The Turn: Chapter Twenty-Five

The Turn

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Call the Wolves~

Two Years before The Turn

Zara jerked awake. Lazily she looked around the subway. Across from her, Hina lay asleep on her brother’s shoulder. Naru was the most aware and awake of the rest of them. Deontay sat a little ways away. His head tilted forward in slumber. Vicky stood holding on to one of the overhead bars. She had an inner strength that had yet to come out.

“Good morning,” Chaud sounded as chipper as ever.

Zara glared at him. He sat just to her left. Even after all the traveling they had just gone through, he was still in a very good mood. They were all about at the end of their ropes. After touching down in the middle of the desert, they promptly stole a van and drove toward their last location: California. Now they were on their last leg where they needed to get to a safe house.

The train finally stopped and the six weary travelers got off the train. They walked to the surface. Zara shifted the weight of her back on her shoulders before walking on. They continued down the streets until they reached a secluded alley. Deontay lifted a manhole and the rest of them crawled in.

“Oh, yuck,” Hina muttered as she covered her nose.

Naru turned on a flashlight.

“Come on,” Zara sighed, “the sooner we get to where we’re going the sooner we can all sleep.”

Quickly they walked through the sewers until they reached a dead end. A small electrical box sat to one side. Naru opened it revealing a complex security system. He pulled a few wires and typed a little on the key pad. Suddenly the wall pushed back and slid open.

As they walked in, it was immediately noticeable that the air quality was much better. There was a hum as equipment in the room started to activate. A low blue glow signaled things were turning on. The metal grated floor under their feet rattled as they walked.

“Alright, we have a week at most, more likely less, to get the information we need. Chaud, Hina, and Deontay get to sleep first. Vicky will help me get the system up while Naru hooks up his laptop,” Zara instructed.

Groggily, Hina and Deontay walked off. Chaud stood there with his hands in his back pockets.

“You know,” he started to say; “You look pretty tired yourself.”

“Yeah, so,” Zara turned and walked over to one of the computers.

“Well, you should get some rest,” Chaud shrugged.

“I will,” Zara looked up at him, “later.”

“Fine!” Chaud walked away, “Just thought you might want some rest. I was just giving you a chance.”

“Just go!” Zara shook her head. She turned to look at Naru, he looked to be self-reliant. Vicky stood awkwardly waiting for instruction, “You can start over there. Let’s see if we could get some of these computers online. Getting connected to the Tower database won’t be easy without being noticed.”

“I could do it!” Chaud called.

Zara sighed, “Really?”

Chaud turned and walked back. He was typing away at his cell phone. “Shouldn’t take long,” he said when he was done.

Sure enough, more lights turned on and the large screen against the opposite wall turned on. All the computers turned on and the sliding wall closed in place. A small animated character jumped onto all the screens. It twirled and jumped. When it stopped it pulled a box out of its pocket and opened it. The screens all went black for a moment but slowly started to regain their image. A world map appeared on the large screen and different applications on the smaller ones.

“This is the Tower’s database?” Zara asked.

“No,” Chaud shook his head, “It IS the Tower. Well, at least we see what they see. And can use what they use. Miwa really outdid himself.” The latter he muttered to himself.

“Miwa?” Zara asked.

“A friend,” Chaud shrugged and started walking toward the sleeping quarters.

“You know, I was wondering why you were taking forever! I was talking to Bridget for like ten minutes!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” Chaud called over his shoulder.

“Chaud, I swear! Arg!” Zara turned her back on Chaud and walked to one of the computers. “Start looking for anything to do with the New Order!” she shouted at Vicky.

“Yes, ma’am,” Vicky darted to another computer and started typing feverishly.

IOIOIOIOI

“Really?” Sirius nodded as he listened to Bridget’s complaint the next day.

“Yeah!” Bridget crossed her arms, “I just thought you might want to know. She was in here wanting to get something from upstairs. I sent her on her way.”

Sirius thought a moment, “That doesn’t sound like her to forget something. Even if she did, it doesn’t sound like her at all to give up that easily.”

“That’s what happened,” Bridget shrugged.

“Thank you,” Sirius continued on his way up to his office.

Kaiba and Kiri were already there. He greeted the both of them a good morning. He sat in his desk and took a quick glance at the piles of paper work on his desk. He took a sip of his coffee. His eyes narrowed in thought. It wasn’t like Zara at all. She would have barged up the stairs with Bridget clinging to her legs. Sirius took out his cell phone. There was a messaged that he received from his son the day before saying something about him staying at a friend’s house. He called Chaud. The call went directly to voicemail that wasn’t set up yet. He then called Deontay’s apartment number. No luck there either. Sirius pressed a button on his desk phone.

“Do you need something?” Kaiba sighed.

“You don’t happen to know where your brother is, do you?” Sirius asked.

There was a slight pause, “Which one?”

“Chaud,” Sirius responded.

“Wasn’t he at Deontay’s house?”

“He switched phones again,” he said as if it has some weight.

Kaiba sighed, “That’s never good. I’ll see if I can track him by his Agent tracking number.”

“Report what you find,” Sirius remembered something, “Call the others too would you?”

“Sure.”

Sirius waited; his elbows on the desk, hands folded anxiously under his chin. Chaud, he knew, had and uncanny ability to disappear. He also knew that his son had at least a dozen different cellphones and switched them around on a regular basis. If one was older than three months, he would toss it and by a new one keeping the memory chip. And then there was his ability to plan and execute. Honestly, Chaud was probably better at that than even Kaiba. It just seemed to come naturally for him.

His cell phone rang. The caller ID read Chaud but he didn’t recognize the number. He answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Dad,” came his son’s voice, “You called?”

“Yes, I did,” Sirius sat back in his chair, “Just wondering where you are.”

“You know, around,” Chaud said in a dismissive manor.

“Around?”

“Yeah, just hanging around with some friends. We’re going for ice cream later. Got to go, okay, dad. We’ll see ya around, alright!” Chaud hung up.

Sirius put down his phone, “Around.”

It’s a hard thing to lie to family. They know you so well. They know that you look up or down when you’re lying or you do that weird thing with your nose. Or that you can’t stop fidgeting or you can’t look them in the eyes. In Chaud’s case, he used the word ‘around’ when he didn’t want to be found. It couldn’t be helped. It was his family tell. Sirius tried to call the number again.

“I’m sorry; this is not a valid number. Goodbye!”

Kaiba walked in, “Their Agent numbers aren’t in the system. It’s as if they were wiped from the system. And all their phone numbers aren’t valid anymore.”

Kiri walked in just then, “Kaiba had me check the security cameras. They were disabled yesterday and any existing footage was erased.”

Kaiba looked at his father’s blank expression, “You don’t look surprised.”

“He called,” Sirius stood up, “He’s says they’ll see us ‘around’.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “Great.”

Kiri looked around, confused, “What? What does that mean?”

Sirius smiled, “It means we won’t be seeing them for a while.

Kiri looked at Sirius, “You mean they left the Island?”

“Zara was never really the type to give up,” Sirius walked out of the office.

Kaiba followed him, “What are we going to do? We have agents on AWAL. We need to get them back but we don’t even have a place to start.”

Sirius entered the elevator, “We’ll get them back.”

“You’re fairly confident,” Kiri noted.

“More like terrified, really,” Sirius looked to Kaiba, “Your mother would have my head if she found out.” He sighed, “This will be an interesting conversation at dinner tonight.”

Kiri saluted, “Good luck, sir.”

“You did set up your will so I will inherit your seat right?” Kaiba’s expression was all serious.

“Thank you,” he said to Kiri. He turned to Kaiba, “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

The elevator door closed.

IOIOIOIOI

There was a knock at the door. A dissatisfied groan was heard from the sleeping figure in bed. Gold eyes looked at a nearby clock. A sliver of light made its way through the drawn curtains.

“Go away,” the man growled.

“I would, but I can’t,” a figure walked into the room, “We have a visitor!”

Fang sat up in bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His hair was now mostly white than black. There were still a few black strands to be seen but not many. The night before had been a long one. Alister had though that it would be a brilliant idea to dabble in the arts and take on painting. All well and good but there was one thing Alister failed to mention: he was intending to ‘paint’ with a flamethrower. Thought it would be ironic or something stupid like that. Because of that, Fang had been up late that night.

He looked up at Shadow as he rummaged through his drawers, “Who’s here?”

“You’d never guess,” Shadow smiled.

Fang waited a moment for more information. There was none, “That’s why I’m asking. Who is visiting?”

Shadow tossed some clothed at Fang, “Here. You’ll just have to see when you get down there.”

“I swear, Shadow, tell me or I will strangle you! I do not have the patience today,” Fang stood up, his eyes narrowing on Shadow.

Shadow didn’t feel threatened, “Tsk, tsk, are we impatient today. You should curb that attitude before to meet out guest.”

Fang stepped closer to Shadow. Seeing that Fang just might make good on his threat, Shadow made his way briskly to the door.

“Shall I tell out guest that you should be down in the dining room shortly?” Shadow said with a smile.

Fang got dressed and freshened up. He walked down the steps and entered the living room. Arisa, now a blossoming young lady, sat on the couch texting away on one of those gizmos. Naturally, Lumin, formally known as Blue, was sitting next to her reading a book.

“Good morning, Fang,” Lumin acknowledged without looking up from his book.

Arisa looked up from her text, “Hello!”

Fang nodded a greeting to both of them. He passed the large staircase as Penelope ran down the stairs. Inevitably, she tripped and broke her glasses all before she even changed out of her pajamas. Fang paused a moment, considering whether he should turn and help. He glanced over his shoulder.

“Ow,” she muttered.

Penelope pulled a spare from her pocket. She turned to see Fang and smiled sheepishly. Fang determined that she would be fine and carried on.

Alister walked out of the kitchen. His flaming red hair was a complete mess. He had an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. Fang eyed him closely, wondering what he had done to the kitchen this time.

Raven sailed past both of them, a canvas in her arms as she headed out to the backyard. After Fang had forbidden Alister to even think about painting, Raven had taken up the notion. They had plenty of spare canvases now and Fang saw it as something to help her express herself.

Finally, Fang walked into the dining room. He paused only slightly when he saw who it was.

Sirius tuned at Fang’s entrance. He had been looking at a painting on the wall. Fang walked cautiously forward.

“Hello Fang,” Sirius greeted.

Fang said nothing.

“Well, I’m sure you want to get straight to the point,” Sirius said.

Fang looked around, “More or less.”

Sirius sighed, “I have some Agents I need you to find.”

Insanity: Chapter Forty-Nine

Insanity

Chapter Forty-Nine

~Aftermath~

Day Forty-Three

The Summer Festival was in full bloom in Transaction Square and everywhere for that matter. The fire hydrants were releasing their copious amounts of water while children played in them. Carnival games were set up and prizes were being handed out. Sprinklers were hooked up to their respective outdoor faucets. Air conditioners could break down and no one would mind.

Undertaker sighed as he looked at his store from the outside. He had donned his hat once again and his accent. Reighn sat on his shoulder and sighed right after his master. A 'For Sale' sign hung on the front entrance. Undertaker smiled a bit but it was obvious that he was going to miss his side business. However, a full retirement sounded like heaven. He didn’t think he could handle another save the world fiasco. Undertaker turned toward Transaction Square.

“You know, Reighn,” Undertaker said as he walked.

Reighn’s bell rang.

“I sure hope out little nook of a store finds a good owner soon. She looks lonely.”

Reighn nodded and looked over his shoulder. He raised a tiny paw and waved goodbye to the familiar building.

Undertaker walked toward a group of tables. He smiled at the familiar faces that he saw. Lumin and Arisa were eating ice cream. Penelope was reading another one of her manga. Alister and Shifter were discussing what cockamamie dare devil stunt to try next. Raven was a little introverted and just sat quietly and watched everyone. Shadow was talking to Sage who had amazingly decided to come. Fang seemed to be waiting for Undertaker’s arrival. Undertaker tipped his hat and sat beside him.

“It’s the perfect weather for the Festival don’t you think?” he said.

Fang nodded, “Its good weather.”

Arisa slapped down her spoon, “I win!”

Her ice cream bowl was crapped clean. Her strawberry vanilla ice cream with strawberry chunks topped with strawberry sauce and white chocolate chips was downed before Lumin’s ice cream. Lumin was deliberately eating his Blue Moon ice cream with white and dark blue sprinkles with the one cherry on top slowly. He could see Arisa’s hurried approach at her ice cream and assumed that she was racing him.

Arisa looked over at his ice cream, “Are you going to eat that?” she pointed to the cherry.

“How many times do I ‘ave ta tell ya?” Alister overheard, “He can’t—”

Lumin glared at him, “Say that I can’t talk and I will skin you alive.”

Alister froze mid-sentence, “Right. I forgot.”

“Sure, you did,” Lumin nodded.

Arisa gave up on the cherry, “Can we go swimming?”

Lumin looked at Fang for approval. Fang nodded. Arisa jumped up and ran toward the waterworks on the square. Lumin stood up and followed her. Reighn looked like he wanted to join the fun and rang the tiny bell on his tail. Undertaker smiled and Reighn followed Arisa and Lumin.

“You’re wastin’ a perfectly good bowl of ice cream, you know!” Alister called after him.

“Screw you!” Lumin called over his shoulder.

Unbeknownst to Alister, Lumin smiled smugly as he walked away. It really felt good getting back at all those times Alister had been to dense to get the message. Alister looked after Lumin and seemed very uneasy about Lumin’s transformation.

“Hey!” Shifter was wearing his beach clothes. He was looking upward at a weather vane on one of the surrounding buildings.

Alister looked at the weather vane, “What?”

“I’ve got this great idea! We should race to see who can get to that weather vane first!” Shifter said with excitement.

“Eh,” Alister didn’t see it as dangerous enough.

“Then we could borrow it and use it at the house for when the next thunderstorm comes through! You ever wanted to see a thunderbolt up close?”

Alister raised an eyebrow. Now that sounded interesting and dangerous. Both he and Shifter walked casually away and whistled awkward tunes. They walked to a local stand and pretended to look at the merchandise. When they though that Fang wasn’t watching they darted into the crowd and were lost in the crowd. Fang noticed of course but decided not to do anything about.

“Awwww! Kawaii desu!” Penelope chimed.

She paused, realized that she had said that out loud, and looked awkwardly around at the remaining people at the table. Penelope smiled. All eyes were on her.

“What are you reading?” Raven asked.

“Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino,” Penelope answered.

Raven looked confused. She really was only interested in the cover. Those were anime vampires? Raven and Penelope started talking about the manga/anime. Undertaker sat back in his chair.

“Hard to believe that only a week ago we were saving the world,” he said.

Shadow sighed, “And no one knows that we did.”

“It’s necessary,” Sage stated as he sipped his iced tea, “After all, you don’t exist.”

“Still,” Shadow muttered, “Some credit would be nice.”

Fang looked at Sage, “Did you find everyone you needed to find?”

“Most of everyone,” Sage paused, “but we think that Nest and Rose were caught in the initial blast. We are missing Thae and Edonya. They’re in the wind.”

“Are you going to look for them?” Undertaker asked.

“We’ll try for about a year.”

“You aren’t trying very hard though, are you?” Fang stated.

Sage shrugged, “We have better use of our resources and time. They aren’t that great of a threat anyway. If we find them, we’ll apprehend them but if we don’t, we won’t lose sleep over it.”

“So Zero is dead?” Fang stated.

“I don’t know very many people who can survive a building falling on top of them,” Sage let the statement hang in the air. He took another sip of his drink, “I hear your leaving the island Undertaker.”

Undertaker smiled, “I need a real retirement.”

Sage managed a quick small smile.

“Where will you be headed?” Shadow asked.

Undertaker shrugged, a huge smile spread across his face, “I’ve always wanted a little house on the prairie.”

Fang rolled his eyes and Sage hid his smile behind his drink. Shadow stared blankly ahead. He was pretty certain he was missing a reference somewhere but didn’t want to ask.

Undertaker sat up as if he remembered something, “Oh, Fang, I just remembered something. This is for you.” He brought out a folder.

Sage awkwardly looked away. Officially, he wasn’t supposed to know about said transaction. He busied himself with watching the festivities. Fang took the folder, opened it and read its contents. Shadow tried to get a view of their next mission. Even Penelope and Raven paused their conversation to listen.

“What does it say?” Shadow asked.

Sage cleared his throat and sipped his drink again. Fang closed the folder and placed it in his lap.

“We’ll discuss it later,” he said sensing Sage’s awkward position.

Shadow smiled, “Ha! We’re back in business!”

“If I may ask,” Fang directed his question to Sage, “who will we get our missions from?”

Sage thought about it a moment, “Well, I guess Shifter could cover those responsibilities,” then he had an expression of mock surprise, “Did I say that out loud?”

“What will happen to the Pawn Shop?” Penelope asked Undertaker.

Undertaker shrugged, “She’ll have to survive without us for a while. Hopefully she’ll be bought by a person that really cares for her and treats her kindly. Reighn is really taking it pretty hard. He really had the most investment in the place. The poor thing really is the sentimental type, you know.”

“What are your plans now, Fang?” Sage asked.

“Well,” Fang started, “We all need some rest still. After that, I think we’ll visit China.”

“China?” Sage looked skeptical.

“China,” Fang confirmed, “From what I hear, China is beautiful this time of year. Especially near the Shanghai area.”

“Shanghai?” Sage smiled. He shook his head, “Good luck, Fang,” he muttered, knowing full well why Fang was going to Shanghai, China.

“But for now,” Fang continued, “We’ll lie low.”

There was a long period of silence. Suddenly Sage’s phone rang and he answered it. He talked for a few seconds and hung up the phone. He stood up to leave.

“Something came up at the office,” he said looking a long while at Penelope, “Something about our servers being down.” She smiled back as innocently as she could manage.

Fang and Undertaker stood up to bid Sage goodbye. When Sage left Undertaker smiled, “So what do you have planned?”

“Yeah,” Shadow said, “What do we have planned?”

“We’re going to China,” Fang said.

“What happened to “we’ll lie low”?” Raven asked.

“Let’s call that a white lie,” Fang stated, “Get the others and get ready to go.”

Shadow, Raven and Penelope stood and went to find the others. Undertaker and Fang were left standing by the table.

“I hope to see you somewhere, Undertaker,” Fang stated.

“Aww, you’re going to miss me Fang?” Undertaker smiled.

“No,” Fang said a little too quickly, “I was just saying that maybe when we’re on one of our missions we might see each other sometime.”

“Oh, Fang! I’ll miss you, too!”

“I’m not going to miss you!”

“It’s okay, Fang!” Undertaker smiled, “I’ll be sure to visit every once in a while!”

Fang sighed and kept his mouth shut. Inside though, he had to admit that having the crazy ex-Agent around had been a welcomed stress. Undertaker looked at Fang, his eyes glittering with laughter underneath his bangs. Fang looked at Undertaker, nodded, and left toward the mansion. Undertaker watched him walk away.

Reighn walked up to him and stood by him. Undertaker smiled. There was no way to know for sure what would happen in the future, whether or not they would actually see each other again. However Undertaker knew that the wolves would have many adventures yet to come in their future. He knew they would try Sage’s patience. He knew that Shifter would always get on Fang’s nerves. Undertaker laughed.

“Oh, Reighn,” he said, “I’m going to miss this them and this place.”

Reighn nodded.

Undertaker took one last look around the square. He sighed and placed one hand on Reighn’s shoulder. Together they took in one last sight of their surroundings. With a smile and a laugh, both Undertaker and Reighn vanished in a swirl of grey mist.

Insanity: Chapter Forty-Eight

Insanity

Chapter Forty-Eight

~Sunrise~

Day Thirty-Six

Rose stood in place for a few minutes, “O-kay.”

Nest looked disinterested, “Keep her busy. I’ll protect the machine.”

Rose looked again. The girl who had a surprising resemblance to a children’s book he remembered reading long ago was peering around the corner. He sighed; this wasn’t going to be any fun. He extended his arm. Rose vines shot forward from inside his sleeve. They struck around where the girl was. The attack was only meant to frighten not to kill.

Penelope darted back to her hiding spot. She sighed. So much for Anime-zilla saves the day. She heard something though the wall. It sounded like one of the lower doors closing.

Raven looked up at the last flight of stairs, “Penelope? Are you up there?”

There was no answer and she started to assume the worst. She ran up the stairs to the door. Almost instantly she had to dodge and attack. She crouched to her knees and rolled forward. She darted around the concrete door and stopped suddenly.

“Penelope!?” Raven cried in surprise.

Penelope smiled nervously.

“What are you doing back here?” Raven continued.

“Nothing,” Penelope answered.

Raven sighed. A wave of blue washed over them. They both paused a moment, gripping their heads.

“I say we put an end to that thing,” Raven stated.

“Okay,” Penelope nodded, “but you have to get the plant guy.”

“Why do I have to get the plant guy!?”

“Because he’s scary!” Penelope whispered.

“Fine! Then you find a way to turn that thing off!”

Penelope nodded. Raven got up and ran around the corner. Rose flicked his wrist and vines broke the concrete beneath her feet. Raven jumped onto the ledge and ran up to him. She jumped down, crouched and kicked him in the stomach. Penelope, seeing her window, ran toward the machine to see if she could shut the thing off. She stopped a computer but it looked useless and broken. She then looked at the boy standing not too far from the machine. He looked at her in intellectual but uncaring eyes.

Penelope’s eyes narrowed and she charged at the boy. She ended up running face first into a type of force field. Unlike Zero’s it didn’t reflect her. Penelope stepped back and tried another approach. She prepared to teleport but something happened and she had to take a step back. Annoyed she tried again but she just couldn’t teleport to the other side of the dome. She looked at the boy who was protecting the machine. He smiled slightly at her dismay.

“That won’t work, you see,” Nest explained, “my power makes yours worthless.”

“Oh, yeah?” Penelope glared at him, “Well, what is your great power then.”

“Null,” Nest explained further, “Void, valueless, worthless, insignificant.”

Penelope scowled. There had to be away to get through Nest’s barrier. She smiled. She might have just thought of a way.

Alister groaned as he turned onto his back. He was covered in melted dragon ink and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Slowly, he sat up. His stiff muscles were causing him some trouble. He aced all over. It was understandable though; after all he just crashed though dozens of floors, killed a dragon and busied the entire right side of his body. Just another day at work.

He heard something in the rubble and looked up, “Oh, it’s you.”

Alister made a motion to get up, Zorah shook her head, “Now, now it’s alright,” she reached for one of the staffs on her back and pointed the pronged end at Alister’s neck, “No need to get up.”

Alister stopped moving and raised his hands. He gave a sheepish smile and tried to laugh it off.

“Oh, look ‘at that! You got me!” Alister smiled, “Now I’ll just—”

“Stop talkin’!” Zorah jabbed her weapon forward, “I’m in a very bad mood t’day and your yappin’ ain’t making things any better!”

“And it’s about to get worse,” Alister said as he kicked out his leg.

He struck Zorah’s leg causing her to slip in the slick ink on the ground. Zorah fell onto her back, throwing her weapon from her hand. Alister got to his feet and looked around for something to defend himself. He spotted Raven’s sword and scrambled for it. Awkwardly he climbed his way over a boulder and to the sword. Zorah got to her feet and started after Alister. She unsheathed her other weapon.

Zorah swung it in a wide arch. Alister brought up his weapon. He fumbled around the weapon clumsily as he wasn’t used to wielding a sword, unless stabbing a dragon counted for something. He blocked and parried most of the attacks that he couldn’t dodge.

Alister took step after step back to avoid being sliced to ribbons. He took a glance behind him and saw that he was running out of hallway. Zorah’s spear fell down on his shoulder, digging deep into his arm. Alister gripped his shoulder and Zorah withdrew the weapon from his shoulder to prepare for another attack. Alister sidestepped to one side as the spear sailed toward him. Zorah, expecting resistance when there was none, fell forward. Alister dropped the sword and ran toward the open hole in the floor. Zorah spun around and saw Alister trying to get away. She ran after him.

Alister spotted the spear that Zorah dropped before. He bent down to grab it just as Zorah swung her spear where his head had just been moments ago. He grabbed the spear and stepped back as Zorah lunged past him to try and stab him from another angle. Alister threw the spear. It struck Zorah in the stomach and went through her body.

Shocked, Zorah dropped her weapon. It fell off the edge with an eerie clattering. She took a few steps back from the impact, precariously close to the edge. Her hands gripped the shaft of her weapon. She seemed in disbelief that this was how it was going to end. There were no more tricks up her sleeve, no tattoos up her arm, no plan, and no back way out. She smiled a little. Her balance was unsteady but she didn’t try to steady herself. She looked up at Alister.

“Till we meet again, Love,” she nodded before falling over the edge.

Zorah fell floor after floor after floor. The smile on her face grew wider and wider. Soon she was laughing hysterically. Her life zipped across her eyes. All the wrong she had done, all the people that she killed, and all the little people that she had to step on to get to where she was now. Now, it all meant nothing.

“You’ll remember me, won’t you?” she screamed to no one in particular. A tear started to form in her eye, “Won’t you? You’d remember me, right? You’d—”

Everything went black and her soul moved on.

Alister didn’t hurry to the edge. He had no intentions of seeing someone fall to their death. He fell in a heap on a rock, both exhausted and physically pained. A hand rested on his shoulder. Startled, Alister jumped up, ready to face the next threat. But when he turned around, Shadow stood there behind him.

“You all right?” Shadow asked.

“I’ve been better,” Alister groaned, “We should get to the roof.”

Penelope pulled out one of her gadgets. If anyone remembers, it’s the one that paralyzed Shadow in the leg. She pulled out that same rod and pointed it at the machine. Penelope wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen but it would put her inventions to work. She looked quickly at Raven. It wasn’t quite time yet.

Raven did a backflip to avoid the thorned vines that had come at her. She caught a glimpse of Penelope looking at her. Raven wasn’t sure what the girl was thinking but she didn’t like narrowed look behind her glasses. She landed and dodged four more vines all the while making sure that she kept Penelope in her peripheral vision.

Once Penelope was certain that Raven had her back, she waited for another wave to wash past before pressing the button on her weapon. An electrical blast fired from it but ran only on the outside of Nest’s barrier. Nest smiled at the girl’s stupidity. Penelope continued to press the button repeatedly sending out more and more electrical busts. Soon Nest’s barrier was basically an electric dome.

The next wave didn’t make it outside the barrier. It radiated from the machine, hit the barrier and followed the upward curve until it struck the center of the machine again, causing the blue energy great irritation. Nest’s eyes grew wide when he realized what the girl was trying to accomplish. Penelope had created a type of magnetic field containing the waves and sending it back to itself. In other words, she created a way for the machine to destroy itself.

Nest looked wide eyes at the machine. He tried to drop the shield but the growing pressure made it hard to focus. Nest dropped to his knees and gripped his head. Raven broke away from her battle with Rose and ran to Penelope. She gripped her hand and ran toward the edge.

Penelope screamed as both girls fell. Raven pressed her feet against the building to slow their decent enough for her to start running. They made it to the ground and Raven instantly started running to one of the other buildings. She had a feeling that it would suck to stay in that building any longer than necessary.

“What’s happening!?” Rose shouted.

Nest didn’t answer. The pressure was beginning to be too much. The blue energy was about 50% its original size. That much pressure wasn’t good. Nest gripped his head. Blood flowed from his nose and ears. There was a high pitched screech as the blue energy shrunk even more. Nest collapsed, his eyes staring at the machine. Blood pooled around his body.

The energy continued to shrink. Rose turned to the stairwell and started to make his way down.

The pressure built up too much and finally, it exploded. A large blue shock wave destroyed the top five or so floors, vaporizing practically everything it came in contact with.

Shadow felt the sudden jerk, grabbed Alister and entered the nearest wall. Quickly, Shadow descended the building. He felt a breeze behind him and he risked a look. A white mass seemed to be following him. It’s tentacles of light abolishing everything it touched.

“Hey!” Alister yelled, “Can this ride go any faster?!”

Shadow turned his head back around and ran as fast as he could. He jumped and ended up on one of the other surrounding buildings. Alister ran to the nearest window. He shaded his eyes as the building crumbled and the blue nebulous thing dispersing but destroying anything it touched.

Debris fell on both Fang and Zero as Fang chased Zero down. Reighn did his best to avert what he could but Fang found himself ducking and dodging as much as staying alive. Ahead of him, Fang saw Zero, almost within grasp when suddenly he felt an arm stop him. He looked at who it was and saw that Undertaker had yet again come out of hiding.

“Let’s go, Fang!” Undertaker said with authority.

Fang was about to protest when he noticed the shaking and the falling debris had increased.

Undertaker looked down the way Zero had disappeared, “He’s dead down there anyway.”

He grabbed Reighn’s hand too before disappearing in a grey mist. Just then the basement ceiling caved in as the building’s falling weight was too much to handle. Burying and hopefully killing the infamous Zero.

Lumin and Arisa sat on the ledge of a distant building. After he had Arisa in his arms again, he took her out of harm’s way. They both watched at the building came crashing down. Lumin looked slightly concerned about the others. He held Arisa closer. She sat next to him looking at the spectacle before them.

“Lumin?” Arisa looked up at him.

Lumin smiled down at her. She was already using his real name so soon after he told her during their walk to their perch.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I ran away from Fang,” Arisa said, “Do you think he’s okay?”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

Just then Undertaker and his two travelers appeared behind them. Undertaker folded his arms. A smile appeared on his face as he watched the smoldering building. Reighn assumed his Kew form and settled on Undertaker’s shoulder. He watched for a while before curling up by Undertaker’s neck and falling asleep. Fang stared at the building for a while. After a moment, he walked over to the two at the ledge.

“Good to see you’re all right, Blue,” Fang said.

Lumin smiled. He could sense that Fang left Arisa out on purpose. Arisa looked down out of shame and the knowledge that she would be punished later. He would deal with that later. Lumin looked up at Fang.

“Lumin,” he stated.

Fang looked at him with confusion and shock.

“My name,” Lumin clarified, “it’s Lumin Escence.”

Fang nodded, “Nice to meet you Lumin Escence.”