Kayde, Lunette, and Gwendolyn stand amidst a sea of people, still stunned by the declaration of war against them from an entire empire. Kayde sees the shock on the others’ faces.
“So what? We’re up against a new set of old dudes? Nothing we can’t handle,” he brushes it off, trying to project confidence in such a dismal scenario.
“So another round of assassinations?” Lunette asks in a hushed tone, making sure not to be heard over the sounds of those around them.
“Yeah, eventually… but first we need to get whoever it is we want to take over in place first, or else more guys like them will keep coming out of the woodwork,” Kayde agrees, the planning helping him keep his mind off of what just happened.
“We do have a list of possible candidates don’t we? Maybe, instead of killing them, we might vet them first. Who knows, there might be a good egg in the bunch; I mean, look at Xander,” Kayde suggests, knowing they must be in at least some position of power if they have those abilities.
“And we can bring them back to the lab to question them,” Lunette chimes in, eager to contribute to the plan.
“Sounds good,” Kayde shoots her a grin.
“I know a place we can start,” Gwendolyn tells them with a determination present in her voice that catches the other two off guard.
Gwendolyn leads them wordlessly to Juliana’s house, making sure to stay a distance away before pointing it out to the others, “The one that betrayed Xander, she lives there”.
“You two wait in the alleyway over there, I’ll go in and grab her,” Kayde pushes the others towards the alley, making sure to dip a needle in the jar of knockout liquid that Lunette gave him, before going invisible to make his approach.
Kayde sneaks up along the side of the house, entering through an open window. The second he gets his footing he realizes he isn’t going to find her. The entire house is devoid of furniture, the walls bare, making it seem like no one ever lived there.
He continues to investigate, trying to find a clue of where she might have ended up. He finds nothing on the ground floor, except stairs leading down to a cellar. He descends them, remaining cautious despite being invisible.
At the bottom, in the middle of the room, he sees a patch of still wet concrete, slowly hardening to cover up whatever lies beneath. Kayde pulls out his knife and starts to scrape away at it. The sticky substance catches on his knife, starting to harden along it as he continues to dig into the mess.
Finally, he unearths a handle, which he strains to pull up on. A door slowly gives way, the concrete that used to be atop it is now oozing down around the opening. He grabs a hold of a ladder leading down, curious to know what they were so intent on covering up.
He finds himself in a long dark hallway, with no end in sight. Instead of investigating further, he decides to report back to Lunette and Gwendolyn about his findings.
Kayde, still invisible, walks directly behind the two women who are peering intently at the house he was just in. He puts a hand on each of their shoulders before reappearing behind them.
He feels their bodies flinch, on guard due to the declaration of war they had just affirmed against them. “Don’t do that!” Gwendolyn spits at him, not appreciating the prank.
“So… she doesn’t live there anymore. Whole house is empty, except this secret door in the basement that leads into a long dark hallway. Could be some sort of secret Purity hideout or something,” Kayde lets them in on what he found.
“We need to go down there. How about this, Kayde you go first and scout ahead while invisible. Xander could be down there so we need to check it out,” Gwendolyn gets up, striding towards the house without a hint of hesitation as if they are going to go through with her plan.
Kayde sighs, “I knew you would say that; it could be a trap... or a lot of fun... or both”.
They feel a hand grasp at each of their wrists.
“Don’t,” Lunette tells them.
“This is a horrible idea. We should be waiting for one of them to show themselves in the city, not walking straight into the lion’s den,” she attempts to talk sense into the two of them.
Gwendolyn tugs back against Lunette, freeing her wrist, “I don’t care what you think! If there is even a chance that Xander is down there I can’t just wait”.
“It’s the wrong decision, I don’t need you putting others at risk because you rush headlong into things too hastily,” Lunette doesn’t back down.
“Since when do you care? It wasn’t your name that the king labeled as the ring leader that everyone is hunting, it was mine. Drakthar’s too. Did you even stop to think about how worried I am right now? They know exactly who I am Lunette! They could send people after my family! I know I am putting other people in danger. I just want to fix everything before it gets worse. So I’m going in there. I don’t need you to follow me, I’ll do it myself if I have to,” Gwendolyn continues forward, determined to see this through.
“That’s a shame,” Lunette draws the needle she lifted off Kayde’s pouch, poking Gwendolyn with it before she has a chance to run away.
Kayde grabs a hold of Gwendolyn before her body falling to the ground creates a scene of some sort.
“Why did you do that?” He asks, not too happy about what just happened.
“You're smarter than this, going down that tunnel is suicidal. Let’s just search the city for now,” Lunette sets him straight.
“Okay, fine… but let’s drop her off at the inn first,” Kayde motions towards the incapacitated Gwendolyn in his arms.
After dropping Gwendolyn off, Kayde and Lunette go to a tavern. An odd place to find a priest, but without any other knowledge it is as good a place as any.
“I’ve got all of their faces memorized. If one of them shows up, even out of their robes, I’ll be able to spot them,” Kayde assures Lunette, confident in his abilities.
“So I take it you already noticed him in the corner right?” Lunette asks, having already spotted one, only looking at the papers once herself.
Kayde makes sure to be subtle when he looks over.
“Yeah, of course, I did,” he lies, taken aback by how good Lunette’s memory is.
“His name is Dunstan, we should just wait until he leaves and then ambush him,” Kayde lays out the plan.
They blend in with the others in the bar until Dunstan finally decides to leave.
“See you later sweetie,” Kayde tells Lunette, trying to make it look natural to any who are keeping a closer eye on them. Lunette waves back at him, going along with the charade.
Kayde turns out of sight around the side of the tavern immediately after leaving and becomes invisible. Dunstan begins walking amongst the evening crowd, everyone making their way home after drinking and gossiping about the changes to the empire that were announced to them earlier in the day.
Kayde makes sure to keep his distance, waiting for a moment when Dunstan will be isolated from those around him. His patience soon wears thin as the priest is only taking the most crowded streets home. Every second of their walk has been amidst dozens of people who would likely notice if a man walking near them suddenly collapsed.
Dunstan finally arrives at a house, casually pulling out his key to open the door. Kayde makes sure to squeeze in with him, Dunstan’s own home being a secluded place where he will have a chance.
Just as Dunstan relaxes upon his well-padded couch, Kayde pulls out the needle laced with Lunette’s chemical and injects it into his neck. Before Dunstan can reach up to discover what pricked him, he passes out, the potent agent making its way through his body.
Before lifting him, Kayde looks out of the back window, trying to see if it leads to an alleyway. He finds just the spot he needs, opening the window before going back to collect Dunstan.
Kayde drags the body to the window, hoisting it outside as carefully as he can. He grabs an arm, lifting with his legs to maximize his strength to get it over his shoulder. Unlike Drakthar, he can’t just casually throw people over his shoulder and carry them like a sack of potatoes.
It takes a few minutes of roaming through back alleys until Kayde feels a sense of relief upon finally finding a manhole to enter the sewers. Tying a rope around Dunstan’s waist, Kayde begins to lower him down before taking the ladder himself.
Knowing the sewers like the back of his hand after studying it for all those months stuck at Lunette’s, Kayde is easily able to navigate himself out of the city.
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Meanwhile, Lunette heads back to the inn to get Gwendolyn. She enters her room, finding Gwendolyn still unconscious from earlier. Lunette looks down at her for a second before starting to slap her face lightly to wake her up.
Gwendolyn rouses to consciousness from Lunette’s pestering.
As soon as Lunette notices she is up she informs her, “Hey, Kayde’s caught one. He is probably waiting outside the city for us right now”.
Gwendolyn gets out of bed, standing over the much smaller Lunette to emphasize all seven inches of their difference in height, before punching her across the face.
Lunette clutches her jaw as she listens to Gwendolyn berate her, “You do anything like that again and I won’t stop with a single punch. Now, I’m going back to that house”. She tries to storm past her, but Lunette stands in her way once again.
“No, look, you have no idea if that passage even leads to Xander; it’s like a big question mark. The captured priest isn’t. That is someone with concrete information we can question,” Lunette tries to get through Gwendolyn’s stubborn skull.
“Fine,” Gwendolyn finally relents, “But to be clear, I’m only agreeing to this because you would knock me out again if I didn’t”. Lunette relaxes her arm, pocketing the needle she had drawn and readied.
She smiles, “Great! Now come on, we don’t want to keep him waiting”.
Lunette makes one last stop in Kayde’s room, “Come on Fore, let’s go home”. Fore isn’t sure what she means, but follows along, not questioning the person who seems so friendly with Kayde, his best friend.
Kayde finally makes his way out of the sewers, finding Lunette, Fore, and a perturbed Gwendolyn waiting for him.
“Great, can one of you give me a hand?” Kayde lets the body down a bit before Gwendolyn goes over to help him carry the slightly corpulent priest.
They arrive back at Lunette’s lab in the dead of night, the sound of the door opening awakens both Drakthar and Kali, both light sleepers due to past experiences.
“You guys are back, and you brought a friend,” Kali notes, seeing Dunstan being carried by Kayde and Gwendolyn.
Dunstan is carried to the back room and put in a chair.
“Get any dangerous items out of the room, and put a sheet over the window so he can’t switch his way out of here,” Kayde orders, trying to prep the room for interrogation.
“Drakthar, you stand on the other side of the door in case he makes his way past us. Gwendolyn, you stand at the door to make it seem like you are the one guarding it. Kali you stay behind him; be ready to react if he tries anything funny,” Kayde continues, trying to cover every contingency so this doesn’t get screwed up.
“What about me?” Fore barks, having understood all of Kayde’s plans. “You get on the bed, if he tries to run rip his throat out,” Kayde explains, giving Fore the kind of job he would enjoy.
“And me?” Lunette asks, not being a part of any plans so far.
“Stay outside, I don’t want you seen or associated with us in case anyone knows you. I won’t have any of our decisions backfire on you,” Kayde tells her, concerned for her well being after all of this is over.
“Fine, but, for the record, you don’t need to worry about me,” Lunette exits the room, willing to follow Kayde’s plan.
They get the sheet off of Lunette’s bed and fix it to the wall, making sure it is thick enough so Dunstan can’t see through it. Finally, when he thinks they are ready, he smacks Dunstan on the arm a couple of times, abruptly ending his slumber.
Dunstan’s eyes flicker open, dazed from the effects of the knockout agent, and confused as to why he isn’t in his home. His eyes finally settle on Kayde, a scowl appearing on his face due to what he thinks is a cyborg standing before him.
“You’re Dunstan right?” Kayde asks, knowing the answer, but trying to establish some kind of rapport. Dunstan responds by spitting towards Kayde, the liquid landing on the floor before reaching his boots.
“I don’t have any words for an abomination like you,” he adds.
Kali steps in, knocking him in the head from behind.
“Shit, what the fuck?” Dunstan turns to see her standing behind him.
“You got a desert bitch too? Of fucking course,” Dunstan comments, not afraid to display his biases against outsiders.
“Hey, let’s focus now. We have some questions for you,” Kayde tries to get them back on track.
“I’m not answering, this bitch is going to need to punch harder than that if you want me to talk,” Dunstan remains steadfast in his silence.
Kali takes this as another opportunity to hit him, this time with everything she’s got. She feels his jaw start to crack slightly as the force of her punch pushes the entire chair over with him.
Dunstan spits out some blood and a couple of teeth onto the floor, “Bitch”.
“Is that the only word you can say?” Kali kicks him once while he is down.
“Is that the only word you know how to say?” She repeats while not kicking him.
“No, I know others, cu…”
“That’s enough, let’s get back on target here,” Kayde interrupts him, tilting his chair back up.
“So clearly you are a xenophobic maniac, and that’s fine. Doesn’t mean we can’t talk like civilized adults. Now, we have a couple of things that you just might be able to help us with…” Kayde stops his sentence when he notices Gwendolyn sitting in the chair instead of Dunstan.
“Oh come on,” Kayde turns around to see him already restrained by the waiting Drakthar on the other side of the door.
“Did you think we really wouldn’t have thought of that? I mean good on you for at least giving it a try, but don’t insult my intelligence like that,” Kayde makes him feel silly.
Drakthar enters the room, no longer needing to stand guard on the other side to protect against Dunstan’s ability. Kali helps Gwendolyn out of the chair and Drakthar slams Dunstan back in it.
“So, you guys have a friend of ours… his name is Xander, and we would really like him back. So where is he?” Kayde gets straight to the point, deciding this guy is too rotten to become king and only focusing on discovering Xander’s whereabouts.
Dunstan takes a look at the woman that was just occupying his chair and then at Drakthar.
“Hold on, I know who you guys are. You two, you’re the ones everyone is looking for… Oh, now isn’t this interesting, you’re that brat’s friends,” he realizes.
Drakthar grabs a hold of him once again, slamming him against the back wall. The wood begins to crack, not able to handle such force.
“Tell us where he is now!” Drakthar growls at him, Dunstan swears for a second that the man holding him off the ground is drooling.
“No,” he responds coldly, afraid, but not willing to give these curs anything. Drakthar gives Kayde a look, both of them knowing that they will never get anything out of this man. Kayde nods, giving Drakthar the go-ahead to end his life.
Drakthar doesn’t waste a second, snapping the man’s neck and letting the corpse fall to the ground. His eyes looking back up at them in defiance even in death.
“Well, that guy was a piece of work,” Kali notes, starting to heave the body outside.
Lunette sees the dead man being dragged outside, “You guys done? You figure out anything?”
“Not much,” Kayde is sorry to say.
“It’s fine, there are still seven left. We can head back into the city and look for another, but first, Drakthar, can you restrain Gwendolyn for me? I need to punch her across the face,” Lunette requests, starting to roll up her sleeve.
“No,” Drakthar doesn’t entertain the idea for a second, far more loyal to Gwendolyn than the woman who joined up with them most recently.
“Why the hell do you want him to do that?” Gwendolyn questions, oblivious to where this is coming from.
“Two things, first so I can punch you without dodging me, and second to prevent you from trying to go back to that city now that we are done with that guy,” Lunette points at Kali dragging Dunstan from the house.
Gwendolyn starts to lose her cool, “Who made you the boss anyway? I’ve led thousands into battle before and what have you done? Huh, the only things you’ve led is a few wolves?”
“Hey! Don’t go attacking wolves, especially not with Fore in the room!” Kayde takes offense to that.
“You know what I mean Kayde, we all love Fore, but you get what I mean,” Gwendolyn is more annoyed than anything that she has to deal with such retorts.
“What is she saying?” Fore asks Kayde having heard him say his name.
“She is saying that she loves you,” Kayde explains, leaving out the negative part.
“Tell her I love her too,” Fore notes before going over and rubbing up against Gwendolyn’s legs.
“Fore loves you too,” Kayde tells her.
Gwendolyn just rolls her eyes while Lunette is finally able to respond to the initial statement, “It’s only logical that the more level headed person be in charge, but anyway I don’t claim to be the boss here, but what I do know is that allowing you to go back to the city is a grave mistake”.
Kali re-enters the room after ditching the body for Lunette’s wolves to feast on, “I’m going to need a little context here”.
“We found a secret passageway underneath the old house of one of the priests. Gwendolyn wants to go down it, but before she could Lunette used the needle to knock her out,” Kayde fills her in on what is going on.
“We have no idea where that tunnel leads, it could lead to a bunch of enemies,” Lunette adds, trying to appeal to the others’ rationality.
“Or it could be where they are holding Xander... and even if it isn’t, it could lead us to more useful information,” Gwendolyn butts in, trying to justify her side of things.
Drakthar finally speaks up after considering both options, “I see, I’ll go down the tunnel with Gwendolyn”.
“Oh, hell no. Neither of you are going anywhere near that city, especially not that they are on such high alert for the two of you,” Lunette disagrees vehemently.
“What are you talking about?” Kali asks, having not been there for the king’s speech.
Kayde catches her and Drakthar up to speed on what they missed, letting them know all about the new king and his claims.
“I’m not worried,” Drakthar retorts, more than keen to check out that tunnel.
“No, Drakthar… I think she is right. You and Gwendolyn should stay here. It’s our best move for now, you two going down the tunnel… it’s too dangerous. I don’t want to lose my two best friends over it,” Kali lays a hand on his arm, passionately trying to plead for him to listen to Lunette.
“I understand you are worried, but even if I encounter the enemy, I will be victorious,” Drakthar pushes her arm off of him.
“Come on now, let’s just play it safe,” Kayde takes Lunette and Kali’s side.
“Fine, I’ll wait here with her,” Drakthar finally gives up.
“Great, now Kayde, Kali why don’t we head back to the city?” Lunette suggests, raring to wrangle up some more priests.
“Fore, make sure that those two don’t leave,” Kayde leans down and whispers to Fore before they head out.
“Yeah, okay,” Fore agrees, watching as Kayde, Lunette, and Kali as disappear into the night.
“I can’t believe you let that happen, that kooky scientist is such a bitch!” Gwendolyn kicks a chair in frustration before taking a seat on the couch.
“You think I’m going to let it end like that?” Drakthar responds, thinking Gwendolyn knew that they were going to sneak out the entire time.
A wide grin appears on her face realizing what he is saying, “I see we are on the same page here”.
“We wait half a day, then we go down that tunnel,” Drakthar decides, going against the groups’ wishes.