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

"GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!"

Act 2, Chapter 11: The Tower, Part 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, this is different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spectrum: You know, For kids.

Chapter 10 The Tower, Part 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 7: The Tower, part 2.

Yes, I'm not dead

Act 2, Chapter 7: The Tower, Part 2

It's been an hour and a half since Morgan and the rest of her team arrived at Silverton, they assumed the largest skyscraper in the city was the most likely place that they were going to hold the promotion exam. They've been walking along the widest street in the city hoping it could cut a direct route to the building. Though the widest street led to a highway on-ramp that circled the city, along with giving them an elevated view of the city skyline.

“How long is this damn road?” Morgan muttered to herself, the big claymore she carried around strapped to her favorite place, the center of the back, the hilt hanging over the shoulder in her scabbard, a leather band wrapping around to her front to latch it into place at three points so it didn't sway when she broke out into a run. Erika was just holding the hilt of her battle-axe over her shoulder, yawning softly as she tried to shake the sleep off. They've been walking for an hour, but she was still tired. “I'd say we're halfway there, though admittedly I'm not sure we can make the deadline if we keep strolling like this.” Erika commented, Robin patted her shoulder and smiled. “Well how about we try breaking into a run for a while? It wouldn't hurt our progress.” She offered, Erika smiling a little at that. “I like the way you think.” Erika commented at the suggestion, waving her hand and shouting to Morgan who was about 15 feet in the lead.

“Permission for awesome footrace, Morgan?” Erika said, pumping a fist as she slid the axe into a holster on her back. “Am I your mom? Just race if you really want to.” Morgan brushed off the request, Erika gesturing to both Florence and Robin to follow her. “Winner buys dinner!” She shouts to the two of them, Robin quietly breaking into a run with her brother as they all passed by Morgan and sprinted down the road, quickly making a couple hundred foot gap between them and Morgan. Morgan sighed a bit, breaking into a run for herself as they started to head into the distance.

It was only then she realized her three friends stopped in their tracks, weapons in their hands and in a lower stance, almost as they were preparing for something. “So much for the race, huh?” Morgan mentioned as Florence pointed to the reason why they had to stop. “Bad news.” He briefly stated, as a huge pack of Riftfallen were prowling the highway roads. It was a pack of dog like creatures, the black consuming their bodies with piercing red eyes.

“Think we can take them?” Erika asked, preparing her axe to smash some heads, Morgan walked in front of Erika, placing an arm in front of her to get her to stop. “Sienna had to be a jackass and dull our weapons, We might as well be fighting with rocks.” Morgan commented, they slowly sheathed their blades, watching as they continued to approach. “So what now?” Robin asked Morgan, Morgan quickly making a hand gesture and running across the road, leaping over the rail and landing on the road below. Robin leaped down with her gracefully, but Florence smashed into a couple of empty trashcans sitting on the side of the road, making a loud banging noise.

“Oh crap.” He muttered, climbing out of the pile of stacked metal trashcans, dusting himself off as Erika leaped down. “Should we run?” Morgan asked, hearing the growling noises coming from very nearby. “Sure seems like it...” Erika replied, when suddenly nearly a hundred Riftfallen began to leap over the railing in large amounts, making the 20 foot drop down like it was nothing. Growling and breaking into a chase for the four. Morgan smacked Erika on the back to signal all of them to run, breaking into the fastest sprint their legs would allow as the monster sized pack began to chase them down the street. “Aren't dogs faster than people!?” Florence shouted, taking a sharp left along the road only to be quickly followed along with the rest of his team. “Yeah, and we only have so much stamina!” Robin replied.
Morgan thought to herself, if the dogs were faster and might possibly have more stamina than they do, there was no way they could beat them in a pure sprint. “Florence, you run the fastest out of us! See if you can break up the pack!” She shouted to him, he nodded and began to split from the group. “Wait a second!” Robin shouted, quickly running over to go beside him. “I'm not doing to let him run headfirst into something without me helping!” She mentioned, Morgan just groaned as they split off to run down another street, and like clockwork, a fairly decent sized chunk of the back broke off to chase them.

“And what about us?” Erika asked, Morgan looked around, finding one of the many city apartment facilities, the very same they build when they were starting to run out of ground space to build more roads. “Erika, get behind me!” Morgan said, gesturing them to run closer to her. She ran up, grabbing Morgan's shoulder, bending down and running even faster, smashing her shoulder into the door, causing it to launch into splinters and sending both Erika and Morgan tight into a wall, as they stumbled and crashed on each other with a hard thud. Morgan felt a dull throbbing in her shoulder, splinters stuck in her face and arm were deep enough to draw blood.Erika groaned, standing back up and dusting herself off, Morgan panted, standing back up as she felt a pain surge through the left shoulder she used to smash through the door.

Morgan pressed her arms against the floor to lift herself up, when suddenly a stinging pain ran up her left arm as she realized she couldn't use it to push herself up. She gritted her teeth, pushing herself into her knees to stand up, as the somewhat healthier redhead turned to face the door, only when she realized that the Riftfallen were still chasing them. “OHGOD!” Erika shouted as the Riftfallen pack narrowed together pushing their way into the door, Morgan ducked one that leapt at her throat as Erika backed away to smash her leg into another one, trying to push themselves across to climb up the stairs. Morgan followed closely behind as she grasped her shoulder. as the Riftfallen slammed into each corner from their sheer momentum when they charged up the stairs ,each one struggling for space as they mindlessly chased the two girls. They dashed up the stairs, eventually Morgan recovering her breath from the door smash.

As they reached the top of the stairs, the corners turning into a short hallway leading up to the roof. Erika charged, leaping up into the air and smashing her leg into the locked door with a massive Pulse blast emanating from her leg.. Knocking it off of it's hinges and spinning top over bottom onto the ground with a metallic rattle. Erika and Morgan stopped to look around the area. This place was a pretty big residential zone, stores and necessities interspersed with a couple of apartment complexes. The closest one was a couple of stories shorter, but across the street. Erika gestured Morgan to follow her to the left, breaking out into a dash.

They both dashed to the ledge of the roof, pushing with all of their might to jump across the 30 foot gap between streets. Erika landed using her hands for extra stability, but Morgan tumbled against the contrete, rolling a couple of feet as she clenched her shoulder and began to thash in pain. The wolves growled and barked, while being a Riftfallen enhanced their physical capabilties, there was no way they could leap that far. They were both safe. Morgan sat up, scooting back using her legs to press against the wall and prop herself up. “Erika, help.” She said with a desperate voice, Erika leaning down as Morgan used one arm to unzip the front of her top, revealing her tanktop and yanking it down to her shoulder.

“What's wrong with it?” She asked, reaching up and gripping onto a couple of splinters stuck in her skin and slowly pulling them out. “I can't move my left arm.” Morgan replied, groaning in pain and wincing a bit, the removed splinters causing her shoulder to bleed. Erika calmly inspected the shoulder, when she realized it looked different from her right shoulder. “I think it's out of socket...” She replied, grabbing onto it and feeling it, it didn't feel like it was where it should be. “Do you want me to call for help, or do you want to have me put it back in socket?” She asked, Morgan looking at her with a furrowed brow. “I'm not passing this opportunity, Do you know how to put it back into socket?” Morgan asked her, Erika straightened Morgans arm, pulling it to the side and holding it in both arms. “Nope.” She mentioned briefly, Morgan feeling a chill of concern as she's going to have a complete novice mess with her shoulder, potentially even worsening the injury.

“Will this hurt?” Morgan asked, Erika grabbing one hand onto her shoulder. “Hell yeah it will.” She replied, pulling onto Morgans arm. The sharp pains making Morgan break out into a scream. The pigeons roosting along the railings flew away out of fear, Erika pulling her arm harder and harder, Morgan even felt herself tear up as she winced in pain, when suddenly she heard a pop, pushing her arm back into it's socket. Erika let go as Morgan clutched her left arm into her other hand, holding it closer and doubling over. “Holy shit...” She groaned, slowly standing up and shaking her hair, some more chips of wood coming loose.

“Why didn't you use pulse to go through that door?” Erika asked Morgan, confused by her actions. “Uhh... I forgot to.” Morgan replied, Erika just calmly shook her head. “So you broke your shoulder because you forgot.” Erika stated incredulously, Morgan lightly flipping her the middle finger with her good arm. “Catch your breath, I'm going to check on Robin and Florence.” Erika replied, Morgan sitting up and onto the railing as Erika checked her armlet, holding the button to signal for the radio.
“Robin, Florence, you guys alright?” She said, an echo of her voice coming from Morgan's own armband, but they were met with about 15 seconds of silence.

“Maybe they haven't evaded them, yet.” She said to herself, Morgan continued to pull the splinters from her skin, causing her to draw some blood and wince. “Maybe they're both dead.” Morgan replied, causing Erika to just kind of stare at her with a confused look on her face. “What would make you think that...?” She asked Morgan, who just leaned back against the roof's ledge, before getting up and dusting off her clothes, looking across the street to the other roof, the wolves slowly filing out as they lost interest.

“It's just a possibility, part of the job.” Morgan attempted to justify herself, slowly walking up to the ledge of the next roof on the street. “Yeah, but I'd rather not think like that.” She responded to Morgan, bending down to see the rooftops of the next couple of buildings were a similar height. They both used pulse, leaping across to the next one. “We might need to stay to rooftops for a while, at least until we lose sight of the wolves.” Morgan explained, Erika nodding a bit as they began to travel, each leap just with enough momentum to make it along the rooftops. Occasionally a building would be too high to leap, and they would be forced to scale along the side of it to actually get to the rooftop. After about 15 minutes, they stopped to take a break.

“Hey, Erika... Can I ask you something?” Morgan said, pacing the top of a former mom and pop shop, Erika dug into her bag and pulled out a small bag of candy she brought with her just in case she felt like she needed it. “Go ahead.” She said, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “I've known you for a while now, and we've hung out nearly every day, but there's been one thing that's bothering me.” Morgan continued, sitting beside her and leaning her weight onto the wall. “Why are you in Spectrum? Your parents are so far away, and yet you moved all the way here to risk your life?” Morgan asked her, Erika took a bit to finish her chocolate.

“Well.. To be honest, I joined because of how boring my life is.” Erika answered, standing up and finishing the chocolate, tossing the bag over the side of the building and slid her backpack over her shoulder. Morgan started to stretch her shoulder out as she let Erika explain herself. “My parents are fishers, and I lived in a cold place where all people do is get drunk. A Spectrum is going to open there at one point, but well.. that's a ways off.” She continued, leaning against the wall and looking up at the tower in the distance. “My parents didn't want me to join Spectrum, they said I should focus on getting a career, or even become a fisherman just like them. They talked me down for nearly the entire year I considered. It drove me insane.” Erika continued, Morgan pulling the last of the splinters out of her face.

“So is this just so you can get a thrill? Don't you regret joining this on a whim like that?” Morgan asked Erika as she stood on the ledge of the two story shop, leaping off the side and rolling on her shoulder to quickly recover, Morgan going after her as she landed beside her, walking their way along the road now that the coast was clear. “I guess it was for the thrill, and I haven't regretted it yet.” She said, putting her hands in her pockets and walking with Morgan along the sidewalk. “It's not like I'm not taking this seriously, but who am I outside of Spectrum...? A boring redhead with a boring life, I want my own story.” She continued, Morgan somewhat glaring down at her as they split apart to walk around a tree.

“Yeah, but is an interesting story with ten pages more interesting than a more boring one that has the potential to eventually become a great story?” Morgan asked, Erika sighing some as she walked a little faster to break away from Morgan. “That's my decision, not yours. Don't try to guilt me out of this nearly 10 months into it.” Erika reprimanded with some annoyance, Morgan jogged to face her again, though this time a bit antagonistic. “Well excuse the hell out of me.” Morgan replied, kicking a nearby rock out of the way as Erika stopped, Morgan walking a couple of steps past her before stopping as well.

“At least I'm open about my decisions, unlike you.” Erika scolded, Morgan furrowing her brow as she leaned in, clearly offended. “What the hell does that mean?” Morgan asked out of confusion, Erika turning around and pointing her finger at Morgan out of accusation. “You barely talk to any of us anymore, Morgan. And yet you act like you're the leader, you got a red cell phone in your bag that you always hurriedly stuff back into your bag whenever someone walks into the room, and yet you won't explain what it's for!” She yelled, Morgan felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, she didn't know Erika knew about that. “...Maybe I just bought a new phone? Why isn't that an option for you? You have to act all paranoid about it instead.” Morgan tried to play it off as nothing, but Erika continued to persist. “You -HAVE- a cell phone, it's black and it has a skull sticker attached to it. You NEVER use the new phone, and ever since then, you've been acting dodgy.” Erika exclaimed, Morgan frowned a bit and shook her head.

“You don't know when something ain't your business, Erika.” Morgan said, breaking off into a faster walk to get away from her, Erika sighing some as she heard a sound come from her armlet. “This is Robin, anyone nearby?” She stated, Erika quickly lifting the armlet to her mouth so she could reply. “Yeah, I'm here, Robin... What's the status of you and Florence?” She asked, a short pause was heard as she continued to walk. “We're both alright, I managed to lose them in a drainage ditch, we'll be heading to that one skyscraper in the distance. So please do not wait for us.” She stared, Erika nodding and activating one last time. “Carry on, then.” Erika said before closing the radio broadcast, looking up to only realize Morgan left her behind.

“Oh damn it...” She muttered to herself, grabbing her axe and slinging it back over her shoulder as she headed to the tower for the beginning of the exam. Meanwhile, Robin and Florence were running up the side of the concrete drainage ditch, leaping over the side and back onto the road.
“How much more time do you think we have, Florence?” Robin asked, Florence checking the time and walking through a grassy lawn to get back to the road that his sister was walking along. “I think like... about an hour.” He said, Robin looking up at the skyline with a squint to see how far away it was. It was no longer a spire in the distance, she had to pull her neck back to look at the top of it, signaling that it must be near. “I think we'll be fine.” Robin replied, gently reaching up and placing a hand onto his shoulder as they walked.

“Hey Robin...” Florence asked, looking over to her sister. “Yes?” He looked at the floor, taking a deep breath before looking up at her. “Do you remember a year ago?” He asked, Robin being put on the spot, raising her brow a bit from being perplexed. “Of course I do, why do you ask?” Robin wondered aloud, Florence turning up to look at her. “Well... about a year ago was when Donovan proposed to you, you remember?” The shaggy golden haired teen asked, Robin looked at the floor, softly sighing some as she walked off the curb to be slightly farther away. “Yeah... Donovan had a pretty elaborate and expensive wedding set up.” She mentioned, her fiance, Donovon Borough, the future head of the Borough family. They were to be wed to combine the houses together to help pay off the massive war debt of the estate.

“Yeah... But you walked out on the day of the wedding,” Florence mentioned, Robin rubbing her shoulder awkwardly from the tinge of uncomfortable. “Well... I left because you joined Spectrum, honestly.” She replied, she didn't want to lie. Florence frowned some, looking away. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” He mentioned, Robin sighed a bit and patted him on the shoulder. “Look Florence, it's okay... While Donovan was a nice guy, I just wanted to join to look after you. Family comes first.” She said with a smile, Florence grabbed her hand and lightly pulled it off his shoulder. “But it's not okay, you ruined Donovan's life to look after me... Don't you trust me enough to do this by myself?” He asked her, Robin just froze in place, Florence slowly walking past her before gesturing her to follow him.