Noelle paused to catch her breath as she descended the final step into the basement level of the Physical Sciences Building. Rather than being a dingy and damp cellar it was finished and housed what looked like a series of hallways with rooms. As she crept forward cautious of running into anyone else she peered inside some of them.

They were all filled with scientific instruments and lab setups. Some of the busier rooms had machines with moving parts and computers slaving away at what must have been exhaustive calculations.

Clearly this was some sort of research wing, but something told Noelle this wasn’t a place for the university’s normal day-to-day student body.

The lights flickered on and off before turning off and plunging the hall into complete darkness.

Noelle froze. In the dark anyone or anything could sneak up on her. She had no flashlight and her phone was dead. Besides, all shining a light would do in this situation is let any observers know exactly where she was.

There was the barest hint of a whisper in the room which caused her to tense up even more. Even though Noelle knew there was nothing there her body couldn’t help but to react to whatever incorporeal thing her instincts were picking up on.

A faint stream of air brushed over her ear, carrying with it a plea from somewhere unknown.

You...are here to help me?

“Beth?” asked Noelle. “No...you’re that thing I’ve been seeing in town, aren’t you?”

I am...here. You will...help? Girl...trapped. Scared…

“Girl? That’s Beth, it has to be.”

Not much time...something bad…

“Trust me, I know. Whatever you are and whatever you’ve gotten yourself into, I’ll get you out. That’s a promise, to you and her both. Pass it on for me, okay?”

Thank-

The lights returned and the whisper cut off abruptly. There had been something up with the electricity the other night too. That thing that had copied the college girl, was it being held here only able to get traces of itself out to ask for rescue?

Noelle didn’t have time to ponder this. If she was going to keep her promise then it was just one more item on her to-do list. First, she had to find Beth and get her out of here before that other man, Caleb, pulled anything with her.

“She’s close, I know it! Let’s go already!” A young girl’s voice could be heard from one of the larger rooms at the end of the hall.

“Lorelei?!” yelled Noelle. It had definitely been Lorelei’s voice. Noelle took off at a dead sprint heading towards the room, her prior caution forgotten.

She pushed the double doors open and entered. It was a large space with pipes and machinery strewn all about haphazardly. It was more akin to a warehouse or a large stockroom than the labs she had peeked in prior.

Lorelei and Oscar were standing together just a few feet further into the room. They had turned their heads in alarm due to the noise of Noelle opening the doors, their features relaxing into familiar relief as they realized it was just Noelle. Noelle was relieved as well. After encountering Adrian she was more than happy to find some friendly faces before continuing the search.

“I’m glad I found you two. Listen, I found out that Beth is definitely here,” said Noelle as she started towards the pair.

Suddenly, Oscar’s body language changed and he looked alarmed. “No! Stop right there!”

Shocked, Noelle did as he commanded without putting any real thought to it. There was dull *thunk* as a knife sunk into the ground where she would’ve been had Oscar not warned her.

Noelle caught a glint of something in her peripheral vision. She turned to face it, but it was too late-the second knife was already hurtling towards her face. She braced for impact, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much.

But the pain never came.

Instead there was a clash of metal on metal and the knife lay on the ground, harmless.

Oscar stood in front of Noelle, he had preempted the attack and defended her. A large single-edged sword was in his hands. It was featureless beyond its outline and the entire thing shone with a silvery mercurial sheen. Even Noelle could see that the sword wasn’t normal and had manifested by some magical mechanism. This suspicion was furthered by the fact she hadn’t even seen Oscar draw it and that it was much too large for him to have casually concealed it from her.

“ Ah yes, the other one,” croned a voice hidden in the shadows of the pipes and ducts which covered the upper level of the room like a spider’s web. “Junior knight Oscar Torres...you’re much less interesting prey than the other one.”

“And you, Caleb “The Claw,” I’d rather not deal with you at all,” said Oscar in retort. “Yet here we are. Stand down and I’ll leave it at taking you in.

A sickening cackle echoed around the room. It sounded like Caleb was having an absolute fit tucked away in his hiding spot.

“Oh that is rich coming from you! You realize I already beat Levi Wright, don’t you? If he didn’t stand a chance what can an ant like you do to me?”

Oscar shifted his sword from an expectant position to resting the blunted edge on his shoulder. “Let me guess...he let you hit him so he could figure out your magic or something equally moronic. Sorry but I have more regard for my own well being than to do something like that.”

“Ke ha ha ha ha! Don’t get too cocky now little knight! I’ll-”

“Enough of this shit!” yelled Lorelei. “Take me to Beth now you damn creep!”

Lorelei pointed her hand to the ceiling and shot what looked to Noelle was a burst of compressed air. All of the piping directly above Lorelei crumpled and went flying in all directions.

“Little bitch!” screamed Caleb. More knives streaked down from above but Oscar swatted them to the ground effortlessly.

Further banging could be heard as Caleb jumped around the upper level of the room. There would be a sound to Noelle’s left then a crash to her right. She had no choice but to stay where she was, unable to track him and unwilling to move lest it catch his attention.

“Be cool,” ordered Oscar. “He’s probably tossing his knives around as he moves to throw us off with the sound. Just focus on waiting his attacks out so you can evade.”

Another knife came down straight overhead Oscar. The knight noticed and easily deflected it, but it was a ruse. A shadow touched down away from Oscar’s area of the room a mere ten meters from where Lorelei was standing. Caleb was aiming to take her out first.

Lorelei raised her hand and shot a bolt of electricity at Caleb as he approached, but it was wildly off and harmlessly struck the far wall. Lorelei was in no condition to make quick decisions between her own nerves and the lasting effects of the tranquilizer.

Almost unconsciously, Noelle drew her Smith & Wesson pistol and let loose a shot in Caleb’s direction.

The bullet pinged off of a pipe and failed to strike the man, but it had done its job. Caleb hesitated and the brief window that opened allowed Lorelei to start moving towards Noelle and Oscar.

Caleb threw a knife at the young girl’s retreating back but Oscar stepped forward and blocked it.

“You’re really testing the limits of my patience little knight. Once I’ve killed you I’ll chop you up and cook you up nice in a stew. How’s that fucking sound?!” snarled Caleb.

“Just because we have you on the back foot doesn’t mean you can start acting like that,” said Oscar. “Show some class, there are ladies present.”

“That should be the least of your worries, whelp!”

“You’re right,” said Noelle, confidence growing within her now that Caleb was on the ground and visible. “With looks as bad as yours it’s already a lost cause. Let’s not get preoccupied worrying about your personality.”

“Funny lass...you’re next.”

Caleb threw a knife at Oscar and followed it up by kicking a pile of leftover detritus from Lorelei’s haphazard spellcasting. Oscar batted the knife out of the air easily but a deluge of broken pipes and fittings made its way past his blade.

“Guh!” groaned Oscar as the junk hit him. He backed up a step and his sword arm was shoved loosely outward, leaving his body exposed.

Caleb was already in the air, knives in hand and eager to take this opportunity to skewer Oscar with them. The scene played out before Noelle’s eyes as if it were in slow motion. She could see Oscar trying to pull his sword back to a neutral position so he could counter, but his own center of gravity was working against him. While Noelle’s hands were moving to take aim with her pistol, she already knew it was too late.

She wouldn’t make it in time. Oscar was going to die.

The sickening sound of blade rending flesh rang throughout the room, followed by a deluge of blood spilling onto the floor.

But…

It wasn’t Oscar who had been stabbed, but Caleb. Somehow Oscar had brought his sword into position, pointing it out from his torso. From that position Caleb had practically jumped on it unintentionally, impaling himself in the process.

“W-what...how…,” moaned the mercenary. “Your sword...wasn’t ready...it was like...like...it t-teleported…”

“That’s exactly what happened,” said Oscar matter-of-factly while he ripped the blade from Caleb’s chest. Even more fresh blood spilled from the gaping hole left in the mercenary and the assailant fell to the ground.

Oscar held the sword aloft careful to make sure it was visible to the fading light of Caleb’s eyes. There was a flash of light and the sword disappeared. Another flash and the sword was back, this time in Oscar’s other hand.

“Quite the trick. Even I don’t know how it works. I just woke up one day and was able to do it,” said Oscar. “Not much of an explanation, but I don’t feel like I owe you any more than that.”

There was no response from Caleb. He was already nothing more than a corpse.

Noelle had never seen a dead body like this. She had been to wakes, visited the coroner’s office, even shadowed a detective to a murder scene, but this was nothing like that. Someone who had attacked her, someone who had tried to kill her, was dead at her feet. He was laying there dead and she didn’t even have time to feel disgust.

She was here for a reason, for Beth. Until that duty was done, she would push it all down. She could think about this later.

“Quick thinking with the gun. It might not have seemed like much, but it was a big help,” said Oscar.

“You...thanking me? Hell must have frozen over,” replied Noelle.

“Don’t start.”

Before the group could fully get their bearings the lights shut off once again, plunging the room into darkness.

“Damn! What the hell just happened?!” Noelle heard Lorelei exclaim.

Looking to where the young girl’s voice had come from, Noelle was met with an orb of light. Lorelei palmed the orb in her hand, turning it over and inspecting it for any flaws before tossing the ball in the air. It slowed and locked into place approximately a dozen feet above the ground. The orb grew brighter and the room was visible once again, this time lit by the witch’s magic instead of electricity.

“Good trick,” commented Noelle.

The click and clack of someone typing on a keyboard distracted her from any further conversation with Lorelei. There was a man in the back of the room working on one of the larger machines.

How had he gotten in here? Had he snuck past them in the darkness? Had he been here all along?

The typing continued, the man unperturbed by the three pairs of eyes now drilling holes into his backside.

The machine he sat at looked like a large, obsidian orb with piping and cables shooting out of it at every conceivable angle. It was a horrible patchwork that no modern engineering schematic would possibly tolerate, like an old boiler straight out of an H.R. Giger painting.

Alarmingly, the surface of the orb was rippling like water. Whatever lay in wait in its murky depths was out of sight, but by no means out of mind.

“This is…,” started Oscar.

“Nothing much,” said the man. “Just something I needed to finish up while my hired men kept you busy.”

“That voice! You’re...no...you tricked us!” screamed Lorelei. Her young voice hitched as she let out the cry, the stress of the evening taking its toll on what little composure she had left.

Composure she had the right to lose at that. Noelle recognized the voice as well. While she had only heard it a scant handful times, it was more than enough for her to place it.

“What’s the meaning of this,” growled Oscar. “Explain yourself...BISMARK!”

“Is there even a point to that?” asked the man as he got up from his seat. Dr. Bismark surveyed the three standing before him, paying no heed to the dead body which also accompanied them in the magical glow of the room. “Oscar and Lorelei...I’m not surprised to see the two of you here. But you, miss officer, I hadn’t foreseen this. Did the Congregation actually catch on and send you to spy on me?”

“I don’t understand,” said Noelle.

‘Who gives a damn! I’m way past feeling understanding!,” snarled Lorelei. “Where the fuck did you put Beth! Don’t even try to pretend you have nothing to do with this!”

“Beth? She’s right here of course.” Dr. Bismark pointed behind him towards the black orb. “She’s one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. I’m not about to let her out of my sight so easily.”

Lorelei shot a beam of brilliant white light in response. Unlike her earlier efforts it was dead-on. Pure rage had pushed the sedative down and restored her aim.

Just as it was about to reach Dr. Bismark’s face the beam arced away and plunged into the orb. Ripples emanated outward from the point of contact as the insidious machine consumed Lorelei’s magical assault.

Lorelei pulled her hand back in surprise. “H-how!” she stammered out.

“It’s merely working as intended. The creature lacks magic of its own, so I set it up to take it from other sources,” said Dr Bismark.

“Creature?!” asked Lorelei.

“Yes. It’s been giving me quite the scare, what with branches of its main body escaping into town and all. Thankfully the main body has been kept here. It was such a bother paying those buffoons to retrieve it from that meteor. Lord knows how they ever managed to knock it from the sky. Oh well, best leave magic to those in the know.”

“You sound decidedly well informed,” said Oscar, gritting his teeth. “We scoped you out before letting you take in witches as fosters. You’re an ordinary man! You shouldn’t be involved in any of this!”

Dr. Bismark chuckled at Oscar’s complaint. “I was quite ordinary once upon a time, but that was years ago. I’m fortunate to have resources to...fib a little on my foster paperwork.”

Dr. Bismark turned his back to the group, focusing his attention on the orb. “An eldritch creature capable of no magic of its own combined with a witch, an aberration of endless magical potential...tell me, what do you think is the result of such a pairing?”

“A witch?” murmured Noelle. “Beth...she’s in there somewhere…”

“Very observant,” chided Dr. Bismark. “I assure you it’s for a good cause.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” yelled Lorelei as she prepared for another assault on Dr. Bismark.

“Oh my…,” he lamented, “I may have the power of a dreaded witch on my side but so do you lot. What should I do?”

“I know,” he said, turning back around. “I’ll just take the second one as well.”

Black tendrils shot from the orb at an incredible speed. Completely ignoring Noelle and Oscar, they tangled themselves around Lorelei’s body and limbs before she could react.

“Nooo!” she protested. Energy shot from her fingertips but it was all swallowed by the tendrils which continued to coil around her unabated.

The tendrils pulled on Lorelei and sent her hurtling into the orb. Instead of colliding with it like a solid object, her body began to sink into its depths.

“Nooo! No! No! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Lorelei thrashed against the orb but it was useless. Her entire body had been incorporated into its surface by now, leaving only her head visible.Tears of pure fear spilled from her as she struggled, totally at the mercy of orb.

Noelle rushed towards her but a crushing weight caused her to fall to her knees. Looking to her side she noticed that the same phenomenon had hit Oscar as well. They were out of the fight and Lorelei was completely open for the opponent to do whatever he wished with her.

“HEEEEELLLLLLP-,” Lorelei unleashed one last scream before her head was fully consumed.

“Shit!” yelled Oscar. “Bismark! Stop this right now!”

“Why would I stop now?” asked the man. “Why stop now? My TWE...the Twin Witch Engine...it is finally complete!”