The solid floor rocked beneath Catherine's feet as she rode the monorail back toward the capital, the rest of the sleek silver car empty beside herself and Maya who'd tagged along, fussing the entire time, but had finally calmed down a bit after they boarded the train. Catherine was holding onto one of the straps, watching the buildings morph into a colorful matte painting as they flew by. Catherine herself was starting to feel antsy, nervous. She felt like she'd just gotten here to Athens and was trying to come up with some speech in her head to give to Deacon Grace as to why she should be sent overseas back to Hades, a place she had just spent five years in exile. Running over any potential excuses, any real reasonings to avoid telling him her true purpose, any lie she could give she could stretch.

"I don't know why you're so obsessed with this." Maya spoke softly, thinking the sounds of the train would cover her "Even if we could train potential children in our ways, we have plenty of members."

Catherine raised an eye brow "What are you talking about, four people in a cave isn't enough to do anything."

Maya coughed, "Nothing."

Catherine stamped over, grabbing Maya by her shirt collar, "Answer me now."

"Or what, you'll throw me out the window of a moving train?" Maya scoffed

"I'll make it look like an accident."

Maya let out a sigh, "I truly meant nothing by it, just talking to myself."

"How many of us are there left, truly?"

Maya spread her hands outward, "Up to a hundred, maybe. But I keep minimal contact."

Catherine's nostrils flared, felt her pupils dilate, "So you lied to me"

"No, only withholding information"

"And you want me to trust you."

"Trust goes both ways, Catherine."

"This shit again... so tell me, what stops you from continuing to lie to my face even if I told you everything? What makes you think I can trust you when again, you lied to my face?"

Maya leaned in, "I guess that's a risk you have to take isn't it?"

"Not one I'm willing to risk my neck over, Maya."

Maya glared, "Alright... look. We have an ally within the government."

"The Deacon."

"No, lower."

"What?"

"He's a Senator from Hades, he runs a kind of underground network, spies, shipment, soldiers, mid scale but he helps smuggle people in and out of Hades, for a fee."

"Why?"

Maya sighed, "When we get to the Capital, I'll take you to him."

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Catherine leaned on the railing again, "Why the sudden trust?"

"If you aren't going to offer the olive branch, figure I should be the one to."

Catherine side eyed her, "Were the books I gave you not an olive branch?"

"They were an apology."

Catherine rolled her eyes, "What's this senator like, how'd you meet him?"

"He was studying our kind when I met him in the Grand Library. We got to talking and he told me about his grand ambition of helping jump start the Brotherhood, and he helped us and our people get secret identities and move around the globe, new names, new jobs, backgrounds, fully legal, untraceable to the source, he could set you up with a new life for a price."

"What's the generosity for?"

"Life isn't a catch, Catherine."

"No, but all kindness comes with a price. Especially politicians."

"Don't be like that."

"Name five Senators who aren't just trying to line their pockets or get their fifteen minutes of net fame, Maya."

"Senator Theo Dion. Emma Shaw."

Catherine held up two fingers in a V formation, "That's only two."

"Those are the only two I talk with. I'm not like you who skips straight to the top."

Catherine bent one finger back to give Maya gesture, "Least I'm trying to get things done."

"And I wasn't?"

"I wasn't aware you were doing that!"

"Right..."

As the train slowed to a halt at the station, the two disembarked and made their way into the Capitol building where Senators from across the three continents began to converge in the amphitheater for the weekly meeting. Maya lead Catherine up a maze of stairs before getting to room 909. She knocked three times before a servant opened the door and allowed them in. There Catherine was greeted with an assault to her eyes of golds, reds, blues, and greens of all kinds of objects and decorations, even the sofas were an off shade of pink.

Catherine bent over, "Is this supposed to throw off attackers, what the fuck?"

"He's eccentric."

Catherine took a closer look at the valuables in the room, each one costing just as much as her entire apartment building, coming from a man who's supposed to represent a City-State in a war torn, decentralized continent, it made Catherine a tad upset seeing this representative blow so much money in frivols things. As they waited, a man rounded the corner, short buzz cut white hair, a fabulous three piece black suit with a purple undershirt beamed at them, straightening his tie revealing a silver-purple ring on his left hand, he let out a belly laugh, "Ah my dear Maya, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Catherine eyed him as Maya gave a small bow, "Senator Dion, this is Catherine Tharros, a member of our Brotherhood, I would like to introduce her to you as she will be taking...missions within Hades and may require your help."

Theo extended a hand for a handshake, which she accepted, keeping one hand in her pocket, "Charmed, Senator."

"You're the lady I was told about, the newest Valkyrie."

Catherine blinked, "How did you..."

"Nothing stays secret around here for long, my dear. Trust in my words when I say, I may be the first, if not second person to hear this, but I shall not be the last. Money makes lies into truths, and truths into double truths around here."

Catherine sighed, "So may I ask what your specialty is? Maya was a bit vague." Maya elbowed Catherine lightly for the rude comment

"Well you see," Theo started, "Even before the Spartan conflicts, my family ran the ports in Hades, and after the wars ended, my company bought up most of the destroyed land as possible, leading to many investment opportunities."

"You took advantage of the chaos and death." Catherine finished

"A way to look at it, yes. But no different than our mutual friend, Graves and his Karrion Industries does, no? Besides, those bastards have been trying to edge my family's company out of the country for years, bullying and buying off our land for cheap. I've been using my people, my money, my contacts, my businesses to get people in and out of Hades with whatever life they need, what they want, and I shall continue to do so if I lose re-election."

"Why?"

"Everyone deserves a chance at a new life, a redemption, Catherine. Human, monster, or Abnormal."

Catherine smiled at his honesty, "And your reason for such a charity?"

"When I was young, my grandfather told me of the days your kind were treated as witch and wizardfolk, hunted down and killed, slaughtered for what was thought to be their laziness, their lack of wanting to Ascend to Godhood as the world started to come apart at the stitches with violence. So, when I got old enough, and my money was in a comfortable place, I decided to start a small side project where I would help those wayward find their light at the end of the tunnel, a chance at a fresh start without the shadows of their past looming over them."

"And your interest in us?"

"When the last Oracle died, I feared another set of retaliation like the ones my grandfather described, so I increased the workload, increased the smuggling of people in and out, and the protection of Abnormals. I fear though, the birth rate for your kind has drastically decreased in the last fifteen years."

Catherine and Maya eyed each other, Catherine spoke up, "What do you mean?"

"Twenty years ago, there was one Abnormal birth for every fifty people. Now there's one Abnormal birth for every seventy-five or eighty people. No one knows how or why, but it's alarming. The guys from Orion I've talked to believe it's this Evolution of our race, a sign that the universe is edging your folk out... but I believe something else is going on."

Catherine nodded, "Thank you for your help...and concern. For the people, ours and yours."

Theo smiled, "My pleasure young miss. Now to you, what is it our glorious new agent wishes of me?"

Catherine pretended to reach into her back pocket, "How much per person to smuggle in and out?"

Theo did some mental math, "A hundred Obals each, new identities is a thousand."

A dim blue flash and Catherine tossed the Senator a brown bag. Opening it, a plethora of silver, blue, and gold coins were inside, "Ten thousand."

"Wha..."

"Consider it a down payment on the next ten people you help. As for me, I need to get into Hades, I'm afraid there's a new group of people targeting our kind and I want to assess and get as many as I can out and to the Brotherhood for safety and training."

Maya thought for a second, "I can set up a Bureau here in Athens, an immigration spot, Theo and his people can funnel them to the Bureau and we can get them where they need to go."

Theo flashed a golden smile, "I'll start the paperwork, and get you on a boat within four days, until then... please... come join me for our weekly meeting I'm sure it'll be educational."