Solomon’s eyes open wide, even Genesis feels a sense of shock from what she can tell.

“What?” She manages to say.

“I’ve seen what you can do.” Ludwig says with a smirk. “I merely need you to do it again.”

“I told you, that wasn’t me!” Solomon shakes her head. “It was Ge… Him.” She holds up her hands to show the wolf her markings.

“I don’t care how you do it, or who does it, I need them gone.” Says Ludwig. “We have a deal, remember?”

“Sure, we do.”

“I need you not to walk back on our deal then. I’ll do it, but remember, I could do it to this building as well.” She responds.

Rather than angry, Ludwig looks amused.

“There won’t be a need for that. I’m a man of my word, after all.”

The hatred inside Genesis grows more intense.

“How am I even going to get to Spain in the first place?” She inquires.

“Private planes, Solomon.” Ludwig replies with a toothy smile as he pulls out a photo from a desk drawer. It depicts a plane. “I will grant you half a dozen guards for protection. You may also bring a higher-up for help. Who will it be?”

Solomon rubs her temples, not taking the news well. she didn’t think she’d need to do it so soon.

“Okay, I need to consult with him first, hold on.” Says Solomon.

“Who is “him”?” Asks the wolf.

Solomon frowns and holds up her hands, their backs facing Ludwig. He nods in understanding.

“Right. You can do that?” He asks with an inquisitive look.

Solomon turns to the side and looks at her hands.

“Alright. I’ll say the name, you show me how you feel about the person. I’ll likely need you. I’ll need to know for sure that you can help.” She feels a sense of calm from Genesis. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Ludwig eyes her, confused, or perhaps concerned.

Solomon wants to make sure that whoever she brings will survive. Or at least won’t be missed too much if they do die. “Let’s see, who do we like the least…”

“Shaquia.” She feels no strong sensation from, other than mild anger, which she finds strange. “Benedict.” Irritation. “Andreas.” Intrigue. “Stefano.” Regret. She then glances at the wolf. “Ludwig.” Intense hatred. The silver wolf himself seems quite unamused from her suggestion.

She considers one last option. “Sheila.” The hatred remains, but it feels different. Like it isn’t the person he hates, but something about her. Solomon guesses that he won’t mind if the lioness happens to go missing in action.

“Alright then, Genesis.” She says with a smirk.

“Genesis?” Ludwig asks in bewilderment.

Solomon turns to face him, a sense of disappointment coming from the original Acid One.

“What? I gave him a name. We both think it’s better if he does have a name.” She feels a sense of satisfaction from Genesis.

Ludwig shrugs, trying to dismiss it as best as he can.

“I’m not the one going through what you’re going through… But let’s just say that I’d handle things differently. Anyway, here’s the plan…”

Ludwig’s plan is rather simple. They go to Spain, meet Antonio and the agents currently making sure that he doesn’t go and inform the cult of their plan, he leads them there, the rest of them do the dirty work.

He urges Solomon to stand up.

“Meet me tomorrow in the main building. And do inform Sheila that you intend to bring her.”

Solomon nods in response.

“Do not disappoint me, but if you must, do not die.” He says with a cold expression.

“I’ll try.” Says the cat with a sense of nervousness from Genesis.

She leaves the wolf’s office, her hands start to tingle.

“No.” The tingling stops.

Solomon is less than happy with the wolf’s plan being realised so soon, but there’s nothing she can do about it now. She considers this whole situation a case of astronomical misfortune, the sheer odds of Antonio being connected to the cult…

She looks around the main building and spots Sheila sitting on a cushioned chair, pouting. She walks over to her and sits down on another, empty chair close to her.

“So…” She starts, trying her best to speak in a friendly tone.

“Go away.” Sheila says in response.

“But I have something very important to talk to you about!” Solomon exclaims, which seems to get the one-eyed lioness’ attention.

“What is it?” She asks with a scowl.

“I’m going to Spain tomorrow to take out a cult.” She informs Sheila.

“Wow, great. And why should I care?” The lioness no longer seems interested.

“Because I’m taking you with me.” Says the cat, perfectly calmly.

“You have to be joking.” Says Sheila, raising her voice.

“Ludwig’s orders.” Solomon lies. “Can’t argue with him, now can we?” She feels that Genesis is delighted with what she said. Sheila growls and makes her hands into fists.

“I swear…” She glances at Solomon with a look of disdain. “Of all the people who work here… Why did it have to be you?”

“You might want to share what happened at Lion’s Den.” Solomon shrugs.

After a few moments, Sheila relaxes and points to her eyepatch.

“This.” That is all she says regarding the topic.

“Can’t you just have that fixed by Bright Ones?” Asks the cat.

“That’s what I would have done tomorrow. Looks like that’s off the table now.” She crosses her arms and leans back in the chair.

“How’d that happen in the first place?” Solomon inquires.

“You’re asking an awful lot of questions, you know?” Sheila scoffs. “If it wasn’t for your colleagues, we’d still have one of our best fronts operational.”

Solomon feels a little sympathy for the lioness, which Genesis doesn’t seem to approve of. She has to wonder why.

“I’ll go talk to the old man. Tomorrow, we’ll team up for this. And only for this. Got it?” Sheila asks, sounding much more professional.

Solomon nods.

“Good. now go, say goodbye or whatever.” Sheila stands up and walks into Ludwig’s office.

Solomon isn’t exactly excited about the prospect as a whole. However, she is finally free to roam the facility, it would be foolish not to take advantage of that.

She goes to find a pen and paper, then goes to her room and begins writing a letter, detailing her plan. She feels her hands tingle, which she ignores. She adds an important note at the end of it, but scribbles it out. “No… Not like this. It should be sweet, not bitter.” Surely, the concierge would monitor her letters specifically. For the time being, she leaves it in the nightstand drawer. It’s not the most responsible thing to do, but no one has come in to search her room thus far.

She hears a knock at her door, then goes to open it. Standing in her doorway is Shaquia, looking as if she’s happy to see her mostly well.

“Oh hey Shaquia.” She greets her.

“So you finally woke up, huh? And now you’re going to Spain?” The lynx asks abruptly, giving but a nod in response to her greeting. “Rumours sure spread quickly here.”

“Yeah. Going with Sheila.” She states, rubbing the back of her head. “Wish me luck, I guess.” She shrugs.

“I was sure you were going to take me in case we found a lead.” Shaquia says with a sigh of relief. “Thanks for not doing that. I’m not too keen on action if I can help it.”

Solomon sympathises with her, understanding the lynx’s not wanting to use her power for destruction.

“I’ll keep that in mind for future missions.” She says with a smile.

“Even though I have no intention of going on future missions. I’ll figure it out somehow…”

“Good luck out there.” The lynx chuckles in response. “Come back alive.” Having said that, she turns to leave.

“You better be in one piece when I’m back!” Solomon says as she steps out of the room and waves to Shaquia.

“No promises!” She walks to the lifts and goes to the sixth floor. If there is someone in The System Solomon might miss, it’s definitely the snow lynx. Though the more she thinks about it, the more she feels like the bigger problem with the org is Ludwig. “I can only imagine what it would be like without him.”

After that, she goes back inside her room and prepares to go to sleep. She has a long day ahead of her, she’ll need to be well rested.

At night, Solomon has the best sleep she’s had in years. No figure chasing or looking at her, for the first time in a long while, she has regular dreams. No desert, no barren landscape. In the morning, she feels like an entirely different person. “Maybe that handshake wasn’t such a bad idea.”

She gets ready for the journey ahead and goes down to the main hall. Ludwig is already there.

“Solomon!” He says with a jovial smile, which Solomon finds all too unnatural on him. She waves without saying anything.

“You’re early, the agents haven’t even arrived yet.” He states.

The cat really wishes to just be done with this.

“Wonderful.” She says without much enthusiasm in her voice. She looks to the entrance of the warehouse with a slight shudder, though she can’t help being curious. “Mind if I have a look in there while I wait?”

The wolf laughs.

“As long as you don’t repeat what happened.” Solomon doesn’t find his remark particularly funny. Neither does Genesis, apparently.

“Alright.” She responds with a slight frown. She’s beginning to find the wolf’s overconfidence in her rather annoying, but somewhat justified.

She walks over to the warehouse, where a different guard reluctantly lets her in. Even from the entrance, she can see the edge of the construction zone. She walks closer to it and sees that the once roughly twenty-metre deep hole is now only around ten metres deep. “They work fast here.” It feels uncomfortable for the both of them to look at the destruction they caused, Solomon concludes that Genesis isn’t too excited to be here. She turns to leave when her right hand begins to tingle.

“Oh come on…” She exclaims, looking at her hand. “How come he isn’t just flat out taking over in the first place? What could he possibly want?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Solomon looks around to check if there’s anyone nearby. Not within earshot if she whispers. She brings her hand closer to her mouth.

“Listen… If you cause any trouble…” She realises that there isn’t much she could do if that were to happen. “Just don’t make me regret this.” She says and finally relents…

Genesis takes over her right hand, bending and stretching each of her fingers, as if getting a good feel for them. He sticks out her index finger and points slightly up at an intact shelf. Solomon follows with her gaze and spots the edge of something red hanging off of the shelf.

“I see it.” She says and regains control of her hand with surprising ease.

She walks over to where he was pointing her hand, climbs onto a box and takes the red object off the shelf after another quick look around.

The red object is none other than her phone case, with her phone inside. Elated, she looks at her hand.

“How’d you even see that?” She senses that Genesis feels flattered. She then gives her hand a questioning look. “How come you’re helping me?” The sensation is replaced with a feeling of slight disappointment. “Alright, alright. I guess I’ll trust you a little more with that from now on. Until you pull something like that again.” She glances towards the giant hole in the warehouse towards the end. Genesis feels satisfied with her answer.

Solomon presses the power button and miraculously, it turns on. “At least the battery works as advertised.” Her happiness doesn’t last long however. She can just barely manage to read the pop-ups of several missed calls and unread messages, and most importantly, that the battery is at one percent.

She unlocks it in the hopes that she can send even just one message to someone, but it soon goes dark and doesn’t turn on again. Solomon hides her anger and pockets the phone.

“Now that I think about it…” She says to Genesis, looking at her hand. “How’d you even recognise it in the first place?” She really wishes there was a way for him to respond in a way that isn’t just emotions.

She pauses for just a moment.

“There is a way!” She says, hoping she has enough time to get another pen and paper. She also hopes that he can write with someone else’s hand. With that, she remembers that she is yet to have the letter delivered.

“Solomon!” Says the voice of Ludwig coming from the entrance. “The rest of the team arrived. Come.”

“The letter… How am I going to get it to them?”

Solomon feels more than a little annoyed at that, a feeling she shares with Genesis. “I’ll try to have you tell me your story, just you wait.”

She goes out into the main hall where the six agents and Sheila wait for her. She thinks that the lioness’ scowl is just a little less hostile today.

Ludwig gathers them around and explains the plan as they leave the building. For the first time in over a week, Solomon feels sunlight on her body… Or at least she would if it wasn’t so overcast.

Sheila doesn’t look too excited, but Solomon guesses that this time, it isn’t about her.

They go to a nearby private facility dedicated entirely for planes to take off and land. “Who even finances these guys?”

Solomon and the rest of the team then board the plane she saw in that photo. With one last toothy smile and a rather ominous wave, at least in Solomon’s opinion, the plane takes off.

“Not that I have anything against her, but would you let us in on why you brought her?” Adelar asks while in a car with his employees and Thalia.

“Absolutely not.” Lisa says in response, sitting at the driver’s seat. “Proper good that we brought her though. Trust me on that.”

“Are you sure you can tell if she’s there?” Yaroslav asks in a concerned tone.

“I can tell if she even was there.” The wolf responds, taking a sharp turn, which makes Thalia yelp in surprise.

“Picking up on her scent shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve gotten to know it well by now.” Says the wolf, parking the car in a lot not far from the destination she put into the GPS. They get out of the vehicle and look towards the massive, imposing building. “Von Leue Finances” reads in large letters above what is presumably the entrance.

“This is the place then.” Says Durazo.

“It’s where her location was last updated.” Says Lisa, checking her phone. She looks at Adelar and can tell that he doesn’t like it one bit.

“If she’s really here… We better be quick.” The eagle states, glaring at the building.

“Stay here for the time being. I’ll tell ya if things ain’t lookin’ so good.” Lisa says to Thalia, who is still in the car, with a smirk. “Then you come in and save our arses. Sounds good, yeah?”

Thalia nods with a grin. Lisa then walks over to the rest of the group.

“How is she supposed to save us alone?” Durazo questions with a sceptical look.

“She could, trust me, mate.” The wolf reassures him.

Led by Adelar, the four approach the building. Getting closer, the sheer size of it really sets in. Multiple segments and few windows, whatever they keep in there, they surely want it inside, a secret from the outside world.

They walk through the front door, now at the concierge, people in fancy suits all around, discussing various financial matters.

Lisa sniffs the air and whispers to Adelar. “It’s a bit faint, but I can tell she was here at some point. Can’t have spent too long here though.”

The eagle looks towards the concierge, who takes a good look at them and says something into a radio. He leads them farther in, a snow lynx blocks their entrance to the main part of the building.

“I don’t believe you’re authorised to come in here.” She states coldly, her voice sounds bored.

“I believe we are.” Adelar responds, the lynx looks downright offended at hearing that. “Tell your boss that Johannes Adelar wants to speak with him.” He says with a grim look.

The lynx rolls her eyes and closes the door. Before anyone in his entourage could say something, Adelar holds up a finger, signalling for them to stay quiet. The others glance at each other and him, not sure what to expect. Not a minute later, the lynx opens the door and gestured to them to come in. Adelar leads them in with a satisfied grin, which turns to a frown soon after. If the building looked impressive from the outside, then it certainly looks so from the inside.

The lynx closes the door and follows them from a good distance behind.

“I can confirm.” Lisa whispers to the eagle. “She was here. Must have spent the whole week in this place.”

Adelar’s eyes are drawn towards the person standing in the middle of the hall, none other than the silver wolf, Ludwig, whom Adelar eyes with disdain.

“You have a lot of nerve waltzing in here.” Ludwig says to the eagle with a similarly hateful look.

“You have a lot of nerve kidnapping my employee.” Adelar retorts.

Yaroslav bares his teeth at the silver wolf, but he doesn’t seem to care.

“Now that’s quite the accusation.” He states, curling his fingers into fists with a low growl. “We could settle this right here and now, Johannes. If only you stopped being a…” He lifts one finger up to his chin, as if deep in thought. “Coward.” He shrugs with a smirk.

Lisa can all but see the anger in Adelar. They can’t get too confrontational, not now.

“Say, guv’nor.” She says, casually stepping forward, much to the surprise of both parties. Her expression is much more agreeable than that of the others. “Between you and me, one wolf to another…” She opens her arms slightly, cane in her right hand. “Our friend’s last location happens to be this building. Ol’ birdie over here…” She points her cane at Adelar. “Claims that you took ‘er.”

The silver wolf looks at her with furrowed brows.

“Now, if you just let us have a li’l look around…” She continues. “You know, to make sure you didn’t, then we could leave like we were never even here!”

The silver wolf laughs, which turns into more of a holler by the end.

“You know what?” He puts a hand on her shoulder. “Go ahead.” He then looks at Adelar, who looks as if he is questioning whose side Lisa is on.

“Father, Yaro, come with me. In case anyone gets any ideas.” She gestures over to the bear and the canine while giving a side-eye look to a nearby employee. The two follow her to the lifts.

The silver wolf keeps laughing, which abruptly stops. He walks closer to Adelar. If looks could kill, both of them would be dead.

“I have to admit, you trained them well.” Says the silver wolf. “Not the ragtag team of bandits I expected. Then again, such a team could never hope to take down one of my fronts like that.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed that you would go so far as to be a part of an organisation like this, let alone the head of it… Ludwig von Leue.” Adelar shoots a cold glance at Ludwig. The silver wolf merely smiles a wide smirk in response.

“We were supposed to be partners.” Adelar continues, looking around the building. “Must have cost a pretty penny.”

“I’d call it an investment.” Ludwig chuckles in response. “For me, it paid off. For you…” He smiles a toothy grin at the eagle.

“Quite the building you had built.” Adelar ignores the remark and continues looking around, deliberately avoiding looking at Ludwig. “I would call it remarkable if it was run by anyone other than you.”

“Lion’s Den was my best front.” Ludwig interjects. “Besides this, of course. Eleven dead, including a good friend of mine…” His smile turns to a scowl. “I always thought you were a coward, but coming in here with the perpetrators after pulling such a stunt…”

Likely feeling the tensions rising, the lynx walks over to them, just in case. Adelar can almost feel the magical energy radiate from her.

“And you started dealing in magic? How could you stoop so low?” Adelar scoffs, which is met with a chuckle from Ludwig.

“Come now, Johannes.” The silver wolf shakes his head. “After all these years, you still don’t know me nearly as well as you think.” His body then begins to shine with a metallic sheen all over, Adelar tries to hide his astonishment. “It’s a gift, meant to be used.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t sell you to the highest bidder yet.” Adelar says to the lynx, who doesn’t say anything at his remark.

Ludwig erupts in laughter.

“My friend…” He pauses to step even closer, rubbing his forehead. “You don’t seriously think I would do that, now would you?”

“I think you could do much worse.” Adelar retorts, which seems to irritate Ludwig.

“Money can’t buy magic.” Ludwig reaches out to jovially grab the eagle’s shoulder, only for him to quickly step aside. The lynx raises an arm in Adelar’s direction, Ludwig gestures for her to stop, which she does.

“Money shouldn’t be able to buy magic.” Ludwig goes on, albeit with a frown. “The things people would use it for… I founded this organisation to keep Mystic Ones out of the public eye.” His expression turns downright morose. “Who’s to say they don’t already know? That they aren’t already monetising it?”

“I’m glad there are still things we can agree on, after all this time.” Adelar says calmly, rolling up his sleeves. The silver wolf doesn’t look impressed.

“And that’s despite all the problems you’ve caused me over the years, inadvertently or not.” Ludwig looks Adelar in the eye, then relaxes. “Lucky for you, money can fix all of them.” He smiles widely and puts his hands behind his back.

“What did you do to my employee?” Adelar asks coldly.

Ludwig practically jumps at the eagle, stopping right in front of him, his silver eyes looking at Adelar with a burning fury. The eagle’s markings glow a brilliant orange, practically aflame.

“Here’s your chance, Johannes, show me that you’re willing to take risks.” Ludwig says through growls.

They stare each other down as some of the workers stop to look. Ones that don’t have such morbid curiosity go into various rooms to hide from the possibility of an imminent fight.

“Right, mates!” Lisa shouts, breaking the tension. She gets the attention of just about everyone as she exits a lift with Yaroslav and Durazo. Ludwig and Adelar power down their magic as they turn to look at her, the tapping of her cane on the floor echoing throughout the hall.

“Can confirm, she ain’t here.” She states when she and her colleagues get a little closer to them.

“W-WHAT?!” Adelar exclaims as Ludwig laughs heartily.

“Wrong address mates, my bad.” Lisa says apologetically and turns to face Ludwig. “Apologies for botherin’ ya, good sir!” She tips her hat. “We’re leavin’.”

“But what about the…” Adelar looks at her in disbelief, rolling down his sleeves.

“I said we’re leavin’.” Lisa puts the handle of her cane at his neck and starts dragging him to the door they used to enter. After a short struggle, Adelar breaks free and looks at Yaroslav. “You heard her.” Is all the bear tells him.

He then glances at Ludwig, who is giving him a mocking grin.

“Is it wise to let them leave, sir?” The lynx asks.

“Let them. This is much better.” He says, looking thoroughly entertained. “So much better. So much more amusing.”

Durazo puts a hand on Adelar’s shoulder, his eyes pleading to leave. He relents and with a grunt of anger as he turns to leave, feeling thoroughly humiliated.

Outside the building, he berates Lisa.

“What was that, Lisa?! Do you have any idea…” The wolf hardly pays attention to him, in fact, she shushes him with one finger.

“I’d keep quiet if I were you.” Says Yaroslav. “Solomon really isn’t in there.”

Adelar somehow finds it easier to believe him than Lisa.

“What he said.” Says Durazo.

“Hey Thali.” The wolf speaks into her phone. “You’ll be driving’, hope ya don’t mind.” A response is heard from the panther, but Adelar doesn’t hear it.

At the car, Adelar gets in next to Thalia, the other three sit in the back.

“That didn’t take too long.” Thalia remarks as the eagle shakes his head.

“You’re telling me…” The eagle yells out. “That we came all the way here for nothing?” He turns around to face Lisa.

“Fuck no.” Says the wolf. “Solomon was here, alright? But she ain’t now.” She puts a hand in her right pocket.

“How can you be so sure?” Adelar questions, intrigued.

Lisa pulls out a folded piece of paper from her pocket.

“‘Ere's how.” She unfolds the paper, the other two in the back take a peek. “This is her handwriting. It was in a drawer in a room where she must have spent most of her time. Scent’s real fresh too, she must have written it recently.”

Thalia turns as well, all five of them have various looks of glee.

“Lisa, I’m sorry for…” Adelar begins to say, his expression turning regretful.

“S’alright, I was bein’ a bit daft back there.” Says the wolf. “Now shut up, let me read it to you lot as well.”

Thalia starts the car and begins driving away, so as to not raise any suspicions.

“To anyone who may find this letter,” Lisa starts to read out loud. “I, Roxanne Solomon, have been sent to eradicate a cult in Spain by Ludwig von Leue.”

“A cult?” Durazo cuts in, which Lisa doesn’t take kindly to.

“I may not be the Lord, but you should still listen, Father.” She responds, turning to give him an annoyed look. “No offence.”

Durazo apologises.

“Good lad.” The wolf then continues reading. “I don’t trust my chances. They believe that my acid powers and some other people are enough to do that. I intend to fake my death and escape, although I don’t know how yet. There are five people in Britain who I would trust with my life, they know who they are. If this letter were to arrive at its intended location, one of you, then I beg of you, come and find me.” In the rear view mirror, Thalia sees a tear roll down Lisa’s cheek. “Despite my situation, I don’t want the secrets of magic to leak. I will be led to the base of operations of the Lightborn cult by a man named Antonio Alvarez, who is involved with them. I currently don’t know where it is exactly. I have no intention of going back to that organisation, which goes by the name “The System”. If you are reading this and I am dead, please notify my family.” Lisa stops reading. The car falls silent. “There’s one more sentence, but it’s scribbled out so much, I’ve not a clue what it says.” She adds and puts the letter away.

No one says anything for a few, long moments.

“Antonio…” Durazo says in a sullen tone. “Why, Antonio? You were always misguided, but this…” He leans against the car door and sighs deeply.

“That bastard…” Says Adelar, clenching his fist. “Is that all she’s worth to you?!”

Thalia can see that Lisa is struggling to hold back her emotions as she checks her phone. Yaroslav stays silent and puts a hand on Lisa's shoulder.

“Step on it, Thali.” Says the wolf, the panther looks back at her in the rear view mirror.

“Where to?” She asks.

“To the airport, of course. We’re gettin’ Solomon back, mates.”