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 12: Dead Air, Part 1.

Back after a hiatus, but back!

Act 2, Chapter 12: Dead Air, Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, this is different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spectrum: You know, For kids.

Chapter 10 The Tower, Part 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 9: The Tower, Part 4.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Act 2, Chapter 9: The Tower, Part 4

Maria pensively drew her blades, widening her stance and crossing them in front of her. “Are you sure you really want to do this?” She asked, Lily just glaring at her in response. “I want to find this out now, and get it over with.” She responded, before launching with pulse at Maria with the intent to stab her. Maria panicked, but managed to cross her two swords together in an X to push her off course. Forcing her to roll back onto her feet, Maria leapt past her, landing on her hands and spinning to try and sweep her off her feet. Lily quickly hopped over it, spinning around to slash at Maria, which was luckily pushed away by Maria's Pulse. Maria quickly hopped on her feet, before Lily attempted to strike her as she was getting up. Maria was just barely quick enough to duck under it, responding by pressing hard onto the ground and smashing her shoulder into Lily's chest, making them both spill onto the floor.

Lily huffed, standing back up, Maria landing a fairly impressive handspring since Lily's speed meant that she could attack her while Maria was still getting back onto her feet. Lily quickly dove at her by leaping into the air nearly 10 feet, launching her sword straight at her, but Maria caught the action fast enough to roll to the side, making her blade bounce off the ground. Maria dove at Lily, tackling her and grabbing her by her sword arm to attempt to disarm her. Lily quickly rolled her shoulder, smacking ontop of Maria and sending her face first into the ground with a bounce. This let her stand back up nice and quickly to land a blow on the ground against Maria, the dull blade cracking into Maria's shoulder and making her roll a couple of feet.

Maria let out a groan, not prepared to block it, but in good enough condition to shrug off the pain and stand back up. Maria lifted her blades in front of her as Lily charged again, their two blades meeting as they clashed with quick strikes. Sparks began to fly from all three blades as each attack was parried, Lily lunged back to prepare for a deep stab, which Maria responded by stepping in and pressing the blade to pass uselessly by her side, her arm twisting her wrist to keep her in a joint lock. “Surrender, damn it...” Maria demanded, but Lily kicked her right in the chest, forcing her to drop the wrist lock and stumble backward. “If you want, I can surrender and give you my ca-” Maria somewhat pleaded, but Lily cut her off. “You're not a coward, Maria... Don't act like one.” Lily reprimanded, Maria just sighing some as she got back into her defensive stance, not wanting to swing at her.

Lily went in for another attack, and Maria easily blocked it once again, parrying it off to the side, the momentum making Lily spin and slash close to the ground to knock Maria off her feet, which was successful, as Maria tripped on the blade and fell onto the ground. Lily quickly raised her blade for a finishing blow, but Maria just smacked it away with the nearest sword she was holding. Lily backed away just a bit as Maria slowly rose to her feet, her breath getting a bit heavier from the speed. Lily suddenly broke out into a dash, leaping up and smashing her boot into Maria's face, making her groan in pain, a splatter of blood splashing on the ground.

“You're not even trying, Maria... Do you really look down on me?” She asked, Maria standing up and rubbing the sore part of her lip. Realizing only then it was dripping blood, she just had her lip split by the kick, and it was a pretty big gash. “No, I just think this fight is pointless.” Maria replied between breaths. Lily dove at her again, forcing Maria to block, only to realize it was a feint. She actually spun down, using pulse and even some of her wind magic to launch her sword at Maria's fingers. This hit her hand so hard, one of the swords launched in the air, flying behind her as she was forced to let go of the blade, landing in a couple of clangs behind her as it slid on it's side.

“Take me seriously, Maria!” Lily once again demanded of her friend, Maria just glared up at at her, slowly turning to face her with the only blade left in her hands, feeling the stinging of the metal smacking against it slowly face. A black mist crawled up her left arm, forming a black carapace up to the elbow with red claw tips, her eyes began to subtly glow. “If you want me to legitimately fight you instead of talking this one out... So be it.” She said, before ducking under Lily's shoulder and dashing extremely quickly at the blade on the ground, even faster than before. Lily quickly leapt to the blade as Maria dashed to pick it back up, kicking it so it bounced and smacked against a far wall, Lily then swung her blade, smashing the edge into Maria's face, cutting her forehead open with a gush.

She growled in pain, rubbing her hand with her clawed hand to check for blood, which was currently pouring down her face. She then dashed extremely quickly at Lily, closing the gap in nearly the blink of an eye, displaying nearly inhuman speed when she does so, this caught Lily off guard, who was barely able to keep Maria's clawed hand from slashing her across the face. She smashed her sword against her claw, which wasn't repelled away by her Pulse, but was instead just pressing her her hand and wrist.. Which didn't budge. It felt like it was steel rubbing against steel, almost like she had donned a metal gauntlet over that hand.

She slid off the blade, leaning back and punching her in the chest with enough force for even Pulse to not stop the momentum, Lily sliding back nearly 10 feet as she struggled for her footing, Maria launching at her with a shriek before Lily leapt up, driving her knee into Maria's chin, causing her to spill onto her back, her second blade sliding off. Maria was flat on her back, taking deep breaths as Lily looked down to inspect the strange black armor on Maria's left arm, only to find it completely missing, as she was channeling it with the only blade she had. She then checked Maria's armlet, which was still shining with a blue LED, meaning Maria wasn't defeated yet.

Maria slowly climbed back onto two feet, rubbing the blood from her face before it got into her now non-glowing eyes. She was hunched forward, clearly much more tired after the strain of using her strange ability. “I'm getting sick of your attitude...” She said, breathily as she tried to recover some stamina. “So you really want me to go all out...” She muttered, before glaring up at Lily with a sharp gaze. “I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR FUCKING HEAD IN!” She shouted, clenching her fists and lifting them to her face, since she was going to fight without a weapon, knowing Lily was still faster than her and wouldn't let her reach them without punishment.

Lily launched at her, Maria ducking the blow and smashing her elbow against the side of Lily's head, though it was blocked by pulse, it was still enough to make her falter, Lily responded by striking against her rib cage, no longer able to be blocked by her Pulse as she was without a weapon with Ash. Maria gritted her teeth, stumbling back as Lily continued with a combination of blows, smacking her on the chest, neck and side of her head, but Maria quickly reached up to grip hard against the sword to not let her pull back. Lily might be fast and precise, but Maria could still out power her as much as she wants.

She then swung her leg up to kick Lily in the face, before dipping behind her and grabbing her wrist, bending it behind her head with her sword and pulling back more and more. Lily struggled, but Maria latched her legs around her waist, forcing her to fall on her back as Maria cranked her shoulder further and further back until she had to let out a cry in pain. She let go of her blade, dropping past Maria's head and clanging on the floor. Maria kicked her off, before grabbing her sword and throwing it across the room, letting go of the grip with her legs and letting her stand up as Maria put her hand on her own hip. “So, a fistfight is what you want...” She asked, Maria just slid back into a fighting stance, lunging at Lily the very second she stood up, Lily raised her hands up to block as Maria smashed her forearm against her, the dull thud of bone smacking bone could be heard as Maria added a kick to the ribs for good measure.
Lily winced, stepping back just a bit as Maria dipped down to attempt an uppercut, which was scouted by Lily, but then Maria suddenly turned her punch into a thumb to one of her eyes. Lily screamed, covering her poked eye, it wasn't injured, but she was going to be temporarily blinded. As Maria backed off to catch her breath, still tired from expending so much energy. Lily broke into a dash, leaping into the air and kicking Maria right in the face, making the split on the lip even wider as a fresh spurt of blood splattered on her face and chest, Maria stumbling back before falling onto her back. Maria realized she was in a bad position, and forced herself to roll onto her feet as Lily ran up to continue striking her. But Maria, who was backed up far enough to be near a wall, responded quickly.

She grabbed Lily's head, after ducking her punch, smashing her head firmly against the wall, enough to send her head an inch into it, cracked chips of wood falling to the ground as it was hard enough to make Lily begin to bleed from the side of her head, just above the eye. She sputtered, leaping up and kicking Maria right in her chest to get her off, before running and leaping up to knee her in the chest hard enough to send them both crashing onto their backs in a mess. Maria got up first regardless, Lily getting up just after as she was clearly foggy headed from having her head bash into a wall, giving one last charge at Maria, which Maria grabbed her shoulder, forcing her head against the ground as she tripped her with a sick bounce.

Lily lied on the floor, Motionless, as Maria stood back up, Lily slowly stumbling back onto her feet as she spun to smash Maria in the side of the head with an elbow, splattering blood against the wall as Maria leaned against it to regain her senses, the ringing heavy in one ear as she felt knocked off balance. Lily ran up, kneeing her in the rib cage and keeping her pinned against the wall as she punched her in the face over and over again with her light, but sharp punches. Turning the two cuts on Maria's face into a crimson mask. Maria coughed and groaned, shaking her head a bit before she replied by smashing her own head into Lily's, making the cut even deeper.

Lily was taken aback by the surprise headbutt, only to get met by another headbutt. And again, and again, and again. Maria smashing her own head into Lily's as she slowly regained an advantage, until Lily stumbled back, losing all balance and falling into a seated position, head slowly swaying as she felt like the whole room was spinning around her. Maria backed away, before shouting to the sky, dashing at her and sending her knee barreling against Lily's face, hard enough for it to smash her head onto the ground in a whiplash like recoil, sending her sliding a couple of feet along the hardwood floor.
Lily's armlet beeped, signaling the end of the fight as she fell unconscious. Maria shouted once more in a fury, before collapsing onto her knees and taking a couple of heavy breaths, Jonah and Caleb slowly walking over to the two downed girls. “Holy shit...” Jonah said quietly, leaning down to check on Maria. “Breathe, Maria... Breathe.” He said, trying to get her to calm down, but Maria quickly stood up, pushing Jonah off of her and stumbling against the wall. “FUCK OFF!” She shouted, her rage taking over. “Get me her fucking key...” She muttered, Jonah quietly acquiescing to her demand, grabbing the card and handing it off to Maria.

Maria scanned it, slowly sliding along the wall and leaning against it as she felt the power in her knees give way to weariness, she dipped her card into her pocket as she hugged her own knees, trying to stop herself from breaking down in tears, but her fury turned into sadness as she began to quietly sob. Caleb lightly patted on Lily's shoulder to wake her up. Lily muttered some, slowly standing up and leaning against the wall as she pressed a hand to her head, trying to apply some pressure to stop the bleeding. “So... I lost.” She said, slowly walking over and picking her sword up off of the ground. “What's gotten into you, Lily?” Caleb said out of concern for her and her actions ever since Maria insulted her. “You're usually the smart one... Why are you the crazy one now?” He asked her in the best way he could word it.

“I felt like this for a long time, I just... hid it.” She said, Jonah grabbing a bottle of water from his pack and handing it to her to give her a drink, which she graciously accepted to try and dull the throbbing in her head from Maria's crazy attack. “Well... Don't you think talking this out would have been less.. bloody?” He said, gesturing to Maria who was currently in the fetal position against the wall, drenched in her own blood. “It kind of went out of hand, I admit... But I just feel tired of being the useless one on the team... Maria is so tough... I felt jealous.” She mentioned, Jonah frowning a bit and turning to Maria as she slowly tried to stand back up. “I don't think she's as tough as you think...” Jonah mentioned as Maria sifted over to her bag, slowly pulling out a rag and wiping her face of the blood.

Jonah slowly walked to Maria to try and help her up. “Need a hand?” He asked, Maria standing up and slapping his hand away. Maria wasn't covered in her own blood anymore, but her face was covered in fairly nasty looking gashes. “Don't fucking touch me.” She said, tears still clearly rolling down her face as she turned a cold shoulder to him, picking her swords back up before heading over to the door that lead back into the hallways they were in before. “I'm taking these two cards and making a b-line for the very top, we're gonna fucking win.” She said, slamming the door behind her as Jonah quietly sighed, turning back to Lily as Caleb gestured to grab some bandages from his backpack. Which he did, grabbing some gauze and cotton balls, wrapping around Lily's forehead to stop the bleeding.

“I guess I'm still a loser, even with all my practice..” Lily said, looking at the floor, her eyes watering a bit. But a hearty laugh came from Caleb, smacking her on the shoulder. “A loser? You whipped Maria's ass!” He said with a big, friendly grin in hopes it could cheer her up. “But... I lost.. Didn't I?” She mentioned, but Caleb bent down and smiled. “Well... yeah, you lost. But she's the one who's hurt more from the fight, I consider that a sign you did a damn fine job.” He said to her, she sighed, smiling sightly as Jonah stood her back up, now properly bandaged, before Jonah gave her a light hug.

“You guys should take a break... I feel like we need to sit down and talk about our issues for a little when this is all said and done.” Jonah said, turning away and walking to he door, looking back as he turned the handle. “To be frank, I'm pretty sick of infighting already.” He said with a joking chuckle, leaving the room as well, Lily lightly rubbing the side of her head as she stood up, looking at the much taller teammate. Caleb looked back down at her and stretched a bit. “Well, it looks like we're down two cards.” He stated, Lily lightly nodding at him. “I'll take the next two fights, you'll probably be able to be in a good enough condition to fight by then.” He stated, gesturing her to follow him.

“I appreciate it.” She said with a soft stumble in each step, hoping they don't run into another fight for quite some time.  

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 8: The Tower, Part 3

The infodump.

Act 2, Chapter 8: The Tower, Part 3

Maria and her team turned a corner onto the street of the biggest skyscraper in the city. It was roughly 800 feet in height, and since Maria was bored, she counted the floors as she approached. She counted about 80, but admittedly because the outer walls of the skyscraper were simmering with windows upon windows to give it a dark mirror effect along the whole thing. It was wider at the bottom than it was at the top, and had a spire jutting out about 100 feet into the air on top of the already tall building. Earlier, the sun was constantly glinting off the extremely reflective building glass curtains they called walls, forcing Maria to walk half of the way with her hands over her face so she wasn't blinded by the lights which have thankfully subsided.

As they got closer, they noticed a group of people nearing 50 in size standing shoulder to shoulder, including the familiar long black hair draping over her shoulders, along with her huge claymore strapped to the back of Morgan, along with the tight golden colored bun and spear of Robin standing somewhere in the group. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and looking at a stage, which had a banner made of metal draped over it with. “Welcome, students!” Written in some boring new age font they probably got some schmuck to laboriously make and plaster it onto the sign.

Maria's team were about to enter the crowd, as a man appearing in his thirties, wearing Spectrum colors on his beret and jacket walked up to them whilst looking at his watch. “You're about 15 minutes before the cut off point, go stand in the group and wait for the announcement.” He said, Lily nodding for Maria as she walked right past him as he spoke in a very rude manner. Maria scooted ahead in the pack, dipping between the teenagers and young adults to stand beside Morgan. “When you'd get here?” Maria asked her, looking up and down at her and noticing the cuts on Morgan's face, along with a couple of wooden splinters left over on her black, long sleeved jacket.

“10 minutes ago, Maria.” She responded, not in the greatest of moods, but Maria wasn't the problem.. for once. “Did you have a fist fight with a tree?” Maria asked, Morgan lightly sighing and crossing her arms together as she looked at the redhead. “A door, actually.” She retorted, Maria blinked a couple of times, raising a brow. “...You won, right?” Maria asked flatly, Morgan stifling a light chuckle as her lips curled back for a light smile. “Didn't stand a chance.” She replied jokingly, Maria chuckling a bit as Lily approached from behind, patting Maria on the shoulder as she walked past. “Let's get closer to the front.” She said as she passed by, Morgan nodded to Maria for her to go, as Maria turned to follow her teammate.

They waited as the group awkwardly shuffled for space as a man climbed up the stairs and onto the platform to place a microphone, checking the cables and speakers just to make sure it worked. A woman climbed up onto the platform as well, with a short bob cut of black hair and a pair of glasses underneath a red beret. She was wearing a long, white dress down slightly past her knees and shoes instead of high heels. She cleared her throat, patting her finger against the mic. “...This thing on?” She asked, but only got loud feedback. She covered her ears until it settled down, folding her arms and scooting the microphone stand closer to her so she could speak.

“I would like to greet all of the first year students who do not know exactly know who I am.” She started, her voice was low and commanding, even if she was clearly not comfortable in the dress they gave her for this ceremony. “I am High Councilor Andrea Lakewood, I am the current head of all instances of Spectrum and will be overseeing this entire promotion event.” She introduced herself formally, Maria quickly looking up from being distracted to get a good look at her. “I want to congratulate all of you for getting to the point where you can potentially upgrade to an E rank or higher.” She continued, crossing her arms over each other, rolling her neck and shoulders to make them pop slightly. “We've designed this tower for the exclusive purpose of testing our students in a controlled environment. Using Riftfallen or holding this in public are both bad ideas, so we will be using this facility from now on. And you're the first bunch we're going to test this on.” She said, gesturing out to the crowd of 48 students. She was expecting at least some applause, but every single one was just staring at her like someone waved a feather wand in front of the cat. “I'm assuming you want to know how this works.” She got back onto the main point of her speech, reaching her hand out. As one of the men handed her what appeared to be a small, black credit card sized card. “We want to filter out the very highest candidates from the inexperienced, but because using real Riftfallen is both dangerous and stupid, you will be fighting your own kin.” She continued, holding the card up in front of her.

“As you may have noticed as you all arrived in Silverton, Your instructors handed your team two pairs of small, black, cards.” She stated, slowly spinning it between her fingers as she paced, unhooking the mic from the stand and pulling it with her as it was wireless. “The reason why all four of you didn't receive a card is complementary to what this exam is trying to do, filter you down to the very best, the ones we can be confident about taking on more difficult missions.” She added, the students showing reactions from pulling out their cards to inspect them, all the way to not giving a damn. “There are 24 cards, and 48 students, you will be separated into teams of 2 after you distribute the cards between your team however you may wish. Your goal is to get to the very top of the tower with 2 cards between the two members of your team.” She stated, turning to the crowd once again.

“Once you distribute the cards, you will have until 6 PM to gather the right amount of cards and make it to the top of the tower. How do you win these cards, you ask?” She said, as another technician slid an armlet over her left arm. She quickly scanned the card over it and an audible chirping sound was heard. “You must register your cards to be wagered in a one on one fight, if you lose, they can scan your card to indicate that they have won the wager.” She said, sliding the armlet off and continuing to hold the card between her index and thumb.

“How do we prevent theft? Any card that is registered must be scanned twice, one by the owner, and one by the victor. One to wipe the memory, and one to rewrite it. Your bio-signals are in the armlet and will be able to tell if you're scanning it under your own will. Anyone caught stealing a card without winning it in a wager will be disbarred from taking this test for another year, we have over 200 security cameras inside of this tower... We know when you steal them.” She added to try and dissuade people from committing theft.

“Once you split into teams of two, any team you see will be a team you have to challenge. Be it your friends, or family. A wager is a wager and this rule must be respected.” She continued, Maria glancing over at the rest of her team as Andrea continued her overly long announcement. “If you were wondering about why your weapons were acquired by your instructors, modified and handed back to you can easily be explained as well.” She mentioned, reaching down to grab a man's sword in the front row, sliding her finger along the blade as she spoke.

“Typically, Pulse is able to protect you from harm, but if it ever drops unexpectedly, this could cause grievous harm to our test takers, and we're not here to kill any of you. You may be roughed up, but you didn't come here to die, nor lose a limb.” She said, handing the sword back to the boy in front. “Along with this, your Armlet has been altered to signal the fight to stop if your Pulse fails, or you receive a minor injury, instead of your life being in danger. That being said, anyone who is willing to fight past the signal on the Armlet to stop, will be sent to prison and barred from Spectrum forever.” She warned sternly of the consequences of intentionally harming another in this sterile test environment. “This test will begin at 10PM, which will be in roughly one hour. You will need to collect a minimum of 2 cards before you get to the top, if you only are able to get one, you will not be promoted, and if you do not have any at all? You will be sent back to basic training. If you're wondering why you have 8 hours to get to the top of a nearly 900 foot building...? You'll need it.” She said, turning away and walking back down the stairs off the platform and over to the side, as an awkward looking technician walked up to the speaker. “You will spend this hour talking strategy with your team, by the way.” He said, clearly nervous in front of this small crowd. “We also have free waffles for anyone who had to skip breakfast thanks to how early this test was going to take part, enjoy!” He said, before attempting, but failing turning off the mic and running off, the microphone smacking onto the ground with MASSIVE feedback.

“Why does everyone have to be so grandiose?” Robin muttered to herself, but Morgan turned away and slowly walked off. “I don't know about you, but I want waffles.” She said, ignoring what Robin had to say. Slowly, the students funneled to a small truck set up with a small team of cooks, making waffles in a storm in little cardboard treys, a small cup of syrup to dip or pour onto them. An arrangement of benches on other side of the building offered a place to sit. Maria smacked both her hands against the table to get her teams attention before she spoke.

“Alright guys, let's plan this shit.” Maria stated, her three companions looking at her, when the two cards they owned were place on the table. “So the rule is both teams of two have to get to the top of the tower with two of these cards.” She continued, Caleb looking at them, taking one into his hand to look at the front and back. “Well that gives me two ideas, actually.” Caleb stated, placing the cards back next to each other on the table, pointing to both of them with his gloved fingers. “Each of us can take one card, meaning we both have the same chance to win a couple of fights and be a cinch for the promotion.” He said, before sliding the cards ontop of each other. “Or we could hedge our bets, give one team two cards and a safe ticket to success, while the other team tries to win two cards.” He explained, Lily raising her brow a bit at the second option. “Why would we do the second option?” She asked him.

Maria scooted up a bit, waffle hanging from her mouth as she was mid bite. “I'm assuming if we can get more than the 2 required keys, we'll probably receive some kind of award for it.” Maria mentioned. “And you have to be a pretty confident person to try and start from 0 keys, even if giving one team two means we're pretty likely to succeed at least marginally.” He added to her deduction quickly, Maria looked across the table at Jonah, turning her head to look at Lily as well. “So how confident are we?” She asked, Jonah raising his hand and awkwardly rubbing his shoulder. “I'm not.” He muttered, Caleb thumping his fist on the table. “I wouldn't mind having to win two fights, it would even help Jonah and whoever he's with out.” He said with a smile, Lily leaned up and scratched her chin as she was finished with her food. “So who wants to go with Jonah?” She asked, as Maria slid the two cards over to him. “I think you should go with Jonah, Lily.” Maria ordered, Lily raising her brow some at that statement.

“Why?” Lily asked, wanting to know why Maria thinks she needs both cards. “Well, think about it.” Maria said, finishing her own waffle and quickly taking a shot of syrup from the little plastic cup. “You have two keys so all you need to do is make it up this building, Jonah is smart, he can plan out routes for you two to take and avoid combat. You're agile, so you could easily make the slip on anyone you fight.” Maria explained, but Lily clenched her fist. “Why do you think I need to run away?” She asked, clearly annoyed. “Well... Caleb and I were a team, getting two cards would be pretty easy, we're both pretty tough fighters.” Maria said, trying to explain herself, Lily, now frustrated just slammed her fists on the table as she stood up.

“Don't underestimate me, damn it.” She complained, Maria furrowed her brow and stood up as well. “I wasn't saying th-” Maria tried to explain, but Lily cut her off. “No, that's EXACTLY what you're doing. You're saying I can't hold my own compared to you, and you want to give me a handicap to make sure I succeed.” Lily argued, Maria frowning a bit and sighing. Lily grabbed a card, throwing it in her face, taking one for herself as she stormed off. “I'm not a joke like you think I am, Maria. See you at the tower.” She stated, pocketing one as Caleb and Jonah just looked awkwardly at her as she walked off. Maria sighed, dropping back into her chair and crossing her arms. “What the fuck was that?” Maria asked, Jonah sighing a bit. “I don't know, should I go get her?” He asked, Maria sighed a bit, raising her hand to him. “Just... don't.” Maria mentioned, still confused.

Caleb stood out from his seat. “I'll join her team, I guess.” He mentioned, since he might as well pick a side. Walking off as Jonah pocketed the other card. “I hope she'll be alright.” Jonah mentioned, standing up and strapping his shield on. “She'll get over it.” Maria replied as she picked up the remaining card and put it into one of the front pockets of her coat, then grabbing her swords and sliding them into the sheathes on her back. They went to the front of the tower and head inside the double doors, where a technician met them both. “Follow me, you two.” He said in a friendly tone, turning and gesturing with a hand. They listened to his orders as he lead them into the elevator, the old timey type with bars instead of the metallic double doors.

“The test will begin soon, If either of you had any questions, you better ask them now.” He mentioned, walking up and pressing a button to make the elevator begin to move. Jonah looked up and saw a monitor, counting down to the beginning of the test, currently counting just over three minutes. “Can you run the rules by us again?” He asked, hoping for another explanation since he didn't get the specifics from Captain Lakewood. “Alright, but I'm only going to run this by you one time,” He replied, before explaining.

“You will be placed in a random floor between 1 and 6, meaning that on each floor will be 4 teams, each one for the cardinal directions of the elevators have been placed. You two are currently in the east elevator on floor three.” He mentioned, pointing to the fact the elevator has stopped climbing a couple of floors up. “Any team you come across, and come into eye contact with, you will come into a confrontation. You may choose to accept or decline a fight, but if you accept, you will both wager 1 of your cards by scanning it with your armlet.” He mentioned, raising his arm and pointing to the very armlet.

“The fight ends when you hear the signal on the Armlet telling you to stop, any strikes or attacks after this will send agents to stop and remove you from this test, if you reach the top with 0 cards, or if you cannot reach the top after 8 hours, you will be sent back to basic training.” He said, a chill going down Jonah's spine as he realized how frustrating it would be to go back to basic training. He would get his pay cut once again, and would lose all progress he's made so far. “If you only get one card, you will not be promoted, but can take this test again next semester. If you get two cards, you will be promoted 1 rank, and if you collect more than 2, you will be promoted 2 instead of one.” He finally explained, Maria's eyes going wide as she realized she could potentially over achieve and get a pay raise if she did well enough.

“Let's get started, then!” Maria shouted out of excitement, the man subtly rubbing an ear as her rough voice echoed in the small elevator and into the hallway just outside the room. The beeping began on the monitor as it counted down from three. When it hit zero, the doors opened, Maria and Jonah walking out into the gaudy carpeted hallways of the big office building. “We're gonna have a lot of stairs to climb.” Jonah muttered to himself, Maria scouting ahead as she turned the corner. He realized he was getting left behind and quickly ran up to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

“They said there are 6 other people on this floor, right?” He asked Maria, who just gently nodded, hands in her pockets as she looked around. There were doors upon doors of offices, it was getting almost hypnotic. But they needed to find a staircase to quickly make their way up to the next floor. “Well, what about it?” Maria asked, noticing he didn't continue what he was saying. “Well... how likely do you think it's going to be that we're going to run into someone else?” He asked her, She only shrugged her shoulders, she didn't know. “ELEVATOR!” Maria shouted, running up to it and pressing her hands against the barred doors, looking for the button to actually open the damn thing.

“The wiring to the elevator door was removed.” Said a familiar voice to Maria's right side, a girl with roughly cut platinum blonde hair, a slight scowl on her typically pretty face, hand on the hilt of her blade. “Lily?” Maria asked, confused as she turned to her teammate. “How did you find us so fast?” Jonah asked as Maria's hands hooked into the rusted metal of the non-functioning elevator. “One out of six floors means that statistically I had roughly a 17 percent chance to come across you on the same floor, I got lucky... and you also happen to be very loud. As soon as I heard your voice, I knew you would be close by.” She said, with a light smile. Maria turned to her, lightly stretching her shoulder out in a typical Maria-esque gesture.

“You know the rules, right? If we make contact, we have to fight, unless both parties opt out.” Jonah asked Lily, Lily drew her sword from her sheathe with a light ringing as the metal dragged against the edge, holding it on her side as she spoke. “I know, and I want to fight one of you.” Lily mentioned, Maria lowered her brow, stepping forward and grabbing Lily by the wrist. “Wait, are you serious?” She asked, out of confusion. “I know what I want.” Lily replied, tugging her wrist away from Maria to force her to let go. “Why? Wouldn't it make more sense to just ignore each other and take out the competition?” Maria asked Lily, though Lily just looked away from Maria for a second before turning to glare at her again.

“I need to do this.” She replied, before slowly walking past both Maria and Jonah, looking at a door to make sure no one would interrupt. She heard the clanging of blades echo throughout the halls as a fight was already happening on the same floor. “Ever since the leader of Silent Fall had his goons beat me up and lob off my hair... I felt weak.” She explained, looking at the ground as her hand ran along the dull edge of her rapier. “Like I wasn't in control, like I don't deserve to be here.” She said, before turning to face Maria and Jonah. “I felt jealous of you, even if I never told anyone, I let it seethe... and boil deep down, because I felt like you considered me your equal, and you were there to support me.” She continued, spinning to face Maria, pointing her blade at her.

“But the very conversation made me realize... You're coddling me, you're treating me like a child... You feel like you have to.. -protect- me.” She said, bitterly, Maria frowned, not drawing her weapons. “Lily... This was over one conversation, and I misspoke. Aren't you overreacting?” Maria said to try and get her to calm down. “No, I'm sorry.” She said, lowering her brow to glare at Maria. “I want you to respect me, Maria, and if beating you in a fight is the only way to do that...? I'll fight you 100 times.” She said, revealing her intentions, Maria sighed, putting her hand on her hip. “I have zero idea where the fuck this is coming from, you have NEVER said any of this to me.” Maria replied out of confusion, though Jonah quietly sighed from behind her.

“You have the bad habit of not really looking into how other people feel, Maria. She's told me this about a couple of weeks ago.. I was just afraid to bring it up.” He explained, Maria groaning and glaring back at him. “Good fucking job.” Maria admonished briefly before turning back to Lily, who was pretty adamant on starting a fight. “I'm not letting you leave this room until we fight, Maria.” Lily firmly stated, as Caleb slowly approached through a door just behind Lily. “Jeeze, can you slow down A LITTLE bit? We're not in a hurry or anyth-” He said, before he realized he walked into a confrontation between Lily and Maria. “Well shit, this is awkward.” He said, Jonah sighing a bit. “I don't want you two to hurt each other over this.” Jonah said softly, patting Maria on the shoulder.

“Look, if you want a fight... Fine.” Maria said, drawing her blades, she wasn't really too into the concept of fighting a friend, but if Lily is going to act like an asshole for no good reason, Maria might at least humor her. “Don't you fucking dare hold back on me, Maria. I want to prove to you I CAN do this.” She said, entering her fighting stance. Maria sighed, the blades slack in her hands as she looked up with a rare, somber face. “Or you could just forfeit, and we both go on our merry fuckin' way and fight people who actually matter.” Maria replied, grabbing her card in one of her sword hands.

“No.” Lily briefly shot down Maria's suggestion, as she scanned her own card to activate the battle wager. “Well shit... Stand back guys.” Maria warned, scanning her own card and sliding into her front pocket as Jonah and Caleb both backed up to make room for them to fight. Lily slowly backed up and opened the door to another room, gesturing for them to head inside. “We'll fight in here, by the way.” she mentioned, gesturing to the door. Everyone walking inside... It was some kind of gymnasium. If this were a building where people held various corporate meetings, this might have been the recreation room. All four walked inside, Caleb closing the door and gesturing for him and Jonah to sit at a bench as Maria and Lily were preparing to fight.