"That's outside of the footprint of the building," Devon said, squinting at the distance to the door and the stairway leading out.

"We know there is some shady stuff going on underground. Is the fact that the hidden, exclusive bar we are currently sneaking into also underground a problem?" Daniela asked.

"No, just an observation. At least these are much nicer underground accommodations than the dungeon tunnels Samuel put up with. I kind of like the decor and mood lighting, if I'm honest."

"What a shame it's all probably going to get smashed," Daniela said evenly, striding towards the door with confidence.

The closer she got, the louder the rhythmic thrum got. When she opened it, she stepped into a familiar sight: a kitchen prep-area. It wasn't anywhere the size of the Taste of Old, but she spotted many barrels lined against one wall and a smattering of crates full of tall bottles. Two very harried cooks shuffled around a fryer powered by an anemic Fire Slime, dipping and scooping battered balls of what Daniela smelled to be pretzel. Unfortunately, that was really the only smell that she was able to isolate as that, and nearly every other of her senses was assaulted by discoteca.

She'd never quite understood what Ron meant when he said he could feel vibrations, but the sheer volume that filtered through the serving slot and the swinging access door got her a taste of that. ALong with a taste of unwashed bodies, cheap booze and just a hint of vomit. Her mom had told her about these, it was where her parents had met, but she never thought she'd actually experience one.

"First time?" A woman called, sliding out from a doorway at the back. Daniela spotted a spiral staircase leading up and down just as the wood slammed shut. With the bit of information filed away, Daniela focused on the slender satyr before her.

Her level wasn't the only thing that gave her pause as she looked deeper and noticed an oddity to her torso. It could have been a Trait, but the citrus tang in the air that cut through even the disco smells spoke of more. A Partial, more than likely.

"That's right. We were told you were in need of hands," Daniela said, plastering a smile on her face while gesturing at herself and Devon.

"Jefferson mentioned there were three of you?" the woman replied smoothly. She'd clearly known it was their first time.

"He got caught up talking to the bouncer. Said to go ahead and get started. Something about a bathroom?" Daniela said, immediately throwing Raul under the bus. The woman's easy expression flashed into a frown but it smoothed quickly.

"Not a problem. It seems you came ready to work. I take it you are willing to start? We'll offer a bonus, even if you weren't here at opening time."

"What do you need?" Devon said, turning to join the conversation from where he'd been scowling at the loudness.

"Oh, a little bit of this and that, sweetheart. I think your talents would be best served out on the crowds, like a yacht drifting through rough waters," the satyr smiled. Daniela had to use every ounce of self control she had not to sock the woman for making such a blatant move on her boyfriend.

Of course, Devon was just as air headed as ever when it came to things not related to combat and scouting. "What's a yacht?"

"Let me tell you all about them!" she said, taking his arm and leading him towards the swinging door. The sickeningly sweet smell attached to her drailed off. Daniela didn't realize she was locked in place with her teeth gritted until one of the two cooks approached her.

"Sorry about your friend," the man said, nodding his head. Daniela blinked, realizing that after her initial scan for his Q2 Status she'd dismissed him entirely. The smoldering coal that made up his hand and forearm drew her eye and she realized he'd been the one dipping his hand in to scoop the pretzel balls. The Partial was really leveraging himself there.

"Why would you need to be sorry?" Daniela asked, crossing her fingers that the satyr was involved with the tainted booze scheme.

"Hath can be... persuasive. I noticed you two seemed close, just watch out for changes in behavior."

Steam roiled out of her neck as she put two and two together. That bitch is using a Life Gift to seduce people!

"H-Hey! Stop! If you cause a stir then Jefferson will show up!" the Partial clamored, glancing over his shoulder to his coworker and noticing that the woman was entirely engaged with washing dishes as far from the steaming brunette as he could.

"Oh, I am gonna cause a stir," Daniela growled, striding past the hapless man. She noticed that even with her brusque approach he tried to pull his semi-burning arm away from her so as to not burn her. You are safe. Doing what you can with the power you have is commendable enough. I might kick your friend for abandoning you, though.

Originally, she'd planned to be subtle about her snooping. If the lead happened to be empty, then there was no point aggravating a bunch of entrepreneuring alcoholics. The fact that the satyr was using her magic on unassuming elves that didn't know any better meant she was probably leveraging that in her business. Tendril link or not, that was an injustice that needed punishment. One thing was using your strengths, the other was manipulating others for your benefit.

With a flick of her finger, she blew the top off one of the glass bottles. The two cooks yelped, covering themselves from the spray of booze and glass. Dud, just whisky. She selected another crate, looking for something to stand out, but just like Devon had told her the bottles looked like any homebrewed operation with wax stamp labels. Two more crates met the same explosive fate before Daniela moved onto one of the untapped barrels against the wall.

"Ma'am--"

The Torch didn't hesitate once kindled. Her fist easily punched a hole through the wood, a tingling instantly crawling up her arm. The brunette's eyes narrowed into slits as she extracted her arm but the tingling remained. When she attempted to form a spell chain --which caused the two cooks to let out strangled screams as if she intended to charbroil them-- it crackled and spat its displeasure until the liquor finished evaporation. Gotcha. Daniela spun, pinning both of the cooks who were holding onto each other for dear life. They were throwing worried glances at the swinging door and a stack of order tickets that had been piling up at the serving window.

"Who's in charge of the booze?" When neither of them responded, she snapped her fingers to bring them back to the moment. You'd think I just blew them up, she shook her head. "I don't care about you guys, but your bosses are in deep shit that I have every intention of stirring."

"I don't think that's how that expression goes," one mumbled, just loud enough for Daniela to pick out. Her trademark predatory grin appeared on her face.

"No, it isn't. However, when you have the power to back your words it doesn't matter now does it?"

"Jefferson, Hath and Mr. Poole are in charge," the Partial that had warned her of the satyr said, stepping in front of the other cook. "There's a pair of giants that transport them in, but they don't bother us if we don't get in their way."

"Are the ingredients for the food coming from the same place as the drinks?"

"No," the man shook his head. "The chief is the one that takes care of that. Eh, he's the one acting as bartender out there. What... What is wrong with the beer?"

Daniela couldn't stop herself from glancing at the man's arm, the frown that flashed on her face causing the two cooks to step back once more. Instead of answering his question, she gave him one of her own. "Do you drink this swill often?"

"What? Uh, well, we get to have some for free during our break. None of the hard stuff, too expensive. What's going on?" The man asked, suddenly braver in the face of his continued living. What shit work conditions are you two used to to be scared like this?

"When did that happen?" Daniela continued and pointed at his arm, eyes boring into the Partial-- into the orc. He couldn't be older than eighteen.

The man coiled his arm back defensively, glaring at Daniela as if she'd offended his mother. "That's none of your business."

"That's your hang up?"

"It was last year," the other cook answered. The mermaid looked between the brunette and the orc with some hesitation. "You are The Torch. The winner of the Javelin Toss! What are you doing here?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Daniela said, grimacing internally at being recognized. She decided to push forward. "Now, how long have you been working here?"

"Me? Just shy of three years," the orc said, squinting.

"When did they let you drink? Don't get defensive with me, I don't care about how old you are, just answer the question," Daniela growled. She could pick out people complaining through the service window. Trying to parse individual words was useless, but the tone of the sounds had shifted.

"Devon, eyes up. I feel like things are about to get spicy," Daniela sent the elf through the comm-plant even as she watched the orc debate with himself on where he should admit to smooching booze.

"I can hardly think out here. They've got another elf blowing horns with his magic to keep the beat going. What do you mean spicy?" Devon replied, eliciting a groan from Daniela. For all the versatility the comm-plant had, it didn't just magically give you another train of thought to dedicate to it when there was a lot going on.

"Two years ago," the orc mumbled, looking away as if Daniela was going to say something.

"Stay away from the drink, kid. Good advice in general, but that there is spiked," Daniela said off hand, having received the confirmation she needed just in time to spot a man stepping into the room from the disco.

"Hey! Where is the food? A few more minutes and I'm going to have a riot of raving drunks out to get my hea-- Who the hell are you!?" A man easily seven foot tall, but not much more than a smudged brown humanoid outline frowned at Daniela. She didn't hesitate.

Her materialized in seconds as minute bursts of her launched her at the Q5 Tendril with more speed than the obviously Earth Attuned could handle. Not the man seemed to have a single bone for combat, as she pinned him against the wall with ease. "Do you know who's been poisoning the drinks!?"

Daniela had held it together for the sake of gathering information, but there was a time to ask questions and a time for knocking heads. If she could do both, why wouldn't she?

"What? You are a lunatic, get off me!"

"I wouldn't try her too much Chief!" the mermaid called. "Apparently she found something suspicious in the beer. Greg is having a meltdown and she didn't even hit him with nothing but words."

"Yes, listen to the very reasonable maid before I become unreasonable," Daniela provided.

"I-I don't know. Jefferson meets with someone once a month and Hath deals with the distributor. That's the satyr lady. I swear, I just work here for the pay!" 'Chief' said, throwing his hands up.

"Were you a Tendril before you worked here?"

The question brought the man's complaints and meager attempts to run away to a halt. The orange sclera of his eyes came into focus as they widened, flicking between the hazy outline of a brunette and the orc staring at his hand as if it had betrayed him. His answer brought her closer to what she wanted to confirm. "No..."

"Have you ever, in your podunk life, fought to get to the third level? Threshold, whatever!" she added, remembering the different nomenclature the Ocalans used.

"Of course not! I was a baby when the Fall came and by the time I was old enough to do anything the city didn't need more fighters," the Tendril said, confused. "Also, how did you know I'm at the third Threshold?"

"Oh these cheeky shits," Daniela growled. "Get out of here."

"But the people out there--"

"Need to scatter," Daniela said ruthlessly. "Get the bouncers to open all the doors. Things are about to get messy."

Chief looked into Daniela's eyes and whatever he'd seen convinced him that she was crazy enough to be the source of the mess. As he turned tail to run, she paused for a second and threw a bottle of perfume at the trio of hopefully-innocents. With a single percent burst of she misted the bottle and bathed the three of them in a fog of lemongrass with a hint of lavender. They sputtered, but she'd already put them out of her mind.

"We are shutting this place down. Start cracking lightning so people clear out!" Daniela sent Devon as she walked towards the bar door.

What laid beyond was pure pandemonium. It was astounding what a single wall with a hole could do to mute sound because Daniela felt like she'd been slapped across the face. Just like Devon had hinted at, a trio of elves were working a set of stone carved horns to produce a steady bass beat that sent goosebumps running up the brunette's spine. That wasn't all, however. Easily two hundred people undulated to the beat in a space the size of a small warehouse. Two fae were hanging on to the ceiling by ropes on rails covering and uncovering powerful versions of the slime lamps that caused a strobing effect on the room. A few spell chain Gifts seemed to be augmenting the lights as they exploded across the room in myriad colors. A hazy veil of smoke both softened and highlighted the beams from overhead.

Devon hadn't replied, but she immediately spotted the telltale blue sparks from across the room. A slightly raised area cordoned off by rope was where Hath the satyr had been taking him. Said Partial was very confused by the sudden magical display, and apparently whoever was in the VIP area didn't like it either. Words that got eaten by bass horns were shouted as Devon continued to crackle with lightning. The worst part was that the crowd only seemed mildly concerned by the lightning in their midst. Daniela couldn't believe it, even if her eyes weren't deceiving her.

"Where are my pretzel balls!?" someone shouted right in her face, causing her to blink and spot the smaller crowd of a dozen or so party goers clamoring for their food. More than one had wooden mugs in hand, and her Perception let her pick out the dilation of their eyes. A second glance at the most inebriated of the bunch caused the dragon fire in her gut to bubble. There was a magical twinkle to their eye that she couldn't quite explain and had absolutely nothing to do with sharing a tender moment in a crowd. She snatched one of the flagons and poured it whole over her hand, grimacing as the telltale tingling manifested.

"Hey! I paid for that!"

"You'll thank me later!" Daniela growled, hissing spittle flying from her mouth as her changed frequency from obscure to loud. Orange and gold flames rippled off her form like a pair of wings ready to take flight. The fact that they extended a good ten feet on either side of the short brunette allowed her size to finally match her actual presence.

The whole group trying to get food stepped back as the might of a Corporeal Limit Dreg Warrior manifested before them. Shouts of alarm seemed to ripple through the crowd even as the music continued unabated. Daniela hopped over the bar easily, further parting the drunk party goers, and made a beeline for Devon. About halfway to the elf, a gap formed on one of the walls of the warehouse space opposite the raised sitting area. Chief appeared, calling people forward to evacuate-- or so she assumed, she couldn't hear. Hoping to assist the man, Daniela drew lines of on the ground to start herding the less... aware members of the crowd towards safety.

By that point, it seemed the VIPs had caught on that things were going down the drain quick-like. One of the people there even had the gall to reply to Devon's spark show with a true strike of their own. Thankfully, Devon hadn't been idle since discovering the adept Lightning Blippers of Ocala. With a slap of his hand, the man redirected the strike up into the ceiling. One of the glow slime tubes took the blow in full, bursting into a glowing ionized cloud that mixed with the haze drifting through the room.

The pandemonium turned into true chaos as people finally realized something had gone wrong during their fun little night outing.

She'd worried about a stampede, but her seemed to divert the mass of humanity enough to not get anyone trampled or trapped within the building. For some ungodly reason, even as the building quickly vacated, the trio of musicians continued to play. It even sounded like they'd picked up the tempo! At least the ceiling isn't an epilepsy trigger anymore. Those fae had fled the moment one of them had been showered in statically charged goo.

"What do you think you are doing!?" Hath yelled, her voice barely audible with the screams of panicked clubbers fading up the exit ramp.

"We know about your little operation with the Dreg," Daniela called back, taking position a half step behind Devon. If the woman wanted to stall, she wasn't going to complain about recovering the mana she'd lost to summon her defenses and herd the crowd. "You didn't really expect to keep poisoning these people without consequence?"

Hath's somewhat-mediocre-but-potentially-pretty-for-certain-less-refined-individuals face contorted into an ugly expression that would have fit right along the grotesques in an old world cathedral. Instead of providing a coherent answer, she tore her blouse in half down the buttons. Devon, the innocent idiot, flinched away. What the satyr revealed was somewhat in line with what Daniela had guessed, an abdomen made entirely of a semi-solid sap. From their position on the lower level, the brunette could see digesting food within that viscous substance not unlike how Blobby handled its food. What she did after that, however, twisted Daniela's stomach.

With a shrill scream, the woman started to tear out chunks of her abdomen. As soon as they lost contact with the main body of the Partial Satyr, the sap liquified and sizzled. A spell chain lit up around the woman's abdomen and the amber colored sap started to glow with an ominous green light. Thankfully, Devon had recovered his shame quick enough to put up a wall of wind to deflect most of the sap. Some of the liquid attempted to mist onto the two of them, but the had them covered; the sap was highly flammable and it ignited just from proximity. Daniela had no desire to get in contact with the acid that a Q5 Partial Elemental could muster.

"You don't understand anything!" Hath screamed, preparing another delivery of acid.

"Tell me more!" Daniela yelled, tapping Devon twice before slapping her palm to the ground and dumping a full third of her mana into . The elf wreathed himself in a personal tornado of wind just in time to deal with the mess of gasses the flash boiled floor released. The half dozen VIPs yelled in alarm, and Hath was forced to drop her sap at her feet where it ignited. The VIPs elected to charge towards the Dreg Warriors, anger on their faces even as they winced and coughed in the face of her Skill.

The satyr went incomprehensible, but Daniela wasn't expecting much more from her anymore. She was a threat, but not enough to give her pause. sniped each of the half dozen VIPs which were none of them over Q4. The Air Attuned in their midst, which actually was a Tendril, tried to throw a full blown attack on the pair. They discovered that the Quotient of the person generating the lightning dictated which won out real quick. Devon turned them into a lichtenberg canvas faster than Daniela was able to concuss the VIPs.

She had no doubts that the Cloth Muscles would be getting involved, but considering the speakeasy was partly in Breaker territory things would get muddy.

Surprisingly, Hath actually managed to remain conscious through the headshots Daniela had put out. The satyr's hair and fur were fried, the few good hairs standing on end after Devon smoked the Tendril following after her. Daniela summoned an to hover over her shoulder before approaching the woman. danced around her fingers as she met the woman's glare evenly. "Make me understand. Make me understand why you would steal and warp the futures of the people in this city. Tell me... where is the Aberrant?"

The woman's eyes blazed gold and Daniela felt her vision swim, the burn marks on Hath's face smoothed over into more of a blush and the angry look she wore turned into one of sheer disappointment. Daniela's heart broke, to have disappointed the Mistress so. She should just burn her sins herself--

Daniela bellowed, maroon light radiating off her Fire Gills as her Igniter Lungs mixed gas with her Propellant Gland to spit dragonfire right into the satyr's face. The napalm-like substance didn't even give her a chance to scream in pain as it turned her crispy near instantly. With the force of will every bit of her calisthenics training could manage, her diaphragm flexed and the dragonfire cut out. Her fingers shook as she gazed bones before her.