[table] [row] [sup][h3][b][color=2e2c2c] ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ [right]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/right][/color] [/b][/h3][/sup] [/row][row] [cell][color=2e2c2c]______________________________________[/color] [right][img] https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/819789441597964298/826518919962689556/image0.jpg[/img][/right][/cell][cell] [indent][color=ff6130][h2][b]Ellie[/b][/h2][/color][/indent] [color=Ff6130][sup] [b]_____________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color] [color=Ff6130][sup][b]Tenebrae City[/b][/sup] [sup][b]The lab[/b][/sup] [sup][/sup] [/color] [color=Ff6130][sup][b]______________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color][/cell] [/row] [/table] [center][color=ff6130][h2][b]What in the Goddamn?[/b][/h2][/color] [color=Ff6130][sup][b]______________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color][/center] Everything was fine, they battered everything that stepped to them, and landed in an elevator with a clump of scared-witless scientists. Ellie pressed against the wall with the heart in her hands. She took the time to catch her breath while the Elevator went up. They did it. They got the heart, and they made it to an elevator. That should be the worst of their troubles, right? Right? Wrong. Suddenly, everything started shaking, and the elevator stopped moving. Ellie all but lost her footing at the sudden falling sensation they all were no doubt feeling. It was like some angry god had been playing tricks on them, because the next floor was right there. If it were safe, someone could just crawl up through. Hell, the though crossed Ellie’s mind to charge up and just strong-arm the whole damn box long enough that everyone could get out in time. That notion was dashed the second the elevators start moving again, but not before everything went black. All around her, everything stood still. Like cold, dead air when a wolf is staring at you from behind. Black smoke covered up everything beyond the door of the elevator, and what wasn’t being covered was occupied by someone. No doubt a meta. He wore black, and had a covered face. Was it someone Dream knew? Ellie didn’t have the time to react when her vision blackened as well. A feeling of cold hollowness washed over her. There was no pain, no harm, just quiet [i]absence.[/i] It filled the elevator until nothing could be seen. But the light of the floor they plummeted away from. They fell. And fell. And fell. And then they were free again. The elevator crashed, yet Ellie only felt like she tripped and hit the sidewalk. The doors were swung wide open, damaged and battered from some sort of impact. She stood up wearily, looking through the doors to see…the sky. Ellie stepped out and saw she was on a rooftop of all places. The sunrise peered in ever so slightly over the horizon. Day was breaking, and they were out of the lab, in the middle of the city, in a busted up elevator. They made it after all, but Ellie was confused. [color=ff6130]”What in the…”[/color] [i]”Ellie, where’s the heart?”[/i] Fuck. [table] [row] [sup][h3][b][color=2e2c2c] ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ [right]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/right][/color] [/b][/h3][/sup] [/row][row] [cell][color=2e2c2c]______________________________________[/color] [right][img] https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.sFi08CC_AQKusiYB1V2bzAHaLH%26pid%3DApi&f=1[/img][/right][/cell][cell] [indent][color=5a6b7c][h2][b]Rainsinger[/b][/h2][/color][/indent] [color=5a6b7c][sup] [b]_____________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color] [color=5a6b7c][sup][b]Tenebrae City[/b][/sup] [sup][b]The lab[/b][/sup] [sup][/sup] [/color] [color=5a6b7c][sup][b]______________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color][/cell] [/row] [/table] [center][color=5a6b7c][h2][b]Kader.[/b][/h2][/color] [color=5a6b7c][sup][b]______________________________________________________________________________________[/b][/sup][/color][/center] Everything was all fine and dandy up until the very moment Rainsinger laid eyes on a silver mask and a black cloak. As they stood on the rooftop, he searched around for the heart Ellie lost. When that didn’t work, he stood there, staring out at the ocean he came from to think. That mask, the smoke. That wasn’t the first time he saw it, or the second time it ran through his mind… [i]"I'll admit, I'm nervous that you're here. So, I wanted to approach you directly, and ask you to not get involved in anything that'll 'sink the city', so to speak. Or I'm going to have to deal with it, and I won't want to." "To put this in a better way, you've come at a critical time. I am days away from completing a certain project that will change the face of the world. There will be a struggle to get there. At present, I can contain it, knowing which metas will be in play." "You though, are what is known as an alpha-class meta. Something I was not expecting, which is half the reason for our unexpected encounter."[/i] So, it seems that guy wasn’t saving face after all. [color=5a6b7c]”Kader.”[/color] He said out loud, in earshot of the other two. [color=ff6130]”What?[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”You get a good look at that guy before we got murked?”[/color] [color=ff6130]”Yeah…Black cape, white mask-“[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”Smokey scar, curls, and a bootlicking grin underneath.”[/color] [color=ff6130]”Do you know him?”[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”Not quiet, few days ago when I got here, he found me at the boardwalk. Started badgering me about what I was doing here, told me not to get involved in whatever the hell he was planning. Said he’d “deal with it” and such. I laughed him off. Guess he wasn’t fooling around.”[/color] Linus stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked over the ledge of the building they were on. [color=5a6b7c]”Said his name was Soliman Kader. He runs some gang called the Shadow Knights.”[/color] Ellie paused for a moment to think. Shadow Knights. Knights… Why did that sound familiar? [color=ff6130]”I feel like I should know that one.”[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”Yeah- me too. Ain’t the first time I’ve heard that name. Maybe Sparky said somethin’ about it once…”[/color] At the mention of the term [i]Sparky,[/i] Ellie’s eyes locked onto him. [color=5a6b7c]”Nah, that’s not it. Damn, where do I know that from?”[/color] He started muttering to himself, that was gonna drive him nuts later. [color=ff6130]”Well, we’re not gonna figure it out standing here all morning.”[/color] Ellie’s boots started to glow faintly as she approached the ledge of the building, not far from Dream. [color=ff6130]”Plus, it isn’t like him to not catch up with us. Unless he just couldn’t under there.”[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”I’m gonna drop by Hel’s place and see if she knows anything, I sure as hell hope you fried that thing before you lost it.”[/color] [color=ff6130]”As much light as I shoved in it, if that didn’t work, nothing will.”[/color] They needed to do something about all this. While the confused scientists scrabbled about behind them, they planned ahead. And to make matters worse, Dream said Takeda wasn’t responding. That didn’t feel good, he had a habit of checking in on them, especially with Dream.[color=ff6130]”Okay, Dream, follow me, and when we find him we can take it easy at my place later. Linus, you said you’re going to the Valkyries? I’m up in the north side apartments. Ask at the desk.”[/color] [color=5a6b7c]”Sure.”[/color] [color=ff6130]”We might want to lay low once we find out where Takeda went. His phone better just be dead or someone’s getting their ass beat.”[/color] A haze of light was left behind by Ellie, as she dropped from the rooftop with a solid thud. Anyone who looked down would see she landed on her feet, and was making her way up the streets. [color=ff6130]”Let’s find him.”[/color] She said to Dream as she would’ve made her way down with her. [color=ff6130]”Where would he be right now?”[/color] Rainsinger, on the other hand, just vanished. [color=gray][h2][center][b]Later…[/b][/center][/h2] __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [/color] Sometime later into the day, maybe half an hour later at least, a certain dead man slipped through the front doors to the Love Street Haven, where Hel caught up with him days ago. Being that Hel came around her in broad daylight, this had to be her territory, she always was fond of that type of mindset. Watching turf like a black widow watches corners of a house. The bar probably hadn’t even been open a whole hour when he arrived. He went up to the counter and asked the person working behind it. He recognized the girl there, she must’ve worked often. [color=5a6b7c]You know where I can find Hel around here? Gotta get ahold of her for somethin’.”[/color] A woman of Hel’s status no doubt had little time for this sort of thing, but Rainsinger and Lady Hel went back decades. Something the bartender no doubt noticed the night he talked to her with his tone. To that end, he took a seat and looked around. [color=5a6b7c]”I can wait.”[/color] [hr] Meanwhile, someone living somewhere half a mile or so from the heart of Valkyrie territory woke up. An old fashioned iPhone alarm shook him from his sleep. Minutes pass, and the shadows of the early morning started dancing around him as he prepared for the days head of him. A pair of shoes floated through the air in the hands of what could only be described as pitch black, three dimensional darkness. The young man’s phone floated over his head in another shadowy hand, as a wall charger was being folded around it. These black, ethereal arms of seemingly nothingness originated from the natural shadow of Jack, who was rummaging through a closet for something to wear. When he pulled a shirt out of there, all of the shadows around him bent inwards to hand him everything they held. Meanwhile, the shadow beneath a desk chair lifted up a darkly colored jacket across the room, which rested itself around him once it made its way over. Shadows swirled around the room in methodical ways like this for several minutes, grabbing this, that, and anything else relevant. To anyone who might’ve been watching, this light look like a dramatic way for a superhero to suit up with armor, ready to fight a bad guy. In reality, it was just someone getting ready for school.