Merlynn exited her room roughly twenty-five minutes later holding in her hand a fab with a single button on it. She then gestured for everyone to gather around her, holding out the fab to show the trio. As Gloria began to ask what it was Merlynn pressed the button instantly teleporting them away. Merlynn and company arrived shortly thereafter in a pitch-black room. “Mom! Where are we?” Gloria called out into the void with a bit of worry. Suddenly Gloria let out a shrill scream as she felt something warm and damp brush against her. “WHATEVER YOU ARE ILL KILL YOU FOR THAT!” Gloria roared in embarrassment. Gloria’s breathing grew more rapid and hesitant as she reached out into the void unable to see the tips of her fingers. She grasped once and felt nothing, then frantically flailed trying to grab onto anything. “Mom!!!” Gloria called again to only hear the echo of her own voice. “I can’t… I can’t be…” Gloria’s voice quivered then broke into a terrified scream as Abbey ignited her fist into a golden flame shouting ‘Dead? ` in answer to Gloria’s question. The following scream that erupted from Gloria echoed throughout the Aether, noted in history books to be remembered.

After a few hearty laughs from Hiro, Abbey, and Merlynn they calmed Gloria down before questioning Merlynn. “So…just saying…Y’all a bunch of dicks.” Gloria scoffed as she leaned against a newly discovered wall lit from Abbey`s flame. “Anyways where are we exactly Lynn?” Abbey asked holstering her chuckles. “Why at Morgana’s lair of course.” Merlynn answered with a smug grin. “How!?” Gloria charged in snapping at them. “Seriously I thought you didn’t know where to look for auntie Morgan.” Gloria asked in steeped anger crossing her arms. “I didn’t know where she was specifically, Morgana has several buildings and businesses scattered all over town, to be honest I'm not even sure if she is still here.” Merlynn answered as she ran her hand along the fire lit wall. “Aha!” Merlynn cooed as she felt the familiar click of a light switch and suddenly a fluorescent light flickered into existence casting a dull sterile light onto the room. Then another light further ahead made an audible clang flickering on as well, then the next further down the hall till it turned.

“This looks like an office building…but where is everyone, it’s like a ghost town in here.” Gloria asked in surprise stepping around the corner looking down the now lit hall. The room the four of them stood in was a messy office cubicle attached to a open hall with more cubicles crammed together in a row. Everything you would expect to find in an average overworked, pencil pusher’s second home. Half drank cold coffee, crusted with sugar and creamer on its rim, cheap pens scattered everywhere all missing their caps, and enough sticky notes to make a large paper mâché unicorn all haphazardly placed in a chaotic ADHD assortment. “This doesn’t feel like Auntie Morgan to me.” Gloria thought aloud as she processed her surroundings. Merlynn walked beside her picking up a half crumpled sticky note and unfolded it. The note read, “Test subject D-105 final run 12/23/2019.” Merlynn dropped the note on the desk scratching her chin in thought. “This sounds like Morgana though. Also, Gloria, to answer your question.” Merlynn spoke aloud then faced Gloria.

“I performed a reverse tracking spell using a sample I collected from Hiro after he fell asleep in my lab. Since y’all were determined to go find her I threw together what I needed then found Morgana’s last known location, least that Hiro’s memory could recall. Then I slapped an enchantment on this bad boy here to function as a catalyst for the spell. In under thirty minutes I might add.”

Merlynn brimmed in pride showing off the fab. “Wow that’s cool! I figured magic wouldn’t mix well with technology especially small electronics.” Abbey commented in appreciation of the feat. “Well, it depends on the delicacy of the item itself. This fab is simple and only works once due to its limitations. With even more delicate things, such as chips in computers, they tend to overload if you try to store any energy in them in addition to whatever energy they are being fed by the computer in in the first place. “ Merlynn answered with a grin. “How come then when your casting spells and generally near stuff like that it doesn’t just explode anyways?” Abbey asked in slight confusion.

“That’s because of my natural talent with mana manipulation, especially within my own body. Mana naturally leaks from all living creatures, unless trained or otherwise naturally gifted. The natural leak of mana won’t normally bother most machines unless your packing a serious mana capacity and shit with controlling it.” Merlynn offered more but Abbey stopped her there before she inadvertently opened another lengthy explanation. Abbey nodded with a big smile then blew on her ignited fist extinguishing it. “Alright Y’all let's do this, were not getting anywhere just standing around.” Merlynn affirmed as she made her way down the hall. The other cubicles were roughly in the same manner, vacant but still disheveled like someone had left abruptly while working and vanished. “Where is everyone?” Hiro asked aloud. “ I was just thinking the same thing. Its not even lunch and this place is a ghost town.” Abbey added leaning into a cubicle. After checking the remaining cubicles they followed the hallway as it bent to the right leading to six doors.

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The entire building had been eerily quiet so far with only the buzzing electric hums of the lights above them and their footsteps could be heard as they silently investigated each of the six doors. All six doors were made of cheap wood, with three of them having smoked glass you would find in Noire detective movies. After trying each of the doors, the three with the glass insert were found to be locked. “I hate these doors. They remind me of those cheesy private eye movies, more like private asses.” Abbey scoffed as she tried her best to peer into one of the glass doors. “I know what you mean, and this one's a janitor closet go figure.” Gloria sighed as she closed one of the doors without glass. “Not every adventure is fights, guts, and glory...Glory.” Merlynn giggled at her unintended pun. “This is less like adventuring and more like breaking and entering...trespassing at the very least.” Abbey chimed in rubbing her face where she had it pressed to the glass. “Hey! We didn’t break nothing and besides this building is owned by family technically.” Merlynn piped in gripping the knob of another glassless door. “Last one of these and its unlocked too.” Merlynn spoke as she gestured to the rest of the group.

They all crowded around her as she proceeded to open the door revealing a large room filled with more empty cubicles all in a similar disarray as the first. “What? So, Morgana owns a telemarketer company? You’re right she is evil...now I know where to send my grievances.” Abbey joked as she pulled back from the group. After giving Abbey her due, everyone turned to Hiro in suspended anticipation. “Don’t look at me I was a personal lab rat; I didn’t have anything to do with her business deals or on-goings.” Hiro quickly answered. Everyone looked at him disheartened by his answer then quickly dispersed again returning to the other doors. As Abbey went to try her luck again with peering through the smoked glass of another door, a light within suddenly turned on. No sooner than it did everyone scrambled quickly trying to hide when seemingly Morgana herself strode out the door and into the hallway, a large pair of headphones beating loudly against her ears. Morgana continued to stride past them oblivious to their presence, unlocked the first glassed door Abbey interacted with using a keycard then walked through. “I felt like I was going to die just now! Will this be my Hell loop!?” Gloria lamented as she flung herself dramatically onto her mother. With an irritated glare Merlynn brushed past Gloria and into the room chasing after Morgana. “First, she doesn’t want to go and now she’s chasing after her! Sometimes she serious pisses me off!” Gloria fumed stomping after her mother. Abbey and Hiro silently shook their heads following behind them.

As Merlynn entered the room, she came to a skidding halt unprepared for what she would find. The room was a wash of sterile whites and stainless steel, with all manner of machines softly whirring and beeping. Along the left wall sat a massive row of large cylindrical tubes filled to the brim with a pale green liquid and a shadowy figure still as the dead floating within. Merlynn quickly turned behind her motioning for the others to go back. Gloria answered with a sour look and her middle finger proudly pronounced. Before Merlynn could retaliate with a gesture of her own, she heard footsteps approaching just past a new door on her right. “ Shit Hide!” Merlynn called out in a hushed voice as she dove under a nearby stainless-steel desk. She could hear the soft beat of music again along with Morgana’s shuffling.

Swallowing hard Merlynn exhaled softly as she leaned her head out to see what Morgana was up to. She watched closely as Morgana struck keys on a keyboard with manic precision. After she had finished with her first line of code a monitor above her lit up displaying a scrolling list of information Merlynn couldn’t gleam any information from. “I've got to move in closer” Merlynn thought to herself as she slowly crept closer pressing against a large humming server. From her new vantage point Merlynn could clearly see Morgana as she noisily slurped on a cup of coffee. Despite being closer now, the display monitor didn’t reveal anything she hadn’t already read but she could however start to make out the contents of the large tubes.

Floating inside the tubes were large humanoid figures doubled over clutching their knees against their chest, suspended in a murky liquid that reminded Merlynn of an algae bloom. Morgana set down her cup then began murmuring to herself as she paced closer to Merlynn, a paper stacked clipboard in hand. With quick thinking and quicker reflexes, Merlynn rolled around the corner of the server moments before Morgana turned to face it. Merlynn’s heart raced in her chest as she could feel the warmth of the server pierce through her clothes making her back sweat. The server hummed louder and clicked as Morgana removed and replaced pieces of the machine. Sweat beaded larger and began running down the length of Merlynn’s back making her nerves pound harder. Then finally as she began to feel her nerve crack to pressure, Morgana let out an obnoxious yawn and an even more raucous fart. Unable to contain herself no longer Merlynn jumped out from behind the sever shouting. “Gross! You nasty bitch my mouth was open and everything!” Merlynn shouted as Morgana let out a scream that nearly rivaled Gloria’s earlier.