The evening before.

Alejandro was a tactician,

In his fathers own words: 'I'm a lover not a fighter.' He always sat in the back of an operation, strategizing rather than brutalising, ending conflicts with plots and openings while avoiding bloodshed where possible.

The man sat alone in an empty small office space, around him were blue and white flickering screens depicting many different hallways and rooms of a police station which still was full of energetic officers walking and chattering amongst themselves despite the late hour. Alejandro monitored them silently his eyes flitting from screen to screen as he leaned back in a cold plastic chair, resting his hands on an old wooden desk in front of him.

Alejandro wore all black as if he were attending a funeral, the only splash of colour in his ensemble stemming from a white embroidered flower on his breast pocket. The flower was wilting and shedding it's petals which as they fell turned into laughing skulls, the symbol of his home, his family, his life. Death's Rose. Also known as the second most influential crime group in the whole of Checkmate.

Occasionally he would glance at a silver watch on his wrist, otherwise sitting in silence as if waiting for the right moment. 'I could really go for some Fuji-silica right now' he thought idly, his mother always made the best food and he had forgotten to eat in his haste to perform reconnaissance earlier in the day. He settled with just daydreaming of the spicy dish, Ah what he would give to have it right now.

"I'm in position sir." a female voice came from a speaker which lay on the desk.

The voice belonged to one of his subordinates who was to help in accomplish a task which he was intent on succeeding in.

"A bit late but alright" Alejandro sighed, "I've already deployed the sound dampeners and cut off the alarms, feel free to begin Miss Wendi."

"Understood" she replied.

On the screen to his left the tactician saw a streak of colour as an armoured figure tore through half the regiment of men stationed in the hallway, though none were killed they were all incapacitated with a frightening level of efficiency. Top of the line equipment could not hold a candle against the woman who used a variety of strange weapons and techniques to come out of every encounter almost unscathed.

Moving from room to room Alejandro observed an entire battalion of policemen get dismantled by the figure which took no rest or pause between fights. A slight shiver ran up his spine, the man wasn't afraid of very much but he was glad that Tish Wendi was on his side rather than his enemies. He would have thought her a Supernatural if he didn't know any better.

At first he had been furious with how little help he had been assigned in order to complete his mission. His superiors had barely heeded his words when he informed them of a special shipment that had been delivered to the city only giving him scraps to work with, but even with what little manpower he possessed he realised that it was still more than enough to complete his goal.

After nights agonising over some intel he received, Alejandro discovered that a unique power suit was being secretly stashed in the police armoury in Verdante. It was meant to belong to one of the Supernaturals which would be arriving at the city and was being hidden in an obscure location in order to avoid any complications. It had taken him weeks just to discover the location and even longer in order learn how to bypass the armoury's defences but he had done it.

And now once the curtain fell he would have been successful in both crippling those trying to undermine his faction and boosting their manpower by quite a bit. After all, a weapon used by a Supernatural was linked to the higher power that they contracted with.

"I have finished subduing most of the rooms." Tish spoke calmly.

"Alright, we can now access the vault, should be down the hall to your left." Alejandro responded, as he watched her walking downwards he spotted her cradling her left arm which seemed damaged.

"Stop by the medic before you do." He commented, "Can't have you injured in case something happens."

No reply was given but he watched her make a short detour to pick up a healing syringe from a first aid box in one of the side rooms. After quick administration she continued to walk down the long hallways to the armoury. Good, He couldn't make any mistakes now, on the off-chance reinforcements arrived she was the only fighter he had at his disposal and if she fell so would the entire plan.

Lost in thought he was interrupted by a confused voice.

"That's odd," Tish spoke, "I just knocked out a security guard, aren't they supposed to block the back exit?"

Alejandro sat up suddenly, He had avoided using the back entrance to make it easier to deploy the sound dampeners which would have had a harder time making their way in through the smaller doorway. There was no reason for the guard to be leave their post, unless...

"Miss Wendi please hurry." He replied gravely.

The scarred woman quickly ran to the entrance of the armoury wincing slightly as the Spanish man breathed down her neck, yelling harsh frantic instructions at her in order to crack open the heavy doors as quickly as possible. Within minutes pressure was released and the entrance swung open.

'Oy vey.' He thought as soon as he saw through the open door.

Their prize was gone.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Present time

Evangeline was beyond glad to be free of the prison she had been stuck in. Buried under mounds of paperwork she finally was given a chance to leave her abode and roam the streets for a while. As much as she enjoyed doing her job to fix the city, it sucked to be relegated to admin work after only a few months. Despite her steadfast determination the workload hadn't been decreasing either.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Waking up earlier than she needed to, she found herself perusing through her wardrobe for longer than she intended, attempting to find respectful clothes for the interview without making it look too stuffy. Noah mentioned how she needed to do some civilian consultation to appease the public and she would take any excuse she could get to drag her away from the monotonous labour.

After being served a quick breakfast and changing into appropriate attire, in this case a frilled white shirt and black jeans, she walked calmly out of her room in through a short series of hallways and down a large central staircase. Upon reaching the bottom she gazed up at a large holographic display which hung directly above the front entrance, it was a portrait of her family. All fourteen siblings and both mother and father all shining with the same golden hair and eyes, glowing with joy and happiness. The picture showed a younger version of Eva, one whose smile was just as wide as the rest of the family but her eyes dimmer. If her siblings iris' shone as pure gold then hers were a touch diluted, nobody else except her noticed this in any case.

After smiling wistfully for a few moments she walked out of the marble mansion which served as her abode for the duration of her stay, and out into the fresh clean air of the first layer of Checkmate.

The highest point of the city was actually quite small and rarely ever busy. Walking down a small green hill that swayed with grass cut to perfection, she arrived at a large black metal gate which she opened into the empty road.

'Almost nobody ever stayed for long up here, it was just meant to look pretty.' She thought, walking down the vacant pavement. Being a space where only the richest and most influential members of Mercy stayed it never felt lived in. Most houses simply served for where they slept before taking all manner of private transportation down to the lower layers where most of their work was handled.

That being said the atmosphere was peaceful and it helped Eva think when she needed space from the monumental task she had undertaken. Whilst she should be contacting her bodyguard to prepare for her interview later, she had specifically woken up early in order to enjoy the quiet nature of the place. It was mostly made up of various parks, high end stores and housing, with a few spots that overlooked the city below.

Eventually she had arrived at a small bench which served as one of the aforementioned spots and sat down. For a while all she did was breathe, it was nice to finally have some time alone.

But no sooner had she settled in to relax she heard the sound of tires screeching behind her. Fantastic. It was soon followed by short quiet footsteps which revealed another woman in a black suit with similar long flowing hair as hers. Only it was jet black and her eyes mint green, the woman seemed to exude an air of grace.

"Madame, Lionel wishes to speak with you." She spoke in a light French accent.

French? Eva was rather surprised, she knew that there were colonies of people who still maintained the culture, mannerisms and accents of the pre-historic era but was surprised to see it in reality. It seemed that even after everything that had happened in previous history generations still carried forward their lifestyles.

That aside, she really did not want to deal with Lionel.

"I'll be right there" she replied curtly, so much for relaxing.

Standing up she moved to enter the large black vehicle which had pulled up behind her. Observing it's sleek black design she recognised it as a model Typhoon, a flying machine said to be capable of weathering any and all environmental damage without so much as a scratch. Her brother had been a particularly obsessed connoisseur of all types of transport from flying cars to express trains.

Stepping inside the woman she saw earlier followed suit entering after her and closing the door behind her, effectively boxing in the princess. To Eva's left was a man of relatively large stature but not necessarily huge, he wore a full beard which was rich red and well-trimmed, matching his neatly combed back hair. He wore a similar suit to the earlier French woman but it looked much more lavish with several silver symbols weaved into the fabric.

"Good morning, Your Radiance." the man grunted as she got in, despite using honorifics his tone betrayed any sense of respect.

"What do you want," she responded in equal measure of distain. The man before her was somebody she knew very well, he was the CEO of the current company which held Checkmate in a death grip. Lionel Mercy.

"A little birdie told me you abandoned your post" he commented not bothering to look at her, instead opting to light a cigar which he retrieved from his breast pocket. "Don't suppose you could fill me in? aren't we supposed to be working together?."

"None of your business" she replied in annoyance, "And I don't know why you even care."

"Miss star, you wound me" He retorted in mock anger "But to answer you question why wouldn't I care about my city?" he then motioned for the driver to begin moving to which the vehicle began a slow ascent.

"You made that much clear to me when you stonewalled me with paperwork." She responded with a hint of venom, "You think I can't see what your trying to do?"

Lionel then took a long puff before exhaling slowly, "Your right, why should I put up with such a poorly thought out plan, I won't have innocents suffer because of your bad decisions." He said.

The words almost caused her to lash out, but she quickly calmed herself down. "What did I expect from somebody only seeking to make profit," she snapped, "you realise I am trying to make the lives of these citizens better right? to finally give them a chance to improve rather than be stuck with criminals."

"No you're not." the CEO replied "I'm not the type of person to beat around the bush so instead of petty actions let's get at it. I found time out of my schedule to talk some sense into you and you'll listen when I speak."

"Whatever you say." Eva scoffed.

He sighed in response, "Alright let me make this clear, you aren't doing this for the people of Checkmate, your doing this for yourself. I don't care what you have to say in response because we both know this."

"What could I possibly have to gain." she said icily.

"Your family's respect." He replied, "To perform a feat so great that they have to acknowledge you despite that fact that you aren't a Supernatural. In fact the only reason why I didn't just refuse your initial offer outright is because I thought that with that kind of drive you would be different from everybody else who tried the same thing."

"It seems you've done your homework" the princess spoke, "But you're being too cautious, if you want change you need to trust that things will be better different, but you keep trying to revert them to how they were. I won't deny the personal stake I have in this but I can assure you that it hasn't clouded my judgement."

Lionel was in charge of a company, and at the end of the day he needed profits. He could not afford competition. But in order to make life better for those who lived in Checkmate she needed to introduce new companies into the economy, it was impossible to truly work towards change if the public hated those in charge. So foreign investment was what they needed, to prove that things would improve.

"This city was made this way for a reason, the people here aren't unwilling victims. They're people who made a choice to act a certain way even with full knowledge of the consequences." He responded, "And I'm not a babysitter, If they are here it's because they deserve to be here, your reform can't rely on the fact that these people would be willing to improve themselves if given the chance, because they won't."

"Then we'll have to agree to disagree." she sniffed, Eva wasn't naïve she understood that some people never change, but it would be a disservice to stop when there are people who don't want to spend the rest of their lives in a hellhole and deserve a second chance.

The vehicle halted slowly and the French woman exited, holding the door open for the princess. She took the opportunity to leave as soon as possible not wanting to spend another minute with Lionel.

"Have fun with your interview Your Radiance." the CEO called out, "Remember that you're playing with the lives of real people."

She didn't respond as the car lifted off into the sky a moment later, thinking in cold contemplation.

Eventually Eva looked up at her surroundings whilst pulling out a small radio from her pocket. It was time to call Noah and get this whole situation dealt with. So much for what she thought would be an enjoyable outing.