[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/NUfoqFV.jpg[/img][/center]

[center]-Eudora Carver-
[url=http://i.imgur.com/bi3jQJO.jpg]-The Labyrinth-[/url][/center]

Eudora adjusted her lipstick of her faint reflection in the pristine, clear glass in front of her. She stood in a glass tube with round walls and no edges, just a single door on the other side. There was one other person in the tube; a squat, balding male scientist, busy adjusting and calibrating an examination table in the center of the room. The scientist was sick looking with a five o'clock shadow and rather deep rings beneath his eyes.

"Did I ever tell you about my first experiment?" She asked the scientist, who jumped so much he nearly dropped the tray of blood samples he had just finished collecting from an unseen subject.

"N-no, ma'am." He replied, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Yelner, don't be so afraid. This is a day of [i]triumphs[/i] and leaping into the future of science." She said, turning from the glass to finally face the scientist.

"It's just that the levels- it seems like the other patients are still reacting to the stone even days later. We don't know how long it takes to burn ou-" 

"You're the brightest physicist I've ever come across." Eudora cut him off. "And that's saying a lot."

Eudora stepped toward the stainless steel examination table. She was dressed in a floor length black sequin gown with black lace gloves that nearly reached her elbows. It had a square, low-cut neckline and she wore a black string of pearls tastefully in place. Barely acknowledging Yelner, Eudora placed a black wire-work masquerade [url=http://i.imgur.com/b5Huug9.jpg]mask[/url] on; it had a total of twenty diamonds fixed in place and cost more than most cars. Dressed entirely out of character for the situation at hand, she tapped through one of the nearest display panels.

"It was a potato." She said, again, out of nowhere. "A simple potato clock with a few nails and some old wire- that was my first experiment. It was exhilarating, really. Creating something useful like a clock out of such an ordinary thing like a potato convinced me that [i]anything[/i] could have a hidden purpose. . . It just needs to be looked at from a different light."

There was a series of loud clicking noises and the echo of pistons in the small glass tube; the ceiling opened up from a seam in the center as a narrow object was lowered onto the examination table. It most closely resembled a coffin, except that the entire lid was made of the same thick, indestructible glass as the examination room's walls. Eudora stepped forward and tapped the glass lightly, peering at the unconscious body of Jonathan Bakker within.

"Madame, we need to step out now." Yelner said, touching the woman lightly on the forearm.

Eudora followed the scientist out of the sliding glass doors that sealed shut with the hiss of compressing air behind them. A dozen more scientists stood in the outer ring of the experimentation bay, which was at least ten times the size of the room they had just left Bakker in. Every wall was lined in computer screen, keyboards and a countless array of other devices that chirped away information into the organized chaos. The corporate tycoon followed across the room to the main control panel facing the small glass examination tube.

"Beginning Phase Two." Yelner said out loud, pressing several keys and turning up a dial. "Quantum calibration of the stone's energy production off of. . . living organisms."

The tube whirred to life again with the sound of the pistons and the center of the ceiling opening up again. Inside Bakker's cell, a sleek, white mechanical arm slowly lowered a clear glass tube. The container was half the length of an arm with a peculiar item hovering in the center- a jagged red rock that began to pulsate with yellow light as it inched into the room. Almost resembling a continually burning chunk of sharp magma, the cracks of light seemed to flow and move across the surface.

"Initial readings over the past week have shown that the stone seems to generate [b]more[/b] power when placed in close proximity with an organic host." Yelner said to his employer, who had her eyes fixated on the experimentation chamber. "We'll decrease the distance over time but we found that doing so too quickly causes some [i]unfavorable[/i] circumstances."

"Good." She replied. "Don't stop getting closer this time- no matter how much this one screams."

[center]-Finn-[/center]

Finn had spent most of the night and following morning worried about where his brother could have gone- who never managed to make it back to their base at any point in time. Convinced that Michael had been found by the police, he was surprised that he hadn't heard about it yet on the news. It was before dawn when Finn was contacted by the Architect. Instantly asking where his younger sibling could be, the Architect sent a message saying that Michael could be found at Beacon Research and Development later that evening.

Carrying the three piece tuxedo that his grandfather had worn during his wedding, Finn spent most of the morning at a dry cleaner and shopping in the finer part of town. With a pocket full of money and trying to keep from thinking about his brother, the magnetic super purchased a high quality shirt, bow-tie, designer shoes and other accessories to fit in for the evening among the super wealthy.

Sending Black Jack a text message that the Architect had contacted him, he wondered if Beacon was another heist that Michael had planned on his own. It seemed like irrational enough behavior to be believable, so he couldn't let his brother go alone. Even if it was a trap set up by the Architect, he couldn't risk not being there.

It started raining in the afternoon and continued drearily throughout the day. Finn rented a town car with a driver and headed to the grand opening charity ball shortly after it was scheduled to begin. The research facility was just north outside the city limits, where there just began to be more grass and trees than street lamps and concrete. The black car pulled in front of the glass overhang, where women covered in jewels and men who resembled the Monopoly Man walked by in the dozens. Seeing that everyone was indeed wearing a variety of masquerade masks, he tied his own metallic brushed [url=http://i.imgur.com/IMqXDPR.jpg]mask[/url] on in place and stepped out into the cool air.

"Welcome, sir." A massive security guard said, closing the car door behind Finn. "We hope you have a good evening."

Nodding his thanks, Finn walked down the red carpet entrance, past the line of media that deemed him not famous enough to photograph on his way by. There were already at least two hundred people in the grand entrance hall, which had been outfitted with crystal chandeliers, rows of food and circular tables dotted throughout the crowd. Waiters and waitresses meandered throughout the decadent masquerade, taking empty glasses and handing back their full counterparts. A stringed orchestra flowed through the air, resonating in the massive space and playing a classical tune as the crowd arrived. There was a speech scheduled, followed by more food and dancing, so Finn decided that there was plenty of time to mingle. It was an extreme change from the bank robbery a day earlier, to say the least.