It was the next day, and everyone could still smell and see the smoke coming from the auditorium throughout the University. The smoldering smell of old wood and steel was intoxicating in the air. It was an easy decision that they canceled every class today.

Back where the Crucis Sentinels and the Aetheral Queen were staying, the six ladies were getting ready to start the day. Well, almost everyone… Blair was still asleep in her bed, snoring up a storm. Lycka and Chelsea were fixing breakfast, and Erika was doing her morning yoga and meditation. Cherie got up bright and early to work on her photos that she had taken at the crime scene.

Cherie listened to her favorite podcast while she was working on her computer. “Hello, everyone. My name is Marguerite Fuchs, and this is September 6, 2014, version of ‘The 1300 podcast; where we talk about what’s happening in New York and around the world! Last night at Sycamore University, a major gas explosion occurred at one of their campuses. Some say it was deliberate or faulty wiring. As they clean up Ground Zero, the Dean of the University claims that the 80-year-old auditorium is unsalvageable. The Marco Polo auditorium, which was used as an art exhibit for this week inspiring from ‘monster attacks’ across the campus.”

“No, Marguerite, guess again,” Cherie heckled. This was one of Cherie’s bad habits, listening to podcasts and criticizing their points of view out loud.

“Fire Marshal William Conti had this to say about the largest fire and university’s history, ‘the Marco Polo auditorium was indeed a fire hazard, and we warned the Dean and most of the trustees about using the auditorium for public use. We just urged them to either temporarily shut down the hall and make the appropriate upgrades so they can be up to code, or simply don’t use the auditorium anymore until they do.’”

“Then why didn’t you shut it down yourself in the first place, Bill! ” Cherie questioned out loud.

“The university’s budget has been a huge hot topic over the past seven years as most of their revenue of the school did not go into remodeling other large buildings like the Hawthorne Cathedral, Lois Hawthorne donated that in 1919. The same Hawthorne Cathedral that became a murderous crime scene six months ago.”

“Because the board of the directors is too busy putting money in their baseball team to even give a damn,” Cherie corrected.

“The Metropolitan Police as this moment will not speak about what caused the fire. Most speculate it was a group of vandals who were out last night hunting down some sort of monster who was responsible for the attacks the last school year. Once again, all of it is hearsay at the moment.”

“No, it fucking isn’t! That’s the truth!” Cherie snapped.

“Another pressing matter throughout the world, Rahkaze Zayne is making a lot of buzz to many international news outlets. We all held our breath when he was found beaten by terrorists in the Sahara desert five years ago. Hearing the news that he was found alive back then made everyone breathe a lot easier. Besides Rahkaze Zayne, there were no signs of other life as three other people were dead along with him.”

“Yeah… Even though he can be an asshole, he didn’t deserve that,” Cherie sympathized.

“Shockingly silent throughout the entire ordeal by her eldest son, Revan Zayne decided not to talk about her feelings about what happened. Many people said that the Oleander Syndicate is to blame for her eldest son’s attack.”

“That because it’s true, and she’s planning on killing all of them, duh!” Cherie laughed out loud.

“Even now, many are speculating what the Oleander Syndicate is. Reporting to have a net worth of $7.3 billion, there is nothing left to say about the Oleander Syndicate and what they actually do. However, being entirely privately owned and funded, they have raised no red flags of any kind. The organization has been under fire for many decades with ties of devil worshiping and contract killing. Many speculate that they are the ones who are the real assailants behind the murders of a Christian-based University known as Sycamore University.”

After hearing that, Cherie paused the podcast and sat back in her chair.

“Oh, my God. If only you knew the Oleander Syndicate is run by a milk toast dickhead with his neo-Nazi sister and his biggest asset is a bunch of bitches coming straight out of a badly written hentai web comic. Yeah, some major blight on the world!” Cherie criticized out loud.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She got up from her workstation and went to the door. She opened the door to see a visibly angry Selena.

“Selena, what’s wrong?” Cherie being concerned.

“All of my classes I would have instructed been canceled today, due to the fire,” Selena angrily said as she stormed into the house.

Cherie scratched her head in confusion. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. It was a huge fire last night. And I don’t think anybody is going to be breathing in all that smoke just to get the class. Just hang tight. At least we are still on the clock.”

Selena went to the living room, which was miraculously rebuilt from last night. Then she reminded herself who was responsible. “I forgot Lycka knew how to do that.”

The Aethereal Queen Lycka has the power to rebuild and reanimate objects like buildings, restoring them into what they once were. Selena plopped on the couch and took off her high heel shoes. She got all dressed up for nothing, she thought to herself. But Cherie was right; at least now she is down to one job to focus on instead of two.

“Anything on the video?” Selena asked across the room.

“Still encoding the footage. Alistair’s drones needed a software patch. For as well versed in tech as he is, he should know this,” Erika criticized.

“Well, he doesn’t need to since he uses his drones on rare occasions back in the day. The drones were just a part of his abilities. We are just using his instruments,” Selena rectified.

“Breakfast is ready,” Lycka happily announced as Cherie left her workstation and Selena rose from the couch. Both heading to the table, they met up with Erika, who is in her yoga gear. They all sat around the dining table, and they were amazed by what was in front of them. Belgian waffles, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit, orange juice, and milk. There is also coffee and tea brewing in their respective pots.

However, there was one surprisingly absent person. Blair Hayabusa, the same person who would relish in such a feast. And comically the first one to be at the table…

“It is almost 11, she needs to wake up already,” Selena demanded while pouring a cup of coffee.

“You know how much of a heavy sleeper she is. That’s why I left the door open so she could smell the bacon and sausage. That usually works better than an alarm clock…” Chelsea being embarrassed.

“That’s just sad…” Cherie reflected.

“Oh, it’s the only thing that actually works. We even tried bullhorns when Blair was 10 years old. She slept right through it,” Chelsea reminisced.

Hearing somebody shuffling down the steps was Blair wearing a long robe that was loosely tied. She had bloodshot eyes and looked completely out of it. She immediately went to the coffee maker and grabbed herself a cup of coffee.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Chelsea greeted.

Blair responded with a grunt.

“I hope you are wearing underwear underneath that robe,” Selena wondered.

“Just be lucky she’s dressed in a robe this time…” Chelsea being grateful. “It was a very awkward that morning when she stepped outside without one, trying to get the morning paper.”

The groggy Blair joined the ladies at the table, grabbing a handful of bacon. She took one of the bacon strips and stirred her cup of coffee with it.

Everybody started eating breakfast as Selena began to speak, “Okay, well after we get finished eating breakfast, there are a few things I want to talk about--”

“Please… Just… I will listen to every word you say… Just let me finish my bacon…” Blair interrupted as she took a bite of her bacon strip.

Selena wasn’t all that upset with Blair interrupting her. In fact, she found Blair’s morning ramblings of it humorous. To be quite honest, her team was like a family to her. A family that she could be honest with and let her hair down. She wasn’t afraid to fail and not scared to be herself when being around them.

“I know buddy from the force. You know, the Metropolitan police around here?” Cherie gossiped. “They said they had to arrest a smoking hot, big breasted European wolf girl with badly dyed silver hair. His words, not mine. The Dean wants to press charges on all three of them. It’s that, and she refused medical treatment, punching out a couple of nurses and a security guard at the hospital.”

“Well, good for Dixon. They don’t belong out in the field. Not yet anyway,” Serena agreed. “They all have an insurmountable amount of potential, but they all hold themselves back. Whether if it’s not themselves, it’s each other.”

In a perfect world, the Oleander Syndicate can become better than the Crux Nexus, and they know this. Even the Aethereal Queen herself regrettably admitted to this, despite her group being well coached and polished as they are now.

However, with several internal feuding and a scandalous history anchoring their progress, the Oleander Syndicate has become a textbook case of too many alpha personalities jockeying for position. It’s that, and their personal demons they refuse to acknowledge.

“I doubt she’ll be taken to court. Eichner has deep pockets. They’ll get her out, no matter what the cost,” Chelsea dreaded.

“And that’s the problem! He thinks he can buy his way out of trouble with Novak’s money. It doesn’t work that way. There’s a difference between being genuinely a good person and being polite for the sake of being polite,” Lycka lectured. “Many people have different faces. Those who don’t play the so-called political game are the ones who always get burned it seems. Even good people make mistakes and say the wrong things. Those who want to listen to assholes who put on a fake face for the crowd, those are the ones who are going to get burned in the end.”

“Fuck the Syndicate! All I care about is the Crux Nexus and the people that we help out,” Blair bellowed.

“That is a bit absolute,” Chelsea criticized, making a sausage and egg sandwich with an onion bagel.

“More than ever, we do have to care about the Syndicate. Right now, they do hold all the chips in the coalition. If they fall, who will take over?” Lycka reminded, eating a piece of toast.

That has always been the central question when it came to the Dark Nebula Coalition and The Oleander Syndicate. The current grandmaster Dolph Eichner is an arrogant genius who had a false god complex. Even when he was wrong about current decisions and situations, he would ignore other people’s suggestions outright. Often, he would alienate others and make them feel like they were worthless.

His poor attitude and weak leadership skills while adding numerous failing policies have made him a laughingstock among the communities. Many groups like the Crux Nexus do wonder why someone would just walk in and take over already. However, they didn’t have to think about it too much. Because as long as his twin sister Adrian Eichner aka the Angel of Death is still alive aiding him, he will always be in the position of power.