Rylie was pulling herself together as the two of them made their way back to the point where Lily was suppose to pick them up. Mark kept his distance as his partner did some deep breathing exercises. Longing being attached to her was doing some serious mental damage, but she was getting there.

After waiting around for quite a bit, Mark grew worried. He sent message after message to Lily, with nothing in response. They were too far out of the city for his hearing to be able to pinpoint the headquarters, and no one else was answering.

“We need to find a way to get back, now,” he said to the rookie who was in deep meditation. She snapped her eyes open and stood up.

“Why, what’s going on?” She said.

“I’m not sure, but nobody is answering, and that’s never a good sign. Do you have any contracts with—”

“No,” she cut him off. He knew it was a sore spot, but he wasn’t going to dig. Mark sighed, then pulled his phone back out, trying to reach anyone.

The golden coin was tugging at his mind. The bond with it was almost second nature, and he brought it out of his pocket and let it hover before him. He expanded it to a platform, and realized what his magic was trying to tell him.

He hopped on and looked back at Rylie who was creating one of her own. She wouldn’t be able to control the malleable nature of the magic, but with some focus, Mark managed to grab onto the new one as well.

“Try to hold on,” he told her.

The platforms darted off, working as a sort of magic hoverboard. Mark’s focus was split between moving both and making sure it stayed under him, but they were able to get back into the city quickly and without being spotted. He perked up his hearing ability and found nothing but silence from the headquarters.

From there, they ran, drawing looks and yells from various people they almost ran into. Mark felt a pang in his gut, afraid of what he would find out. When they reached the headquarters, everything from the outside looked fine. Just another old, dingy building overlooking the street below it.

Up the stairs, Mark found the first problem. Hugh wasn’t at his post and Guardian was nowhere to be seen. He fortified his metal armor and looked back to make sure that Rylie was covered in the bright light of her magic. They worked their way slowly through the office, pausing to take stock in the bodies that were lining the floor in the archive.

A younger man laid lifeless, his throat having been slashed. The people who were around him wouldn’t have been able to form a full body if you put them all together.

Burn marks scarred the walls in the bullpen, and Mark couldn’t help but smile. He had seen those before, and knew the headquarters didn’t go down without a fight. They looked all over, but found no sign of any Traitor agents.

Walking up to Hanna’s door, he reached for the handle and met an invisible force. He listened close, but his power felt fuzzy in his head. He knew this magic.

“What is it?” Rylie asked.

“A ritual. It blocks people out, but also keeps you in. Can’t be penetrated by magic or force. Jay only uses it in emergencies. My guess is that everyone who made it through this is in here.”

“So, how do we get to them? Or get them out?” she asked.

“We wait. There’s a time limit on it. Let’s search around a bit.” He grew his coin into a spear and shoved it into the floor so they would know he was there.

They found more bodies that looked more tore up than anything else. Claw and bite marks told a story of Fiends, most likely being controlled by Thatcher. His guess was that the man with his throat slash was attacked more directly.

He looked into the cells, where everybody seemed to still be locked up and unharmed, though they all refused to speak to him. None were too happy to be locked up in the first place, so he wasn’t too surprised.

“Mark, come here,” Rylie hollered from upstairs. He ran up the quickly and found her at the doorway to Natalie’s office.

Natalie, for her part, fought like hell. She had fallen clutching two daggers, her body twisted unnaturally. Her face was torn off, and her journals littered the floor. Around her neck was a chain, the crystal containing her knowledge shattered on her chest.

Mark took a deep breath and held it for a minute before letting it out. He looked at his partner, who was holding back tears, and gestured for them to leave. He closed the door behind him.

“Mark! Rylie!” A voice called from the bullpen. Jay’s spell had ended, and they found the glowing spear. He began to make his way to his friends when Guardian ran up to him. He knelt down to pet the dog, who kept to his heel as he joined the others.

Everyone was disheveled and hurt one way or another, but all seemed alright. Hanna and Lily were both covered in cuts and scratches. Jay had his arm bandaged from where he had been bitten, and Hugh was a bit dirty, but otherwise alright.

“What happened?” Rylie said.

Hugh spoke up, “Guardian started growling and barking like crazy. I tried to calm him down, but he was having none of it. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck start standing up. I shut the doors, and send the alert up. Then they start slamming against the door.”

“Fiend?” Mark asked.

Hanna nodded, “Hugh and Guardian come running up here and Fiend wasn’t too far behind them, coming in wave after wave. We all tried fighting them off, but when we started getting to overwhelmed, we got backed into my office and Jay sealed us in.”

“What about Natalie?” Rylie said.

It was Jay’s turn to speak up, “We tried to get everyone back in Hanna’s office. As many as we could. There was already an ocean of Fiend between us and her. We don’t know if sh—” he stopped, seeing Rylie’s expression, “Ah. Dammit.”

“She went down swinging, but they got her and destroyed what we learned was her personal artifact. We also just got back from Longing, where Thatcher got their bracelet. They have all the components they need now. Except one. Me.” Mark said.

“So, what do we do now?” Rylie said, looking to the faces of everyone else. “We thought we had more time, but it’s down to whether or not they get someone who has spoken to a Patron.”

“Before all of this,” Hanna began, “I had talked to the Albrights. I warned them about what was going on. Beatrice is under heavy protection, and between Fiends and her creations, I’d place a bet on her every time.”

“So, we need to do the same for Mark,” Lily said.

“No,” Mark replied. “We get cleaned up. We go about our jobs. When they come for me, they come for me. I’m sick of thinking of other ways to do this. We take them out during the ritual to ruin it. Just like last time. Even if they get away, we’ll have at least five years to hunt them down.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Jay said. “We need to monitor you so we can get there as soon as possible. I know you won’t like that, but we can’t risk anymore lives here.”

Mark nodded in agreement then walked away.

“Where are you going?” Hanna called after him.

“Lily has already placed a tracker on me. I could sense it. I’m going to start trying to piece this together. Rylie, you in?”

His partner looked from the faces of everyone else and back to Mark. She jogged and caught up to him. They walked in silence until they were a bit away from headquarters.

“Something doesn’t sit right with me,” Mark eventually spoke. “I take it you were finessing everyone’s thoughts the whole time?”

“Naturally,” Rylie said. “Hugh was worried in general, especially for those who died. Hanna thinks you’re going to go off and do something stupid and get yourself killed again. Jay knows you’re going to. Lily seemed focused on Jay’s mental state.”

“Anyone else?” Mark said.

Rylie stopped, “You know I don’t read your thoughts, Mark.” She said.

“I know,” he stopped walking and turned to her, “Anything weird pass through?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, I thought I had heard a laugh. Just for a moment when you said you were going to wait for them to come to you. I thought I imagined it.”

“You didn’t. I mean, probably. Hell of a coincidence if you did. I sensed an extra prescence. I’ve been getting pretty decent at discerning people based on their group, and that worries me.”

“Why, who was it?”

Marked rolled his head around, stretching his neck, “I thought it was Thatcher being invisible, or even Keith, but his powers don’t work on me. It didn’t feel like Strategy or Blank, either. But it was one I felt a lot, especially recently.”

Rylie looked at him as he debated saying what he wanted to out loud. It seemed crazy to even suggest it, but he knows what he felt.

“Mark, who was it?” Rylie repeated.

“Knowledge,” he finally said. “Whoever killed Natalie. Whoever has been buying from Thatcher and ordering around Keith. It’s a member of Knowledge. Which means whatever they took from her artifact, they’ve kept for themselves and destroyed the possibility of another member gaining it.”

“That would explain why Keith is betraying them. Blank working with Knowledge? Plus, Thatcher is just in it for the money and power, so I doubt there’s much love lost there. But who? Andre?” She picked at her fingers for a second, but the thought was reading across her emotions. She was worried.

“I don’t think so. I mean, it would be a hell of a trick. Claim he stole Strategy’s artifact, get attacked, talk a lot of crap to Keith, but it would be stupid to put on a show like that. Keith gave me too much power over him to do something deceitful like that.”

Rylie nodded, but Mark could feel the relief wash over her.

“There’s something else,” Mark said. “When I’m around someone long enough, I can start telling the subtle differences between their magic and the next persons. Like, you and Jay don’t have the same aura to you. I have a good feel for Andre’s at this point.”

“Okay, so what are you thinking?” she asked.

Before he could answer, a person tackled Rylie to the ground, pinning her. He was covered in mud and scrapes, and was growling. The sense of Fiend was rolling off of him, and Mark summoned his sword.

“Enough of that now,” Thatcher’s voice came from behind him. “I was told you wanted to come easy.”

He banished the sword, “Let her go.”

“Once we have that tracker off of you and get you where we’re going, then I promise you she will be fine. Now, come this way.” Mark could hear the familiar sound of a portal opening. He turned around and walked past Thatcher, realizing he could sense him.

“You’re actually here,” Mark said to the smirking face. He swung and punched Thatcher into the portal, and followed after.