tap on the screen. Kingsweld has cars without the typical rubber tire, the streets are lit with lamps and the roads are paved with bricks. Actually, I really got a kick out of that.

Even if circumstance says that the roads in Kingsweld are paved with bricks is more just a lack of resources, labor and money from the fact it technically isn't controlled by any governing body who could probably set up an agenda, everyone tends to fend for themselves and they seem to like it. The bricks in each city as we drove through each one were different. I actually had Erika's dad, who was a builder tell me each and every type of brick paving so I can possibly one day pave the Goldshore manor with my own special brick road.

The first kind is called the 'Herring Bone.' It's named after a Herring, duh. Well, it's actually named after the bones of the fish. Each tile is set up to press up against other tiles at two different angles, allowing less amount of slip in exchange for symmetry. The second is the 'Stretcher Bond.' It's kind of like how most brick buildings are made in such a way so they can slightly sway from a breeze or light earthquake and not send the entire thing to pieces like the block play sets I gave to Florence when I stepped on one and ended up kicking it across the room. Don't step on those.

Actually, I just realized how boring this journal is, I'm not sure if whoever is eventually going to steal or read this journal is going to actually care how bricks are paved, but damn it, it matters to me! But I digress, and will return to the subject of Erika's home for our 2 weeks of vacation. Well... It was more like 10 days not counting the traveling... I need to stop undermining my own points. Erika's parents, Brandt and Hanna are very stout and stuck in their old ways. They fish for their own food just outside of their home, which was surprisingly a re-purposed boat from the Ash War about 20 years back, when Astra invaded Rosewall while it's territories, my fathers included were starting to fall apart when the Ash weapons caused a rebalance of power.

They took us in with open arms we quickly sat down and had a long dinner and a conversation as well, we learned that Erika moved to another country because her father was a member of Spectrum before he settled down back in the early days of the company.
She decided to take up attempting to do it to somewhat live up to his fathers legacy, though it seemed his mother really just wanted her to stay in the country and get a somewhat normal, less deadly profession, but she began to argue about how she wants to prove to herself that she could do it. I admit, I admire her determination, but it seems like if she tries too hard she'll end up burning her candle's wick to the end, if you don't mind the metaphor.

After that, we slept for nearly 10 hours each, I didn't think traveling in a plane could be so potentially tiring, but it turns out that because of the sun moving as we traveled, it completely messed with all of us. I had to slap Florence to get him awake, and that barely ever happens now a days. And no I don't hit him all the time, that would be very cruel. I just hit him sometimes, there's a difference.

The first thing we did after recovering from the flight was go camping, camping wasn't my thing back when I tried it out back during our entry exams, and it still isn't. I didn't have an outfit for it, and one of my dressed was torn up by a branch as I was running past it, it's kind of what I get for wearing long skirts in any sort of action. After that, we went fishing even though no one brought a fishing rod.

Her parents apparently FISH BY HAND, it was probably the craziest thing I've ever seen, digging hands into holes, grabbing fish by the mouths and throwing them over to be cooked for later. I mean, Erika's Mother and Father are quite strong, her dad is nearly 7 feet tall with this huge beard that covers half of his face, her mother is pretty hardy herself but it's still quite interesting to watch. They invited me to join them but I was afraid to since I didn't want a fish to rip one of my fingers off in a horrific accident, they just called me paranoid.

After that, we set up our tents and created a campfire so we could some of the fish and got ready to rest for the night. The floor was hard and I ended up sleeping on a rock that night, we all had to squeeze into one tent and it was loud and noisy and Erika kept trying to sneakily open a bag of chips that we bought from the bazaar while not waking anybody up, she failed. Everyone woke up and got upset with her and her discrete chip bag opening.

After that, we took another trip to the bazaar where I actually managed to pick up some legitimate outdoorsy wear, along with a very nice sun hat that everyone mistakes for wearing some kind of sombrero. It's a sun hat, not a sombrero you nincompoops. There's an entire market street comprised of people sitting at small booths to sell their wares, it's a fairly free market and people advertise not by radio or television, but by shouting it at the street for anyone willing to hear. That's why Erika was interested when a mustachioed man shouted that he had chips. Erika cannot escape her willingness to buy chips, I am a woman without that quality.

After that, Erika's Parents, Erika, Morgan and I all began to drink at the tavern, we left Florence at an ice cream shop where apparently he caused another pistachio related incident that I had to pay out of pocket, it was one of the reasons I wasn't able to buy a horse so I can have a proper horse-drawn carriage and not a depressing embroidered shack with wheels. Erika got into a bar fight with a midget until she decided to give him the rest of her chips as an apology, I was confused.

There was one particular shopkeeper who was selling animal masks, having a beard that could rival Erika's father, he was shouting literally as we walked three feet from the booth. Telling us how we should “BECOME LIKE THE SHEEP PEOPLE! THE SHEEPLE!” as we just picked up the pace, walking away and back home out of fear the man was on some sort of drug that makes you want to become a sheep man, his accent was so thick that if he wasn't yelling he just sounded like he was using entirely euphemisms. Kingsweld is weird.

Morgan has been acting stranger the past couple of months, she occasionally glances in her pocket to pull out a red cell phone, I asked her about why she never would actually call anybody on it, but she tells me only to “forget about it” and “it isn't your issue.” We all decided to sit down to talk about it, but Morgan got upset and left for the night until we actually got on the plane to get home. I'm somewhat worried about her as she's gone strangely aloof since the new year broke through.

Maybe if we give her space, she'll actually listen to us and let us in on this issue.

Maria's Journal entry #2
Quarto 10, 535 PB

I hate planes so much.
Someone forgot the cat food.
Lily is the dumb.

I made a haiku, this journal still sucks.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 2: Vigilant, Part 1

Anybody can be a monster

Act 2, Chapter 2: Vigilant, Part 1

It was a cold night in the town of Ravenglass, especially for spring. Gabriel was shivering some, even in his large dark brown coat he was still feeling the chill on his skin. He had a job to do, so he took a couple of deep breaths before reaching into a large duffel bag. “C'mon... C'mon...” He muttered to himself, sticking elbow deep into it before grabbing the two things he wanted by lacing them between his fingers. Pulling out a pair of binoculars and a small transceiver, he slipped it over his eyes with one hand, blinking a couple of times as he scanned the streets.

He scanned the cracked, pothole ridden roads and the knocked over street lamps, along with ruins of old cars that were scrapped for parts and left on cinder blocks instead of tires. He finally found what he was looking for, two men in dark blue coats and steel masks, blades strapped on their backs slowly walking out of the back alleyways, walking together as he observed them. His heart beating so hard that he had a very hard time keeping the binoculars steady enough to track them. He calmly spoke with each step, nowhere near loud enough for the two people 100 or so feet away from him to hear him. “One... Two... Three...” He counted, before turning to press the button on his receiver. “This channel secure, L?” He asked, the wind blowing at his hooded jacket, covering some of his face.

“Of course it is.” A male voice, slightly deeper than Gabriel's voice responded. “The channel we communicate on rotates every minute between over 270 different frequencies in a random order, It's actually pretty cool.” He added, clearly enjoying talking about some of the tech a little too much, a female voice, slightly fuzzy from being farther off than the two of them cut in. “Don't be a fool over trivial matters, L.” She reprimanded L quickly, before switching the subject, her voice was low and stern for a woman's, but it projected a very business like personality.

“G, do you have any information on our mark?” She asked Gabriel, Gabriel checked his binoculars one more time before responding. “This is my third scouting point, M. They're all moving to a central point near the edge of the city's slums.” He elaborated, making sure he spoke slowly and clearly enough for her to hear him though the fuzz. “That's about 5 miles off from my current location, my only guess as to why they would set up shop in the slums is because it's been long abaondoned. ” M deduced, sounding like she was pondering. “And I'm about 3 miles off.” L added, since he was finished gawking over how awesome walkie-talkies are.

“I don't actually know how far off I am. I don't think we'd be able to hit the place at the same time.” Gabriel admitted, he knew where the water treatment plant was but he never really bothered cross referencing maps or anything trivial like that. “We could meet at one place, discuss a plan and attack at the same time.” M thought aloud, she had quite an accent on her, it was more typical of people in western Rosewall, it reminded Gabriel of Robin's voice, since they lived in a similar area.

“I know a good place, there is an old grocery store just before the slums I checked like a week ago and they have a bunch of canned stuff we can eat!” L said with excitement, M sighing quietly as Gabriel slowly put away his Binoculars, closing the bag and hiking it back onto his shoulder. “Good luck getting there while we're still in the dark of night. Silent Fall's goons have been all over Ravenglass recently, it makes navigating a bloody pain.” M complained aloud, Gabriel sighed and slowly stepped over to pop open the door that lead to the staircase to head back down the building he climbed up, hand still on his receiver to speak. “Do you think we could tail them to wherever they're hiding from the store?” Gabriel asked, waiting for a response. “It's a good reconnaissance point, there are a lot of Silent Fall goons here, they'd need quite a big base of operations, and since it's the slums we can narrow it down.” M responded calmly, before changing the subject as Gabriel stopped, leaning on a railing.

“We'll meet at that grocery store near the slum border,” M ordered with a demanding voice, Gabriel slowly beginning to climb down the stairs and get to the bottom of the abandoned apartment complex, he popped the door open just enough to look out of it and check for anyone nearby, but it seemed clear. “I want radio silence for the next 30 minutes, after those 30 minutes I will be issuing a status report. Find a safe place to have a conversation within that time as you make your way, understood?” She asked for confirmation, there was a brief pause as Gabriel slowly pushed the door open. “Got it.” L replied, Gabriel hitting the talk button one more time before attempting to put it back in his bag.

“Well... What direction is the slums again?” Gabriel asked with an awkward chuckle, two audible sighs coming from both people on the other side of the radio line. “It's southwest of your current location, it's along the shore since it's a WATER TREATMENT PLANT! Go Southwest!” L bemoaned to Gabriel, Gabriel sighed himself and put away the radio into his back hastily, hiking his bag up over his shoulder.

He calmly stepped out onto the main road, walking past a couple of the buildings with no feeling of immediate threat, but just for safety's sake, he quietly dipped into an alleyway, the ground still riddled with puddles from the rain earlier today, even if the sky had cleared hours before. It was oddly peaceful in the silence, even if the silence is because of something pretty grim in nature. The city wasn't a big one, it covered a fairly big area but it was sparse unless you were downtown. His parents lived there for a couple of years and it was nice to leave the big city of Riverside to come back home and recharge here.

It was full of stores where all the people walking in knew the shopkeepers and the shopkeepers could call the customers by name, it was more of a family than a town at times especially during the holidays. You would often get your neighbors involved in birthday parties and even if you didn't have family, this place was just a good place to settle down. Gabriel wanted to come here with a girl one day to marry her and settle down since it was a pretty relaxed town, if they ever wanted their lives to be busy, he would be able to pick when it was busy instead of having that come to him.

At least, that was what he hoped. About 6 months ago, the city was attacked by a massive roaming pack of Riftfallen, they tend to congregate together into bigger and bigger groups if they go unchecked. The entire town was hit by a wave of them, thousands died or fled to the coast to hope to halt the attack. By the time Spectrum arrived, the damage was done, and it was more collecting the bodies than actually helping anyone. One of the biggest flaws of Spectrum was the fact they were more reactive than proactive, and if you were not in Rosewall or any other major operating cities, you had to sit on your thumbs to wait until they helped.

They had a police force, but due to the laws put in place by Rosewall's attempt to reduce violence after the fiefdoms collapsed post invasion by Astra, they weren't equipped to take down anything outside of a typical criminal, not a giant monster, and definitely not a pack of them. Monsters attacked Gabriel's sister, Karen while she was in her middle school. She died, and her parents called so he could attend her funeral. Not visiting her in the hospital, not giving her support, not saving her... Her funeral. Gabriel was heartbroken, he left home in one of his attempts to find his calling and be part of something bigger than himself, and his sister dies without even hearing a phone call from him.

The funeral was depressing, but what was even worse was the condition of the town, it was falling apart. People were abandoning it instead of rebuilding it because they realized that if they can't save themselves, or be saved, that being here was a death sentence.
His parents were one of the many people who migrated away from the city for greener pastures, they somewhat lost Gabriel's respect from that. He understood that maybe this wasn't the safest place to live, but he felt like it shouldn't be thrown aside like a lost cause and turning it into a ghost town. Some people stayed in hopes to rebuild and Gabriel, who was soul searching at the time volunteered to help with the rebuilding. But once again, because life is a pain in the ass, Silent Fall began to station here.

They scuttle about like vultures waiting for the husks of towns or companies to cry its shrill death rattle before coming in to pick up the pieces and bolster their own cause. They prey on the weak, not intending to harm them, but to use their vulnerability and bitterness to coerce them into joining their cause. It's a bit gross, especially if you manage to keep up on the radios and televisions on how they pretty much straight murder and rob from people.

It turned out that his house was in disrepair, he was forced to pack up and wander the city to see if he could find a place to live while he helps keep everything together. This is where he met Spera, A small group of people led by a young woman named Mia Thompson, Her and her group live in an abandoned hotel to sell stolen goods to passerby's to make enough money to both build up the hotel as a place to live, but to supply the people who decide to support Spera by stealing weapons from Silent Fall's encampments.

This was one of those runs, but this one was different, this was the first one Gabriel was involved in it, and he felt very nervous, even if he continued to just quietly walk through the alleyways with no opposition. He would look up to occasionally check the position of the moon to see if he was traveling the right way, since he didn't stash a compass on himself for this situation. He realized to actually go southwest, he would have to duck out of the alleyway. He calmly approached around the roadway to see if there were any members of Silent Fall patrolling the area.

There were about 2 people standing by a makeshift campfire, probably using some kerosene and cloth to make some warmth to stave off the bite of being in such a cold area in the middle of the night. He quietly began to step onto the sidewalk as it was the only other pathway, he guessed he would just have to stay quiet and out of line of sight to be able to slip past them. He quietly began to crouch down, leaning against a couple of the ruins of cars to maybe make himself more inconspicuous. He occasionally peaked back up to check if they were sitting still, when suddenly his receiver went off in his backpack. “It's been 30 minutes, where are you?” It rang out in the open air of the night, making it seam louder than it was.

Gabriel panicked, struggling to get his backpack off and pull the receiver out to turn it off, he was still pretty new to this and he wasn't sure of all the procedures Spera would have him do. The two Silent Fall members grabbed their blades, turning their head to his direction. “What was that?” One of them asked, sporting a full beard underneath his mask. The one who was clean shaven turned to the bearded one and shrugged his shoulders. “No clue, let's find out.” He replied, both of them getting up and slowly walking over to investigate. “G, please respond.” Mia spoke a second time to try and get him to report. Gabriel lost his mind, dropping the receiver onto the ground before picking it up and turning it off, putting it in his pocket and getting ready to run as a pair of hands grabbed onto his shoulders to yank him into standing up, a sword held at his throat.

“Ain't it a little past curfew, kiddo?” He said in a mocking tone to Gabriel, Gabriel began to struggle, but that just made the bearded man squeeze a little tighter. “What are you doing out here?” The other man asked, the moonlight reflecting from his brushed steel mask. Gabriel growled a bit before glaring at them. “None of your damn business.” He muttered out, the man not holding him punching him square in the stomach in response.
Gabriel groaned, bending forward as far as they let him until they wrenched on him. “I think it's our business now, kid.” He replied with a threat, Gabriel suddenly kicking one man square in the chest while simultaneously smashing his head into the chin of the bearded man. Using the shock to slip to the ground, his shoulders planting on the pavement. He quickly rolled and got back on his feet, the two men already about to give chase. Gabriel spun on his feet and broke out into a sprint, covering the ground with the two in tow. They ran at roughly the same speed, Gabriel dipping into another alleyway down the road. There was a dumpster along with some rusty pipes, boxes and various other trash. He grabbed a pipe and rolled behind the garbage can to wait. They both ran past, Gabriel shouting as he charged at them.

He clocked one with the pipe as hard as he could, sending him to the floor with a small amount of blood coming from a wound in the back of his head. This was the downside to using Pulse armor, you can only block something you know is going to hit you. The other man was not caught by surprise, so the trick could only work once. He swung at Gabriel with his blade, Gabriel hopping over it and tucking into a roll to grab the blade of the knocked out man. The man dashed using pulse with sudden speed, slicing Gabriel on the shoulder deep enough for him to wince in pain.

He slung the blade in his other arm, slashing at the man's chest, but it just got pushed away by his Pulse. He sighed some, grabbing the blade with both hands as the man lunged at him again, catching his blade with Gabriel's to a stalemate. The man had a couple inches and a couple dozen pounds to Gabriel, meaning he knew he would probably lose in a test of strength. Gabriel spun the blade in a circle, making a ringing sound as the blades swung together until the bearded man pushed off hard enough for Gabriel to step back to regain his footing.

He swung at the ground, Gabriel leaping back and dodging it with a handspring, before quickly using the momentum to leap in and quickly slash 3 times at his chest. They all bounced off, but blocking with pulse whittled down stamina, and the bearded Silent Fall member was starting to breath heavier and move more sluggishly. While he was tired as well, he at least had the advantage of being more athletic. He smashed his fist into Gabriel, while he blocked it as well, he still had to reel back from the momentum, the big man smashing his leg so hard against his sternum that he fell onto his back.

“Time's up!” The guy shouted, lifting his sword over his head in an attempt to smash it back down and kill Gabriel in one hit. Gabriel quickly lurched onto his shoulders, smashing his calf into the blade to knock it to the side, the sword cutting the same arm he got his shoulder injury with a quite nasty looking gash. He groaned in pain, the man pulling his blade and kicking him in the side and making him roll along the ground, shouting in pain.

He stood back up and rubbed his arm, giving a cough as the man charged at him once again, he quickly parried the strike and ducked behind him, smashing shoulder first into him and sending him careening onto his face. He quickly dove overtop of him, ripping off his mask and smashing his elbow into the back of his head over and over again until he was knocked out. He sighed and began to pant, standing back up and stumbling over to his bag to open it back up.

He pulled out some bandages along with his receiver. He grabbed the sleeve of his now torn, bloodstained coat and slowly began to roll it back. The gash on his arm was pretty nasty, but nothing extremely hindering. He grabbed his bandage in one hand and spun it along his arm, a red stain quickly forming as he tied it and cut it with his teeth before putting it in his bag. He walked between the two unconscious men and turned his radio back on. “I'm here guys, sorry about that... not turning off the radio made them catch me.” Gabriel stated, his breath still heavy as he slowly tried to recover.
“And how did you deal with them?” Mia asked, Gabriel grabbed his bag and hiked it back onto his shoulder as he leaned against the wall of the alleyway, when he was done with the conversation, he was intending to walk down it since conveniently it was going the same way he was preparing to go. “Both of them are out cold,” Gabriel started, the bag on his shoulders feeling much heavier. He decided to keep one of the blades, even though he didn't have a sheathe for it just yet.

“What is the status on you, M?” L asked, Mia pausing some from annoyance her response for Gabriel got cut off. “Well, I haven't caught on the attention of anything so far, I had a close call but it's been a pretty quiet night.” Mia responded quickly, waiting for L to ask any other questions before he cut in with his own status report. “I'm just outside of the store, actually.” L mentioned, Gabriel shaking his head some, before going down to check if both men were still knocked out. The aching in his shoulder wound was being stung by the cold night wind, but it was slowly fading as the bleeding stopped itself.

“Well good for you, I guess.” Mia said, not really too interested in that fact since only one of three people were at their destination before their actual destination, she cleared her throat some to address Gabriel directly. “G, Dispose of the two men you've come across and proceed to our objective.” Mia stated sternly, Gabriel feeling some confusion at the statement, blade still in his other hand. “Wait... Dispose?” He wondered aloud, Mia quickly confirming the statement. “Yes, kill them and move the bodies somewhere that's hard to notice.” She commanded, Gabriel's hair stood up on the back of his neck as he heard that, his confidence broken as he had to ask her why.

“Kill them? Why kill them? I dealt with the problem... As soon as they're up, I'll be a ghost.” Gabriel tried to justify, pacing the ground a bit as Mia grew somewhat incensed. “No, dispose of them Gabriel.” She spoke again with a stern order, her somewhat deep sounding accent coming through her anger. “Spera is a secret operation, as soon as Silent Fall know of our existence they will effectively take steps against us, halting our progress in rebuilding this damned town.” She ranted some, Gabriel frowning a bit as he looked at the two men. “If you let them live, they will report in with your interference and we may face retaliation.” She said, Gabriel furrowing his brow and looking at the floor, not saying anything.

“It's not like I revel in murder, Gabriel. I'm just making sure we're erring on the side of caution.” She said, hoping to convince him. He sighed and spoke quietly into the radio, not really having the energy to shout. “It feels wrong, it makes me think we're not any better than these people are.” Gabriel said, sitting down on the concrete and eyeing the short sword he put in his lap. There was another short pause before the radio made a static sound to indicate someone has pressed the button once again.

“When the rules we always use to dictate how the world works break down, when we truly have no one else to rely on... Humanity becomes a war.” Mia began to essentially start a tract, whenever she got passionate about something she would do these kinds of grandiose speeches hoping to justify her point by pretending to be an authority. “It's not anymore about your fellow man, this might contradict what you've learned in school that humanity is a social creature. When things go to shit, we will throw anyone else under the bus to get what we need.” She continued, Gabriel glaring at the radio some more as she continued.

“These men oppose us, these men oppress us, these men want to see everything we've built so far in the ruins of tragedy and they want to pull out their dicks and piss on our graves to just spite us. It's us or them, we adapt or we die, Gabriel. I've chosen us, these men have thrown away their humanity to prove an absolutely ignorant point by using violence to promote equality. ” She added, Gabriel standing up and tucking the blade gently under one of his arms.

“They've made their decision, they've chosen to become our enemies. And out in the streets of chaos, where rules are discarded and humanity goes back to it's brutal roots of man vs man to prove who is worthy of survival... Our enemies need to die so we may live. Kill them, Gabriel; or damn us all.” She finished and immediately shut her radio off, Gabriel slightly wiping a tear he felt forming in his eye. He paused, grabbing his blade and crouching down to hold it at the throat of the one without the beard. He felt his hands shake, he never really intentionally took a life before. The most he's ever done was squash a spider who got into his car... But those animals don't really think or show much emotion.

This was a person, he had a family, friends, and a goal in his life. He went down the wrong path, but everyone has a reason for it. Does he really have to harm someone to keep himself safe? But... If they get up, they will oust him and eventually Spera and all the remaining survivors of the town might get destroyed. Gabriel paused once again, taking a deep breath as he tried to fulfill the order... But he couldn't. He realized then and there that he wasn't the kind of person who could kill someone for his own gain... Some people might be able to, but he wasn't one of them. Yes, he might be a bad man, and yes he did attempt to attack Gabriel with a malefic intent, but Gabriel just didn't know if that means he should die.

He might be considered weak, or stupid, or using his heart over his head... But this respect for another life capable of feeling felt like it was the only string he could hold onto after his family left his life and his many failures afterward. Yet... Keeping him alive means this will cause more bloodshed. Keeping these two people alive could potentially cause another one hundred deaths. Women, children, elders, his friends, Lucas's little sister, Violet. All wiped out in a massive pointless act of revenge just because Gabriel couldn't muster the courage to do one morally reprehensible act.

It's for the best, it's the best chance they have for survival... But Gabriel realized then and there that he wasn't a killing man. He shouted, grabbing his stolen sword and threw it as hard as he could, bouncing off a wall and sliding along the concrete. “God damn it!” He screamed, looking at the ground to see the two bodies, before stomping away from them in his intended goal. “Yeah, it's kind of a shitty policy, G, but we all have to listen to it.” Lucas said, still thinking Gabriel is still in the middle of making a decision.

“Did you do it?” Mia asked Gabriel, hoping the pause was enough time to listen to orders. “....Yeah, I did.” Gabriel lied, he wanted to help Spera every way he can, but not if he has to become a monster. “Proceed as planned.” Mia stated, before turning off her receiver. Gabriel turned off his, sliding it back into the bag on his shoulder and he sighed quietly. He began to walk off to the store they promised to meet at as he thought quietly to himself.“Even if they do attack... I'll stop them my damn self,” He quietly muttered, rubbing his injured arm as he broke out into a run, not seeing anyone near by and trying to cover some more distance.

“Come what may.”