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

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

Act 2, Chapter 14: Dead Air, Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

Act 2, Chapter 13: Dead Air, Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, this is different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spectrum: Act 2, Chapter 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 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 1 recap

This chapter is to remind you guys (And me) of the current plot.

Spectrum Recap: Act 1

Maria Roth's parents were killed just after she got back home from school, when a Riftfallen Phoenix like creature burned down her home, she narrowly escaped with her life as she was placed in a hospital for the next 2 years to treat both her burns and the Ash Syndrome, a disease only people who get Ash, a magical artifact inside all Riftfallen inside of her bloodstream.

Maria; Who is now 15, gets out of the hospital and is sent to a boarding school, where she didn't make any friends, she heard of a school called Spectrum, a place where teenagers and adults can learn to combat the monsters themselves, since you have to be either a member of Spectrum or the Military to gain legal access to weapons, Maria joins for the sake of vengeance.

Her sister Sienna, a 5 year veteran at the school realizes that Maria is joining the academy and speaks to the higher ups to get her on her team, along with Maria's childhood friend and heiress to a large weapons manufacturing company, Lily Sterling, a somewhat tomboyish girl, Morgan Leland and a member of the house Goldshore, a remnant of the former collection of small fiefdoms that took up Rosewall before a counsel took over.

They hold a small fighting tournament using sword like weapons to gather information about how each one fares in physical combat, after losing two times in a row, Maria challenges Morgan to a fist fight instead, which the brash Morgan accepts wholeheartedly. Maria manages to win even with the size disadvantage thanks to a mixture of her recklessness and perseverance, but she pays the price and gets injured.

She wakes up to Lily in the hospital 3 days later, who helps her out of the hospital and lets them meet their sister team, a second team who will do missions the most often with them. This team had Jonah Delaney, a somewhat meek, but smart kid. Gabriel, who was friendly but also somewhat of a headcase, Erika Wolfe, who was friendly but quiet. And Florence Goldshore, Robin's younger brother and somewhat of a naive boy.

Sienna also introduces the other teams instructor, Ashley Willows; a woman missing one of her eyes. Thanks to Maria's injury, the exam was postponed a couple of days until she recovered from her head injury, but they are still able to get their weapons. Maria gets upset over her lack of funds and walks off after getting her weapon to go rest.

Morgan makes a quick detour to her old orphanage she grew up in, using some extra money Lily gave her to buy some food and donate it to them out of kindness. The kindly woman running the orphanage displays concern for her, but also notes her brother is seemingly missing. Morgan reassures her and leaves to go back to her dorm, where Robin tells her Maria is sleeping. Morgan complains to Robin after learning of her motivations that she was only in Spectrum to protect her brother, who seemed eager to go that she isn't motivated.

A week later, Maria has a nightmare and wakes up to realize that she was seeing a small apparition of a phoenix. This phoenix, named Gale, is a manifestation of a small amount of Ash from the phoenix after it partially possessed her as a last resort before it's defeat. It has somehow regained some aspects of his old personality and seems apologetic, Maria snaps and attacks it, partially destroying her room before storming off, where she finds Jonah. Jonah tells her to go eat to make herself feel better and she promptly agrees. She meets an Astrian named Cassandra and they get to know each other, sharing a sandwich before meeting up for her exam.

The exam is to retrieve a trophy hidden inside of a temple buried into a mountainside, they are given armbands that will extract them from the area if they're too wounded to continue. They get placed into pairs and everyone leaves in intervals of a couple minutes. Morgan and Lily, known to argue a bit about politics are paired together and it is nearly an hour of uncomfortable silence.

Morgan insults Lily over her inaction and the ethics of her father, Lily is insulted and it turns into a fight where Lily reveals that she was used to being bullied like this. Robin eventually shows up to stop the fight from getting any more violent, and Lily storms off wanting to quit. After leaving, Lily finds Maria, who convinces her to continue with her team instead.

Lily, Jonah and Maria are walking down the forest path before coming across a river, they attempt to cross it and are moderately successful until Jonah misses the rope and is carried downstream. Gabriel and Erika then arrive to come and help them, and they team up together to get to the temple. The sun sets and they are forced to camp for the night, Maria struggles to sleep and it awoken by the sound of Riftfallen wolves stalking the camp.

She warns the rest of her team and a skirmish ensues, everyone gets lightly wounded sans Maria, who's attempt at a gambit left her with a massive gaping wound in her arm that forces her vital warning to activate. This forces Maria to extract from the mission and leave the total group to 7. Lily gets a huge scar on one side of her face, but is still able to continue.

In the morning, they all arrive at the temple and head inside, they decide to split up in the labyrinthine temple to get each artifact, Robin and Lily leave together to discuss their lives and find it for themselves. They manage to get it, but it turns out that from the heavy rainfall the entire underground temple was really a sinkhole, and they were forced to hurry before it could collapse with them inside.

After waiting, everyone manages to get their relics and head back home safely.

Maria gets out of the hospital one night later, still quite wounded but able to walk, Sienna comes to meet her, but she's acting suspicious. Sienna asks Maria to come with her to Maria's dorm so they could discuss an issue together and Maria reluctantly accepts.

Sienna is worried about Maria's mental state, as her disposition is different from 2.5 years ago and it seems like she doesn't have a sense of personal safety, so she offers an ultimatum. Maria will leave Spectrum and go back to her school where she is safe, or Sienna will report her for mental issues and force her to leave instead. This upsets Maria, who then slaps Sienna and storms out of Spectrum in a rage presumably to rather quit than be kicked out.

Maria, now more calm and somber decides to visit said school to reminisce, before heading to her parents graves as she hasn't gone there before. Gale manifests and they discuss how his possession works, him revealing that since he technically possessed Maria, her being a living creature and possession being the main way Riftfallen tend to manifest, theoretically possible. Decides to tell her that he considers his lack of actions penance for him ruining her life.

Before returning to her boarding school, Maria decides to go look at her home one last time, even if it was rebuilt and repainted. She gets the feeling to explore the basement, since she's never been inside anymore. She finds the tattered remnants of her mother's scarf, and Ashley in a car who revealed that she's been following Maria at Sienna's request. Maria decided to go back to Spectrum under Ashley's team, instead of Sienna.
Lily also leaves Sienna's team to be with Maria, leaving them with Jonah and Gabriel, Maria's weapon is confiscated and she inherits Ashley's old weapon, named Sangris.

A couple of weeks later, Maria and her team decide to go eat lunch together, when Maria stops someone from bullying Cassandra. They have idle chat about school live and electives when Maria reveals that she's having some major money issues and doesn't want to rely on Lily for everything. Cassandra mentions they have an advanced cooking club that offers discounts and Maria gets psyched to join it.

Maria fails the cooking class horribly, so horribly she gets kicked out. Cassandra offers some condolence but Maria finds out a bout a club for people who like to fight, and as a boxing fan, Maria decides to join it. She finds Morgan as a member and a strange teacher named Sebastian Ritters manning the whole thing. The woman who was bullying Cassandra earlier said she was going to be there, so Maria challenged her to a fight as soon as she saw her.

The fight is vicious, but thanks to Maria's built in toughness and the anti-advice of Morgan, the fight ends in a draw and Maria gets to stay. Then thanks to Lily, she gets a pet cat, Snowy, along with a set of depressing and hypnotic cooking DVD's to watch to help her be more self sufficient.

Physical training begins and after 5 months of work, their training begins on using their weapons Pulse ability. Pulse being the main way to combat monsters, Gabriels sister dies in a Riftfallen attack, and is forced to leave Spectrum to be with them. Caleb, a childhood bully of Jonah joins the team in his stead and to Jonahs protests, and they continue their training after Morgan's team leaves.

Morgan gets a phone call just after training by her brother, Nick, to meet him outside of the school for a private conversation. Nick reveals to her that he was working for the Rosewall syndicate, but ended up being intimidated into joining a terrorist offbranch of the syndicate and was afraid to leave, saying that it'd be best for Morgan to consider him dead. Morgan gets upset as he walks off, but Lily encounters her and they make up for their spat over 5 months ago, Maria gets nachos.

A week later, Maria has her birthday just before the end of the year. After training, Maria heads back inside to find that her sister brought her a cake and wished to speak with her. We find out that both sides felt bad about the entire situation with Maria leaving the team, and also decide to try and make amends even if the situation was still rocky between the both of them, Lily gets Maria a cat sweater.

Morgan asks the head of Spectum, Chancellor Steele to consider assistance for saving Nick from being in the terrorist organization, Silent fall. But she is disappointed to find out that he only asks her to recuse herself and have him go to jail instead. They get an emergency signal and are requested to join their first mission.

They are briefed that while they aren't strong enough to wipe out the riftfallen in the area, that they could run evacuation on people who were currently trapped in a mall. They get on the helicopters and are deployed in the area. The mission goes smoothly until a mother reveals she left her son and husband in the mall, Maria decides to go get them.

The husband is dead, but thanks to her and Gale, they manage to get the boy to come with her after she finishes off some stragglers by herself. They are forced to sneak around the alleyways due to a resurgence in Riftfallen as Lily gives them a distress signal and requests for help, Maria too trapped to help her.
Lily attempts to stop a robbery of a store, only to find out that Maria couldn't come and she was vastly outnumbered. The leader of the robbers reveals that he is Wolf, the leader of Silent Fall. He explains his motivations and promptly knocks Lily out using his goons, and Lily is extracted from the mission. Maria encounters a huge group of monsters and tries to lure them to fight her in small groups while issuing a distress signal.

Help arrives and Maria and her team manage to get back to the extraction point with the boy safe, Maria goes to check on them before leaving herself.

3 days later, Caleb adopts a dog named Sasha and tells Maria to come see him and Jonah for a surprise later, Maria goes to pick Lily up from the hospital. Lily was disheartened by her lack of ability, and Maria is forced to attempt to give her some confidence. They head back to the dorm to a surprise party with drinks and ice cream, but are forced to sit at the kids table as a prank. Maria gets mad and leaves as Lily notices that Morgan is missing.

Morgan, later that night goes downtown to meet the leader of the syndicate, Stella Rousell. She explains that the leader of Silent Fall is a man named Elliot, and offers her a cell phone in exchange for her assistance in saving her brother, as Spectrum won't lift a finger for her. Morgan agrees before leaving to await her phone call to reveal what exactly she's going to do.