A young girl stood in the moonlight. Her pale skin shining almost as brightly as her simple white sundress. Oddly, she wore no shoes. Though it didn't even seem as if her feet were touching the ground. Her raven black hair flowed down her back, perfectly straight, before disappearing into the mass of shadows behind her.

The pieces of the wall around her started to move, flying back from chaotic destruction to ordered peace. The moon disappeared long before the last few tears of the wallpaper connected themselves together.

The woman inside the dark room was stunned, her terrified expression now showing in the freshly restored light. It was a quaint apartment, with sleek furnite and a kitchen large enough for two. The dining table only had two chairs at it, though it seemed a little off. The broken leg snapped back into place, the splinters flying at it.

The young girl who had been standing in the moonlight was now staring intently at the woman. Her eyes lacked expression, and her arms were covered with bandages.

"We apologize for intruding in this matter."

The woman rushed across behind the dining table, mustering enough courage to enter the kitchen and pull a knife from it's holder.

"Karen, please put that down. We will not hurt you."

"H-How do you know my name?"

Her voice was startled, her legs shook, and her hands gripped tightly onto her weapon.

"We should know your name. We love you Karen. We have never forgotten the day we met Karen."

The words clearly came from this girl, appearing to be no older than sixteen, that Karen had never seen before.

"You... are clearly having delusions. Please just stop whatever you are doing with those... tentacles... behind you, and let me call for someone to help you. Do you think you can do that for me? Stop those tentacles?"

"We can assure you we are not having delusions. We know it is you who has illusions of grandeur."

"What? Please, speak simpler."

"You wish to have that which you have not earned. We work, harder and harder, so that you can please your own ego. We have come to resent you, Karen."

"What? I-I don't understand. How could- Where's Richard?" Karen fumbled around with her other hand, and pulled a cell phone from her back pocket. Continuously glancing back and forth, she slowly found the contact she was looking for, and tapped furiously on the screen. A few seconds went by, the only noise being the woman's heavy breathing and the faint ringing from the phone. The masses of shadows behind the girl writhed back and forth.

"Richard? Richard! Richard! There's a girl in our house. She seems crazy, I need you to get home as fast as- Richard? Richard! Dammit Richard!"

"We are talking to you. We've come to tell you it's over for us, Karen."

"Who are you?"

"That is not important. What matters is that we are one with Richard."

"I don't get it."

"We don't need you to get it. We just wanted to tell you our feelings. It is a very emotional matter for us after all."

"Just let me talk to Richard. I don't know you. I don't want to talk to you. Please put away your... things... and let me talk to my Richard."

A subtle noise came from the door. A man walked in, wearing a gray business suit.

"Karen, what that girl said is true."

"Richard!"

"I'm sorry Karen, I can't do this anymore. I loved you, but you never seemed to love me. You used me, disregarded me, and threw my feelings to the side when I tried to bring them up to you. I wanted to be with you Karen, but it's time for me to go."

"Richard, wait!"

"The truth is I lost my job three months ago. You've used the last of our money when you redesigned our kitchen without talking to me. I took out a shady loan and a lot of things happened. I haven't been able to pay it back, and now I must disappear. I hope you have a good life Karen."

"We will miss you Karen, but we cannot let you keep memories of this encounter, or of us. We apologize." One of the black tentacles darted out from behind the girl, stabbing into the Karen's head. It seemed to phase through her, though she immediately collapsed to the floor. Her breathing became sparse until the tentacle withdrew.

Richard and the girl looked at eachother, the thoughts between them communicating rapidly.

***

The room was bustling, food trays clattering across every corner. The workers at the counter served out a simple meal of mashed potatoes with a side of corn.

"Welcome back Alcina."

A tall woman with bronze skin waved cheerfully from the plastic round table. The young girl she waved to was oddly barefoot, with raven black hair and a pure white sundress. A middle-aged man in a gray business suit followed behind her.

"Who's the guy? Another one?"

"Yes."

"I suppose that's how it's got to be. Was this one another no-lifer? I don't want you to develop weird tastes"

"No. We were a married man. We've already talked to the spouse. She was simply naive."

An old, balding man cut in from across the round table. His figure was like a pear on stilts, and his skin started to drag down from his face.

"Send him to work somewhere already. I can't stand looking at you in more than one place."

The man behind the girl spoke up.

"I don't understand really what's going on here, but I'm willing to do what is asked of me. Within reason."

The old leaned back, eyeing him.

"Go get me a nice, juicy hamburger then."

"I, uhh..."

The tall woman snarled. "Arnold, you fucking waste of space. You don't boss Alcina around, you don't boss anyone she brings here around. If Cyrus catches you, you might lose you head."

"Quite the tigress you are. I prefer quieter girls, like our little princess here. Easier for them to say yes."

A knife flashed in front of the old man's face, embedding itself in a wall.

"Remember, you need me, Ira."

"I think I can make do with only one life."

Alcina looked blankly at Richard, who then wandered off to sit at a different table with various other guys, all in white jumpsuits. The tall woman, Ira, jumped up from her seat in a bubbly fashion, and bounced on over to behind Alcina.

"Hey, hey, Allie! Can I tie your hair in a bow?"

"We do not mind. Please straighten it after."

"Yeah, yeah" Ira's fingers had already gotten to work as the content smile spread across her face. Soon, a wonderful bow of hair was sitting on top of Alcina's head, her eyes still without a glimmer of emotion.

A young man with spiky white hair entered into the large cafeteria. Alcina looked up.

"Cyrus."

"That's a rather cute bow. Fitting for a princess."

"We did not make it. Ira asked to make it."

"That was to be expected. In other news, I have something to talk to you three about."

Arnold, who was now sitting up at attention, looked to him expectantly. Ira slouched forward, her head laying on her arms so that she could stare at Alcina.

"I've obtained a lead that a new level six has appeared."

Arnold tightened up further.

"Which is not honestly that big of a deal."

"Forgive me for intruding Cyrus. What do you mean not that big of a deal? This is a huge deal. This could change the power dynamics of the whole island!"

"Or more importantly for us, Arnold, is that it's a big distraction for the key players on the surface. Our aims are a little more close to home this time. As the time between Alcina's episodes grows closer and closer together, I am more and more pressed for a solution. It just so happens that our good old pals at the IMB have found someone who may be able to help."

"Someone can help her? Where are they now?" Ira finally sat up, now listening intently.

"Yes, yes. He's a biology researcher named Joseph Mandel. Currently he is situated in a maximum security prison in District 2."

"He's already arrested? That defeats the whole purpose."

"Tut, tut. You know better than to jump to conclusions. We are gonna have some help from our new friend. You haven't met him yet, but he's a wonderful guy. Ricardo! Come meet my lieutenants!"

Ricardo Rodriguez stepped in from the doorway.

"Hello. So you accepted my offer?"

"Indeed I have. You and your sister are guaranteed safety with us."

"And your plan to deal with the new level 6?"

"If Alcina is back at full power, there's no need to worry about a new level 6. Of course, I plan to sow a lot of chaos for the people trying to get their hands on whoever was so lucky to be labeled a threat to the city's existence."

Arnold tapped at the table nervously. "I don't mean to doubt you, but how are we supposed to raid District 2? Especially if we want to maintain our secrecy."

"We go in guns blazing and point the finger at someone else." Cyrus shrugged his shoulders lightly.

Arnold leaned forward slightly. "That sounds like it has no chance in hell at working."

"It wouldn't normally, unless they already had someone they wanted to go after anyways. You all are familiar with Fetter Young. So you should all understand that we are just gonna throw a dog a bone. No self-respecting government gives up an entire district to terrorists and then partners with them to keep the peace. They want to take a page from the United States and stomp them out."

"So when are we running in, guns blazing, with only half a plan?"

"Already did. It'll be on the nine o'clock news. Joseph did give me a little pain trying to talk to him. So I locked him in an interrogation room. Easy peasy."