[i]Weapons Master?[/i] The title ran through her head several times after their encounter with the guards. She had played along as she had seen Sebastian do with the dragons upon entering the city. It proved to be a wise choice, but she was disturbed. He was right. There was no doubt about it all her assets were probably taken from her home and her colleagues were bound to notice she was gone by now. Perhaps word of her arrest had simply not reached Aurora yet? It wasn't as if every arrest in IVT territory was broadcast for all to see and even if that were so it wasn't as if anybody would sit down and memorize them all. She didn't even know the reason for her own arrest. Though that part made sense the title did not. Before she was arrested she was indeed up for promotion. However, it was some time off from being official and it wasn't exactly common knowledge. How the hell did the authorities in a different city know about it before it had even happened?

"This isn't right..." she had mumbled while Sebastian and Anna argued over the situation.

---

Brooklyn nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman suddenly shot herself but she did not scream and she did not panic. Sebastian was yelling but she was quickly processing through what the woman had said before dying, the way she spoke, the way she acted. She said she had seen them? Brooklyn didn't know much about magic except for how to counter it offensively but from what she could gather it was almost as if...

"It's almost as if she was..." her brow furrowed.

"Touched," Gabe finished her sentence quietly, "By demons, I'd say," He looked at the girl briefly, "Or the filth in this place."
 
Brooklyn shifted uncomfortably, "We should keep moving and figure out how to deal with this Galen person. I don't want to be down here any longer than we have to be." Down here she felt like a target had been painted on her and the armor she wore may as well have been made of paper-mache for all the security it provided her.

"Agreed" Anna said, the bewilderment in her voice. "It seems that the fade was acting through her. Combined with the fact that the guards knew who Brooklyn was and this woman obviously saw us somehow, maybe in a dream, I would say that the Fade has a strong presence with us for some reason."

Sebastian sighed and groaned at the same time, the thought of the fade annoying him. Astral planes and shit. Demons, crazy people. He didn't need to deal with this crap.

Gabe stayed behind Anna as they pressed on, "We just gonna walk through his front door then? Ain't no way the four of us could take on a whole compound."

"I'm not sure what Sebastian has planned. To be honest, I think he's more worried about the ghouls than Galen."

He scratched his scalp, "Not sure those priorities are straight. Monsters are one thing. People are a whole other can o' worms."

"To us, I can agree. But to him...somebody who has dealt with people for a hundred years or so...people may just be a nuisense."

"Hm... suppose when you put it that way..."

Brooklyn listened to the Tenau talking among themselves for a moment before another noise caught her attention. A light scraping of sorts. She looked around. From what she could tell it was coming from a scrap heap that had piled up at the base of an abandoned building that was all but falling apart. Her hand slipped around the grip of her gun. Her heart nearly stopped when a rusted coolant tank came toppling down from its perch. Immediately her gun was out, in shaking hands but aimed at the area.

Sebastian put his hand over her gun and lowered it. A small dog came out of the pile, scruffy and old. Seeing the group, it bolted away. "Try to steady yourself. I'll know what's coming before any of you. HUD enabled tracking device helmets are amazing like that."

"Not that I don't have faith in you," she took a deep breath as she holstered the pistol again, "But I'm not sure ignoring surprises in place like this is a good idea. If something jumps out at me I won't be waiting for your permission to pull the trigger."

"And I'm not going to stop you, but at the second, causing unneeded noises will attract a horde."

"Right," she mumbled, "These ghouls, what's the best way to kill them? ... Or avoid them?"

"If they attack, blow their heads off or take out the legs. Avoiding lies in staying quiet and out of sight. They have the hearing of a moose, one wrong step and they'll know exactly where you are. Most are loners, but there are definitely plenty of packs around."

"I didn't know moose had remarkable hearing," she said looking at the ground. Her mind was obviously somewhere else, "And how do we go about dealing with Galen?"

"We'll deal with that when we get there. He and I are on...neutral terms."

"Well then. That's probably the most unsettling thing I've heard all day," she whimpered, "And I am including the crazy lady just so you know."

"He's not affected by fade mumbo jumbo. He's just reclusive and doesn't like people. He and I were friends a few years ago, but we lost touch. I sent him an email and haven't heard back, so something probably happened."

"Sebastian, the man is a mob boss and you're making him sound like my cranky grandpa," she frowned.

"He's also neurologically connected to the net and is able to control every bit of his operation without leaving his bed and without seeing another person. He also taught me most of what I know about hacking, he's a brilliant hacker and has taken control of Mechs mid-operation before."

Even for all Sebastian's reassuring, with every word Brooklyn was starting to trust Galen less and less, which she didn't think possible. A person with that kind of power standing between them and their goal was daunting. She didn't care if he and Sebastian had been friends at one point. His position and and lack of communication left her unsettled. She couldn't help but feeling like she was walking to her death. However, it sounded like the man was running a vulnerable operation none the less. If shit hit the fan she hoped there would be more than a few ways out down here.