Alcina crawled up the side of the building, under the moonlight. The black tentacles gripped to the uneven texture of the bricks like suction cups. There were only a few stars shining through the haze of light diffusing through the sky.

She looked into a window, into a room as a man walked inside. He shut the door behind himself, standing in the darkness for a moment before switching on the light. A woman came out of a room, holding a glass of wine between her fingers. She walked up to the man, and pointed her fingers into his face. The man didn't respond. He just got a sad look on his face. He moved around her, dropping his briefcase against a couch. She started yelling at him.

He tried to ignore her, and get around her, but she cut him off. She yelled more, and then she splashed the wine on him. He stopped for a moment and he shifted into wisplike smoke for a moment before reforming, shedding the wine onto the floor. He tried to get past her once again. She slapped him across the face.

Alcina readied herself, a halo appeared above her, bright and full. It was shaped like a gear, with dozens of other phantom gears spinning around it, just outlines near where they touched against her own. She touched her hand against the wall, feeling it under her fingers. It disappeared in a light, as though the bricks were dissolving away into the air. The couple inside stopped.

Alcina seemed to glide inside, not touching down against the carpet. She looked back and forth between the two of them with a blank expression.

"Are you sad?" she asked, looking at the man.

The bewilderment in the man's eyes receded as he turned to introspection.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded. "Why are you breaking in to our home? I'll call the cops!"

Alcina didn't even look at her. Instead, she continued to stare at the man, slowly tilting her head to the side.

"Yes," said the man.

"Don't answer her. She might have escaped from a mental hospital or something. She might be dangerous." The woman tapped at a screen behind her back.

"Do you want to escape from life?"

"I don't understand. What are you asking me to do? I'm just an office worker. I-"

"I said don't answer her. You can't even follow simple directions? No wonder you don't get a raise."

Alcina turned to the woman. "Richard Mullen, an information analyst for the IMB, should be making a salary of two-hundred forty-five thousand. Is this insufficient?"

"How do you know his name? Do you know her?"

"No, I-"

"Why are you stalking my husband?"

"Stalking? We were told to come here. We would rather be with someone else right now."

"We? Who else is with you?"

Alcina looked up at the spinning gears above her head. "We are here alone. It is just us."

The fear in the woman's eyes started to disappear. "See? It's just someone who broke out of a mental hospital."

"Are you the one called Alcina?" asked the man. His eyes widened as he took a few steps back.

"We are," Alcina answered.

"What? So you do know her?" said the woman.

"Kathy, please. Don't instigate her, it's dangerous. Stay calm."

"It's just a mental patient."

He slowly moved both of his hands in front of him. "No! You don't get it. That's not a patient. That is what we think is the most dangerous person in this city. Please go in to the room. She seems to be after me."

"You can't tell me what to do," she snapped back at him.

"Do you want to be free of life?" Alcina asked again.

"I don't understand what that means. Kathy, please go to the bedroom. Please. I'm begging you."

"I don't believe you." Kathy set down her empty wine glass on the counter next to her. "I'm not going anywhere. She seems to know you, and you seem to be covering for her. You clearly don't want me to know anything about her."

"I swear to god I'm telling the truth. I need you to hide, now."

"I think you are cheating on me."

"What the fuck? Do you not understand the situation we are in? We basically have guns pointed at us, and you are accusing me of cheating?"

"I think you are staging this to run off without the divorce settlement."

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"Why would I- No. Why are you not trusting me?"

"You obviously don't care about me enough. So you must be thinking about divorce, right?"

"Just go to the room!"

"Not even going to answer me? Hey, girl, how much money did he promise to give you? Three million?"

"We are not here for money."

"So you are here for love? Oh so sweet, this good-for-nothing past his prime has wooed a barely legal girl. I bet that's just his type, the young ones. I was about that age when we met."

"We were in college! Kathy! I'm not like that!"

"So why don't you take care of me then? Why don't you take care of me like you used to?"

"I do! I haven't stopped supporting you!"

Kathy pushed Richard, causing him to tumble backward into some cabinets. He smacked the back of his head with a thud. He stood back up, rubbing the back of his head with a grimace.

"I don't have nearly as much spending money as I used to! Where's it going Rich? Huh? Is it to her?"

"Stop it, you're getting hysterical."

"Hysterical?! How dare you say that to me.

"Emotional! I meant emotional!"

"I'm tired of this!" Kathy grabbed a knife from the counter, pulling it out of it's holder. "Get out of my house!" She pointed it at Richard.

"Kathy!"

Alcina stepped forward, touching down onto the carpet. She walked right between them. "Do not harm him."

"So you do care about him? I was right!"

"You called her a mental patient! Why do you think I'm cheating with a mental patient?"

"You're saying you prefer that over me? That thing?" Kathy haphazardly threw the knife at him.

Alcina caught it with a tentacle, sprouting it out in front of them, now easily visible in the light. "We said do not harm him. You did not listen. You will not recieve another warning."

"That wouldn't have hurt him anyways. It was the flat side, obviously." She leaned against the counter and went to pour more wine into her glass.

"Kathy, what happened? Why are you being like this? Is it about the money? I told you. We have to pay back the loans I've taken out over the years. If we don't the interest amount will build up past our income."

"How am I supposed to believe you? There's this young woman standing between us right now!"

"I don't know how to explain that other than the truth, and that's that this is a very dangerous person. We shouldn't be having this argument now."

"Very dangerous, huh? Why are you still in my house? Get out!" Kathy first pointed at the door, then switched to the open hole in the wall.

"We cannot leave without him."

"Bullshit!" Kathy threw her wine glass from the counter at Alcina.

It shattered against her arm, cutting slightly into the back of her hand. "We do not appreciate you attacking us. Please do not do so."

"That was dangerous!" Richard yelled, a thin line of blood forming on his cheek.

"Oh," said Alcina. She walked towards Kathy. "You have already received your warning."

"No! Don't hurt her!"

Alcina touched the woman. Like the wall before, she just dissolved into a white powder, disappearing into the air. In a moment she was gone.

"Kathy..."

"Do you want to be free of life?" Alcina asked a third time.

"I have nothing left. I don't... know."

"Drink this." Alcina held out her hand, blood dripping down from the cut on the back of it.

"What will this do?"

"We will take your pain for you. You'll become one of us."

"Fine."

Alcina shoved the back of her hand into his mouth. As she did so, a connection opened between their minds. Thoughts of suicide, depression, and rejection flowed into her, like drops into the bucket of negativity she held onto. The man's memories, powers, his everything, melded into the whole. Fragments of his personality broke off, swirling in to the others, and then it stopped.

He smiled, knowing someone understood everything he needed.

Alcina disappeared into a puff of smoke as dozens of lights fell like snow to the giant hole in the wall. As each flake landed, it stopped glowing, turning back into the wall. As the hole grew smaller, the smoke flew out of the wall, as though sucked out, and once it closed, the lights flickered back on.

Images of Richard's building flashed into his mind from the outside, as the next target went through his mind for just a second. He didn't take much notice, and instead went back to his bedroom, where he slept alone.

***

Cyrus spun around in his chair. The morning sun shone brightly on one of the screens behind him as a few people shuffled in to their building. He looked at the two sitting across from him, Ira and Alcina.

"You both completed your mission without incident?"

"Yes," said Ira while Alcina nodded. "Ricardo is in a position to take control of District 13. With just a few men as initial support, he should have the whole district in his control within three weeks."

"And the targets I assigned to you, Alcina?"

"They have all been procured. We now have access to the IMB's tracking of Joseph Mendele, as well as valuable positions for infiltration."

"Do you have enough info to go after him soon?"

"They have not narrowed down an exact position, but they estimate his position being in District 12. We understand the importance and will go after him immediately."

"Thank you two for your reports, you can go."

Alcina stood up, while Ira stayed seated. She looked across at her for a moment.

"I have something else to talk to him about. Don't worry about me."

Alcina left.

"Now, Cyrus." Ira sent out her wind, silencing the room. "I don't think having her take control of Joseph or whatever is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"If her power works in the way I'm thinking it does. We could see drastic changes to her personality, which would be like giving Joseph all her extra powers. It's not a good idea."

"I don't have a bad feeling about it. I don't think that will happen."

"If not. It will certainly affect her though. It's like, she changes towards everyone she bonds with. I don't think we should be destroying her future for-"

"It's important that we don't risk Joseph ruining our plans. He is an essential piece, but he is too hard to control. It's a risk towards Alcina's future that we need to take."

"I really don't think-"

"That's enough Ira. You are going soft. We can't afford the risk. If I had a feeling that it would be good not to, I would do so. You know this."

"Fine. What's your progress with Randy?"

"He's breaking. Slowly. He won't give in until he needs to use it as a bargaining chip, but that was expected. The real question is how can we get his nephews captured again. It really is a shame that Joseph happened."