> The Next Afternoon

"He just wouldn't break."

Kry stated to Ergo as he wiped his brow with his sleeve, the two were standing in a dark cellar. The only light source came from a dirty light bulb hanging from the ceiling behind them. To their left was a wooden door.

"Has Hugo....done this before?" Ergo asked as she looked at the door next to them, she then looked back at Kry after asking. The whole setting itself was nothing short of murky and depressing. The walls were stained just like the ceiling and floor of the cellar. The door to the cellar was in the corner up a set of wooden stairs in the darkness of the cellar outside of the lightbulbs reach.

Kry nodded as he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Looking down at the floor.

"Yes...yes he has. He isn't a professional though, definitely not."

Hugo soon walked out, he was wearing a black vest instead of his parka. He closed the door behind him and sighed, walking past the two. Kry frowned and looked at Hugo as he walked past, watching him walk halfway up the stairs he suddenly spoke to Hugo.

"Uhm, so? Anything on Konstantine's location?"

Hugo looked at Kry, he looked completely worn out. 

"He passed out. We can try again when he wakes up, we don't want him dead do we?"

He finished talking and walked out the stairs, exiting the cellar.

Meanwhile Hugo went into the living room of the run-down apartment they were residing in, sitting down on a sofa.

Radius was sat opposite in an armchair, cleaning his sniper rifle. He was obviously used to doing so, dismantling it and putting it back together swiftly. 

"I wanted to ask...why is this whole street so...destroyed? It looks like its an aftermath of a war."

"Because it is."

"O-Oh?" Hugo leaned forward with intrigue.

"Why do you think we live here anyway? This whole street used to be our home....no...the whole Zone. Zone 9. This street is apart of said Zone."

"Zone? Is that a district of some sort?"

"Precisely."

The wolven finished cleaning his rifle and put it beside him so it leaned against the armchair.

"The Zone was a target for ridicule. The reasons why? Because the Zone itself was reluctant to follow simple laws. We had a lot of foreign races here too, which they didn't like. During The Supreme War around 50 years ago there were no soldiers at all from this Zone that fought, none, zero. Out of all 26 Zones, this was the one which had no men or women fight for Wrathak and the Inhuman Empire."

Radius sighed and closed his yellow eyes.

"When the new Emperor came into power, it was already decided what he was going to do to us. That psychotic bastard. He sent out an eradication order and killed us all to set an example that they are the imperium, and the people of Wrathak must dedicate their lives to the new Wolven Empire. He might as well be taking after the Inhuman Empire..which is what he seems to be doing, according to the plans you uncovered back in Homstala."

"..but you survived."

Hugo said, looking right at Radius, who opened his eyes and looked at Hugo.

"Barely. That was around 40 years ago, after Adepta recovered from The Supreme War. I witnessed the eradication first hand whilst Ergo's father did too, as well as his wife's death. He raised Ergo and built The Unchained Justice, but he soon died from the common cold. The resistance was once much bigger...but I doubt we are the only ones in this damn city that have the same wants. Our Zone was just their main target."

The door to the apartment opened as a short human woman walked in with a gray and black respirator on her face. She had short platinum blonde hair which hung just above her eyes. She was wearing a dark green hoodie and some crimson sweatpants alongside some black sneakers which had the letters "FO" on the side of it in white bold text. She sighed as her brown eyes landed on Hugo. "Oh, you must be one of the three." Her voice was lazy and slightly muffled thanks to the respirator. She looked at Radius and waved lazily. "I'm back."

"Get anything?"

"Not really. Just some uh..cafeteria menus, I guess. Oh! and they have three new wanted criminals."

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Radius looked at Hugo. "Hugo, this is Verse. She is a hacker. Very talented young girl. Responsible for tracking down many resistance members who were once recruited thanks to their reputation...John Smith...Blanro Uwam..shame they fell to the Empire..tsk."

Verse gave Hugo a nod and grinned. "I was the person that disabled that Kanceller which let you guys break out of the prison, heheh...oh wait, you're one of the new criminals I found in their system." She coughed and adjusted her respirator.

"Mask damaged?" Radius asked as he stood up, walking over to Verse. Verse shook her head. "No no..the straps need adjusting."

Hugo looked at the two. "She okay?"

Radius helped her adjust her straps from behind. "She cannot breathe oxygen, it burns her organs. This mask provides her with an amount that doesn't hurt her. It's a rare condition."

Verse meanwhile was pulling on her hoodie strings. "I thought there were three? Where are the other two?" She asked Radius.

"One is in the cellar with Ergo..and as for the other...actually, where is Altara?" He finished adjusting the straps and looked at Hugo, walking over and sitting down at the armchair again. The chair creaked as he sat.

"Altara is...on the roof. He's giving himself some fresh air."

...

Altara was indeed sat on the flat roof of the apartment. His legs dangling over the edge as he stared at the gray sky. He looked over the dead street and lifted his hand up to his mouth, dragging his index finger's nail across one of his golden canines gently. He heard the door open below him and looked down, moving his hand away from his mouth as he saw Hugo looking up at Altara.

"Alt, we've got a lead on Konstantine's location."

Altara's eyes widened.

...

The six were stood in a dimly lit room, the room connected to the basement. Kodan was hunched over in a chair tied up from his waist down in rope. A few of his fingernails were ripped off, and a knife was lodged into his left thigh. Verse moved away from Kodan as the others stood back and let her do whatever it was she was doing. 

A small implant was now fused into Kodan's temple, a while from which ran down to a laptop on the floor.

Verse quickly crouched down to her laptop and started to type.

"Since his last brain activity before he lost consciousness would have been his dedication to not reveal the location of your person that simply means that the location would have been a strong point in his brain. So I'm going to pull that out...making sense?" She stated swiftly as she put in a pair of earbuds. 

"Uhh..not really. But go on." Hugo mumbled as he crossed his arms.

Verse closed her eyes. "Quiet, please."

...

....

......

"FINGERSNAILNAILTHIGHLEGLEGLEGSHARPLOYALTY38THWARDIWILLNOTTELL!"

Verse quickly paused the audio and took her earbuds out, closing her eyes for a second and exhaling before standing up. She walked over to Kodan and pulled out the implant, causing him to bleed down the side of his face.

"Thirty-Eighth Ward. The same prison you resided in."

Altara walked forwards slightly, looking at Verse.

"Thank you."

Verse nodded at Altara and looked back at Kodan, walking up to him and grabbing the handle of the knife in his left leg. 

Ergo then stood in front of Verse, pushing her arm away from the knife.

"No. We keep him here. We can use him for more information."

Verse sighed and nodded. "That's fine.."

Verse picked up her laptop and earbuds and walked out the room.

"Hmm."

Kry looked at Verse.

"Thank you for helping us."

Verse looked over at Kry and nodded.

"Anyone who has had people taken from them by the Empire are people we will help. As we fight for the people that are and have been affected."

Altara looked up at Hugo, who was staring at Kodan's tortured body with a cold look. Hugo soon blinked twice and quickly walked out.